Netball: Brown to feel Pulse of playing for home

Jodi Brown will link up with the Haier Pulse for the 2015 ANZ Championship. Photo/File

Wanganui expat Silver Fern Jodi Brown will finally play for the ANZ Championship team which encompasses her home region after the 33-year-old was confirmed for the Haier Pulse line-up in 2015.

Brown will join her Wanganui compatriot in the Pulse, 31-year-old Joline Henry returning for her fourth season with the franchise next year.

With 42 games for New Zealand, Brown has been a bit of a nomad in the ANZ Championship, finishing her two years with the Southern Steel this season after previous stints with Canterbury Tactix (2008-09) and Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic (2010).

A former national basketball champion, Brown will also get to renew her partnership with legendary shooter Irene van Dyk, having previously worked with her in the Silver Ferns.

"I'm really excited about being back in the region where my netball career started, and it's nice to come full circle and complete my playing career where it began," said Brown.

"I'm also looking forward to hooking up with Irene again and being coached by Robyn Broughton on a full-time basis."

Pulse CEO Carolyn Young said Brown's signing was crucial to the team's ambition of securing an elusive play-off spot in 2015.

"Jodi has proved time and time again that she is one of the toughest competitors in the game and we are delighted that she is joining us.

"She was handed a huge amount of responsibility in Glasgow [at the Commonwealth Games], as the Silver Ferns dealt with a number of unfortunate injuries and acquitted herself extremely well during the Games.

"This is a very exciting signing for us and we're looking forward to welcoming one of the game's most professional players into a squad which has a number of youngsters who will benefit from her extensive experience."

Another new signing is Hannah Poff, the 23-year-old midcourter who left the Tactix in 2011 to concentrate on playing rugby.

"Our roster is now complete and we are confident we have recruited a group of players who will be extremely competitive in 2015," said Young.

Brown and Henry join teammates Katrina Grant, Liana Leota and newcomer Ameliaranne Wells at the Silver Ferns trials taking place next month.