Finals on radar across all grades
Rupanyup netballers will look to push further up the Horsham District ladder in 2018 after ticking off several goals last season.
Returning A Grade playing coach Kayla Woods said a focus on remaining competitive and putting more wins on the board saw the Panthers finish strongly in 2017.
“We went from finishing second-last to seventh,” she said.
“After keeping pretty much the same team this year, finals is definitely on our radar.
“As a netball club as a whole we made improvements on the year before. We will be pushing to make finals across all grades.”
Woods said the club started pre-season about a month ago, with selections underway late last week.
She said there was plenty of excitement and positivity around the club.
“We’ve had very strong numbers at training, which has been great, and will fill all grades,” she said.
“We’ve been trying to get into some match play early and we had a practice match against Rokewood in the Central Highlands league a fortnight ago.”
Woods said she looked forward to further developing A Grade after retaining the majority of last year’s list.
“We’ve kept everyone bar one player from A Grade and our team will look very similar,” she said.
“We usually have to rebuild at the end of each season, so to come in with nearly all the same players is a bonus. It will cancel out the first couple of weeks where we’re all getting to know how each other plays.”
Rupanyup has picked up Sadie Slorach from Navarre, who will also slot into A Grade.
“She’s a bit of an all-rounder, which is always handy,” Woods said.
The Panthers have retained shooters Blair Burke and Brianna Hyslop, midcourters Jenni Downer, Alex Downes and Hayley Reading and defender Kiarah House.
Woods is also a defender, primarily in goal defence, and will form a partnership with House.
“Kiarah is still eligible for 17 and unders and it’s been great to see her progress,” Woods said.
“Kiarah played A Grade last year and will play A Grade as her second game this year as well.”
Woods said junior development would again be a focus for the club, which was reintroducing modified netball for juniors.
“We haven’t run mods for years but we’re introducing it again this year,” she said.
“There seems to be an abundance of young children around this year, which is great.”