Ouyen adds to the talent pool

LOSING a grand final in heartbreaking fashion is tough to recover from, but it’s all about perspective.

For Ouyen United co-coach Kyra Nathan just making it to the 2022 premiership play-off was a success in itself.

A missed shot after the final siren saw the Kangas go down to Wentworth by a solitary goal in last year’s SFNL A Grade netball grand final, which is widely held to be the best game seen in the competition for years.

Despite the disappointment, Nathan was realistic while reflecting on the result.

“Afterwards, we talked about it but mostly we felt pretty lucky to even get there in the first place,” she said.

“We lost our GA Talya Willsmore to injury on the eve of finals and I clearly remember thinking that could be our season done.

“We just feel quite humbled that we made it there and we felt like we had the game in our hands but we couldn’t capitalise on it and let them back in.

“Even through the year, we never had a steady team available two weeks in a row, we had to make a lot of changes. To win a grand final you need that stability with a few tweaks here and there and Wentworth certainly had that.

“Honestly, we thought how amazing it was that we got there.”

The roar of the crowd at the Mildura Sporting Precinct indoor courts is also something Nathan won’t forget.

“It was unbelievable, I’ve played indoors previously but I’ve never experienced that kind of atmosphere before,” she said.

“It is a much different game playing inside but the noise was huge and it seemed like we had a few supporters on our side being the underdogs.”

Ouyen are back in the swing of pre-season training this week after taking a few “much needed” extra weeks break.

While some players will be missing from last year’s combined A and B Grade squad, some welcome new additions have come in the form of ex-Nangiloc duo Kathy Carusella and Nikola Loxton, the former being awarded the joint Millewa A Grade best and fairest in 2022.

“With netball I don’t think you need a long time to get back into the groove,” Nathan said.

“For a few months before the season we’ll get going again with some specific netball drills. We’re still just getting a feel for things at the moment.

“We’ve had a good break, and I think we needed it after a big season.”

Nathan said squads are still to be determined, but more young players were likely to get an opportunity to higher level netball in 2023.

“I would imagine we’d try to blood a few more young players into our combined A and B Grade squad,” she said.

“Girls going to boarding school is an issue in a community like ours that we run into, when girls hit 14 or 15 years old they start thinking about heading away to school.

“We don’t have as many Under 17s like we do Under 11s and 13s, we certainly struggle with numbers a bit, being more isolated.

“It makes it a fantastic family-friendly club but you see clubs in town have the luxury of being able to turn players away, while we need as many people on board as we can get.”

Ouyen United begin their campaign against Merbein on April 22 following a fixture change, meaning their grand final rematch is now two weeks later.