Hobart sets stage for Games stars

HOBART fans will be treated to some amazing netball today when the Tasmanian Netball Invitational Series wraps up at the Derwent Entertainment Centre.

The series hosted by Netball Tasmania involves Super Netball’s Collingwood Magpies, the Australian Netball League’s Tasmanian Magpies and Commonwealth Games participants Wales and Northern Ireland.

Collingwood Magpies are without their Commonwealth Games representatives Madi Robinson, Caitlin Thwaites, Kim Ravaillion and April Brandley but the star-studded team still boasts talent in spades, with Ash Brazill, Erin Bell, Shae Brown, Alice Teague-Neeld, Matilda Garrett and Sharni Layton all making the trip to Hobart.

Cody Lange, coming off her second ACL injury, is captaining the Tassie Magpies, a side full of talented up-and-coming Victorian and Tasmanian players.

“It’s a great opportunity to play down here in Tassie against Wales and Northern Ireland,” Lange said.

Wales also has a Tasmanian flavour, with head coach Julie Hoornweg a former Netball Tasmania high-performance coach.

Netball Tasmania CEO Aaron Pidgeon said the series was “a fantastic opportunity to host elite netball”.

“It’s great to be able to sup- port the international teams in preparation for the Commonwealth Games,” he said. “It’s also an excellent pre-season run for our Tasmanian Magpies.” RESULTS March 27: Wales 54 d Northern Ireland 37 March 29: Wales 73 d Tasmanian Magpies 46. Collingwood Magpies 54 d Northern Ireland 32 TODAY 11am: Tasmanian Magpies v Northern Ireland 1pm: Collingwood Magpies v Wales Tickets available at Ticketmaster