Ready to defend title
Horsham Saints playing coach Shannon Reinheimer is still riding high in the wake of last year’s fairytale Wimmera A Grade premiership but is well aware her charges have their work cut out for them if they are to go back to back.
The Saints lost their first five home-andaway matches in 2017, finished fourth on the Wimmera Netball Association ladder and were complete underdogs in their come-from-behind one-goal win over Minyip-murtoa. “I still can’t believe it,” Reinheimer said. “I’m so proud of how well we finished off last year.
“Every time someone mentions our win it still brings a smile to my face.”
Reinheimer will play and coach A Grade again in 2018, this time without co-coach Jess Cannane, who will lead the club’s 13 and unders.
Cannane is aiming to play senior netball but is recovering from an ankle injury.
Reinheimer said while ultimately the Saints would like to defend their premiership, she understood it was going to be a difficult task.
“We’ve lost a few players to uni and injury and we understand winning another premiership is a tough ask given our situation at the moment,” she said.
“However, we know that anything can happen. Last year we were lucky to make
the finals and ended up winning the premiership.
“We will be out to just make the finals again this year and take it from there.”
Reinheimer has selected an A and B squad, which she will coach with assistance from her mother, Debbie Reinheimer.
“She was our team manager last year and I’m looking forward to working with her again this year,” Reinheimer said.
“Because of the number of injuries we have as well as having several players away at uni it’s made it hard to select teams.
“So I’ve gone with the one squad and the teams probably won’t be decided until a few weeks in.
“It will give last year’s B Graders an opportunity to prove themselves and try to cement a position in A Grade.”
The Saints will be without Tara Jasper, university, and Ash Hobbs in A Grade but will welcome Lavinia Fox, Edenhope-apsley, and Abby Hallam, Noradjuha-quantong.
“Lavinia plays goals and will make a handy combination with Maggie Caris. They’ve played together in Ballarat so they should gel well,” Reinheimer said.
“Abby is our development player this year. She will play under-17s and she’ll get on the court in A Grade when the opportunity arises.
“Our main driver will be Ash Grace. She’s very fit and very good in the midcourt. Unfortunately we will be without Larnie Hobbs for a while. She has a broken finger so will be out for three months.”
Reinheimer said she was still working out her starting sides ahead of round one, but spectators could expect a few new faces in A Grade. “We’re still quite a young team,” she said. “Junior development is important to us as a club. We’d like to keep developing our juniors and giving them a go in senior grades.”
Pre-season is well underway at Coughlin Park, with the netballers training hard for their first game of the season, against Horsham on April 22.
“We’ve had a few practice matches so far. We’re trying to do a lot of game play to prepare for the season,” Reinheimer said.
“Last year we got off to a bit of a slow start so we wanted to do more game play this year to put us in a stronger position ahead of round one.
“It doesn’t seem that long since we won the grand final last year, but it’s been six months. I can’t wait to get up and going again.”