Knee injury forces Cooper out for season
Top Manawatu netballer Katarina Cooper is out for the rest of the season, having injured her knee while playing in England.
The former Silver Fern and Central Pulse midcourter has been playing in England’s Netball Superleague for Team Northumbria, but ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament injury when playing againsts Wasps last month.
Cooper was carried off the court during Northumbria’s 70-46 loss and it was announced last week that she would be out for the season, but she will be staying in Newcastle.
It is the second time she has injured her ACL, having done the same injury while playing for the Pulse in 2012.
Northumbria had hoped Cooper would play again, but specialists advised she will not be able to play again this season.
‘‘Everyone at TN is right behind Kati at this time and we’re hoping she makes a swift and full recovery,’’ Northumbria University’s director of netball Te Aroha Keenan told the club’s website.
‘‘It’s extremely disappointing but we can’t afford dwell on the situation. I think everybody understood just how important Kati could be to TN this season but we have to look to the future.
‘‘I am considering the options with my coaching staff but we have a number of alternatives within the squad.
‘‘In the short term, players who have been waiting for their chance will get the opportunity to step up and show us what they can do.
‘‘Longer term, we need to make the right decision and we won’t be rushed into that decision.’’
Cooper mainly played for club side Rahui last season, but did fill in as an injury cover for the Southern Steel. She was in the Steel squad in 2015 and the Pulse squad in 2014 and 2012.
She signed the Newcastle-based Northumbria at the end of last year, but only played one game before injuring her knee.
The England season runs until June and Northumbria are without a win after four rounds.
Cooper isn’t the only Manawatu expat in the English Superleague, with former Silver Ferns and Pulse midcourter Liana Leota at the Manchester Thunder.
Leota has been with the Manchester team for the past two seasons, having permanently moved to England at the end of 2015 with her family, and is now an assistant coach.
Manchester are sixth with two wins and two losses.
There are a handful of other Kiwi players in the Superleague, including Former Silver Fern shooter Ellen Halpenny, who is at the Glasgow-based Sirens, former Steel midcourter Stacey Peeters is at Celtic Dragons in wales and former Northern Mystics shooter Megan Craig is with the Surrey Storm.
Former Central Pulse coach Robyn Broughton is coaching the Hertfordshire Mavericks.