Matt Taylor, Jason Torney and Nic Vine have been covering the A-grade netball games this season, on top of their football reporting duties. The trio individually picked their team of the year, with few points of difference, before settling on their final make-up.
THE first player picked for each of us was the A-grade competition’s best player, Amanda Edwards.
The Wentworth playing coach was supreme in attack for the Roos, who went through the home-and-away season unbeaten.
She regularly drained 40-plus goals a game as opposition coaches wondered aloud, ‘How do you solve a problem like Amanda?’.
In all, we picked three Roos players in our starting side, with dominant defender Natalie Vercher and wing attack Molly Mangan consistently among their side’s best players.
Teammate Christie Becker was a bit stiff to miss out, given the great clean-up job she does in defence. But we’ve picked her as a defensive back-up on the bench, alongside newly versatile teammate Lizzie Rowe.
Ouyen United snagged two selections in the run-on team, including star defender Catherine Brown, who Edwards rates highly, and goal attack Tayla Willsmore.
We couldn’t overlook South Mildura gun Maddi Toms for the centre position, while Mildura WD Katelyn Challis’ strong season earned her a call-up to the starting side.
Dees’ playing co-coach, Jess McNamara, was in the conversation for a starting berth, but we ultimately found a place for her on the bench as an attacking back-up.
Mildura trio Sharon Watson, Ava Zadow and Alannah Morello, Merbein’s Johannah Gray, South Mildura star shooter Amy Lutz and Robinvale Euston’s Isabelle Geiofrelle were also knocking on the door of selection after fine seasons.
However, the dominance of the Roos needed to be recognised in the Daily’s team of the year.
Edwards was named as coach, while the captain is Vercher and Toms the vice-captain.
