Crinums set to blossom again

WATCH OUT: FREE STATE NOT READY TO LET GO OF TITLE

Five-week netball tournament wide open, says defending champions’ coach Burta de Kock.

The Free State Crinums are fitter, faster and stronger, head coach Burta de Kock has warned, as they start the defence of their Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League title in Pretoria tonight.

The Crinums clinched a thrilling extra-time victory over the Gauteng North Jaguars in the final of last year’s inaugural competition and De Kock said yesterday they were confident they had the ability to retain their crown.

“We started preparing on January 6, working on conditioning, positional play, individual skills and team drills,” De Kock said.

“We have prepared physically and emotionally because we know it’s harder to stay at the top than it is to get there. We’re not thinking about what happened last year.”

The Free State and Gauteng North squads have dominated domestic top-fl ight netball over the last few years, but De Kock insisted the First Division league was wide open.

“All teams are strong and they all want to win, so we’ll take it day by day. We want to go out hard on court and stay focused for 60 minutes in each game.”

The Crinums and Jaguars will be up against the Southern Stings, Golden Fireballs and North West Flames in the second edition of the semi-professional league, to be played over five weeks at Rembrandt Hall in Pretoria.

In the Second Division, the Eastern Cape Aloes will be eager to gain promotion after being relegated last season.

The Aloes will meet the Kingdom Stars, Limpopo Baobabs, Mpumalanga Sunbirds and Northern Cape Diamonds in the second-tier competition.