THIS coming Saturday is looking to be the beginning of a comeback season for Mildura and Merbein who alongside their new talent, is showcasing veteran players in round 1 of the SFNL netball season.
“We have a good mix of youth and experience this year,” Sharon Watson, coach of Mildura, told Sunraysia Daily.
The youth that Watson describes is Ally Leng and Ava Zadow, who are both new to the team this season.
While the experience that Watson hopes will give the team the edge this year, will take the form of Amanda Morello, who’s making a comeback after two seasons away, Jess McNamara with previous experience in Geelong and Alannah Morello, who also plays for Lady Heat.
Merbein has also needed to lure back players this year, after losing players due to university and other commitments.
“We lost a couple of our stalwarts unfortunately from what had been our AB squad. We’ve been lucky enough for a couple of old club members to have come back,” coach Breigh Hammet said.
Allira Gray, who did not play last season, is one of the players that Watson has identified as making a welcome return.
Hammet though describes the benefits of having a younger team that’s ready to be moulded.
“They are keen. They want to learn. They’re not set in their ways so it means that when we talk about bringing in a bit of structure to our game play, they are keen as mustard.”
Having a team that’s never played together has it challenges but Merbein has been working since the start of the year to bridge that gap.
“We’ve been now training together for nearly four months. Just so we had a good six to seven weeks with the squad to get to know each other. Tuesday nights would be fitness for the whole club – fitness, team building, things like that. Thursdays were game-focused and squad training.”
Despite the loss of vital player Demi Wall, Wentworth remain the favourite for the upcoming season and are confident and keen to get on with the match this weekend.
“The vibe in the group at the moment is really good. Everyone’s obviously very keen to get the season underway,” said coach Amanda Edwards.
Edwards has noted that the key victory this season remain much as the same as the previous one and that it’s all about building on their current skills.
“We pride ourselves on good defence – full court defence. So hopefully we tick all those little boxes and we get the win.”
Wentworth play Mildura this Saturday at 6pm at the George Gordon Oval, while Merbein play Robinvale Euston at 2.30pm at Kenny Park.
