WIN, loss, or draw, Ouyen United defender Catherine Brown is just glad to be playing netball again.
Brown has played senior A Grade netball since 2009 when she made her debut as a 16-year-old in a premiership-winning Walpeup-Underbool side in the Mallee Netball Association.
The 29-year-old goal defender has since developed a reputation at Ouyen United for being a quiet but deadly presence in the Kangas’ back court and helped the club claim the 2019 Sunraysia Football Netball League (SFNL) A Grade premiership.
The SFNL title holders once again loom as finals contenders after starting the season with five wins, a draw and a loss.
But after two season of netball lost to COVID-19, Brown said she played with an eye to the future as much as she did with an eye toward finals.
“We’ve had the wins, yes, but the games have been enjoyable,” Brown said.
“And that’s all at the moment – just enjoying netball and just being a great role model and volunteering at the club.”
Brown, who is now the Junior Development Coordinator at Ouyen United, said she moved around the court as if juniors were watching her every move, as if her playing time was her teaching time.
“If I’m coaching them, (I want them to) see that whatever I’m saying to them as a coach, I’m doing myself as a player.”
Brown, who was inspired to be a defender by watching her mother play wing defence for Walpeup-Underbool, has focused on teaching junior Kangas’ netballers to compete hard and be mentally strong, lessons she said she learned by growing up on the court.
“I started at a very young age in seniors … and that helped with my mental toughness,” Brown said. “Taking the physical hits and giving the physical hits as a defender.”
The Sunraysia Interleague representative player was described by her club in 2019 as someone who was strong but knew how to take a hit. Brown said she never used contact maliciously, only to gain possession.
“I don’t go hard for the body; I go hard for the ball,” Brown said. “The name of the game is the ball.
“I never on purpose go for the knock, I’m just going for the ball and trying to dictate to the attacker, trying to dictate where I want to put them.”
The Kangas struggled to shake off Robinvale Euston on Saturday and relied on the defensive tandem of Brown and Tsharni Burns to stifle the Eagles’ attack as Ouyen United increased a one-point half-time lead to a 16-point third-quarter advantage.
Brown said she had developed a strong combination with Burns and that the pair, as old players on the Kangas, felt it was their role to influence games.
“I feel we can be those leaders on the court as defenders and change the pace and style of the game,” Brown said.
“We both like to play space defence and switch to create chaos … instead of playing man-on-man all the time.”
Ouyen United now meet fellow top-four side Mildura at City oval on Saturday, and the defensive tandem will need to force difficult circle entry passes against the SFNL’s second leading scoring team.
But while second spot is up for grabs, Brown said for now she was just glad to look forward to Thursday and more of Ouyen United’s “social time”.
“I really missed it.”
As the SFNL netballer of the round, Brown receives $100 courtesy of Mildura Golf Resort and Sunraysia Daily.
