Juniors helping to shine light on men’s netball

THEY are the boys playing a key role in helping to set a new trend, but these Queensland Suns are driven to perform at the national men’s netball championships in Perth next month.

Cairns quartet Brock Adaway, Daniel Statton, Jed Cavanagh and Drew Roberts are among those who have swapped their footy shorts for the netball court for the national titles.

For most of the four, playing netball isn’t a new frontier; they participated in either club or school sport before they were excluded because of their age. But the change has come in how men’s netball has been perceived by the wider sporting community, and the continued acceptance it is having.

“I’ve been playing since I was four – Mum and my sister play so I was always around it,” Statton said.

“Boys can’t play after they’re 12, so I had a bit of a gap there, but because the state team has come around, I’ve played the past two years. It’s been good to get back into it.

“I heard it was there and got straight back.

“It’s fast-paced, it’s good for fitness for other sports as well. You always get looks; it’s getting a bit less now that it’s getting more out there.”

Statton will vice-captain the under-17s, with Adaway named captain to lead the side into the tournament from April 9-15.

Like Statton, Adaway has seen the growth in the sport first-hand.

“I’ve been back playing for two years, but there’s been school competitions since year 5,” he said.

“It’s getting a lot bigger now. I went to an indoor competition; that was big – never played before and it was massive.

“There’s more guys here who want to play too.”

All four are not only eyeing success with the Suns, but have the goal of being picked for Australia.

Defender Jed Cavanagh said: “Getting picked for Australia would be good, but see how far we can get.

“It’s known as a girls’ sport, but boys play it too. It’s fun, you need a lot of agility, which you notice when you start playing. At Queensland level, it gets a lot harder, but if you work hard enough, you can work your way up.”

Drew Roberts, who has played Australian football and rugby league, most recently for Edmonton Storm, is new to netball, but is keen to make an impact.

“Hopefully we win, come back with the gold,” Roberts said.

“It doesn’t really matter what we do if we try our hardest.

“It’s fun, hard sometimes, but it’s good to train with them.”