Namana steels herself for ANZ premiership campaign
Southern Steel shooter Grace Namana may not be a household name in New Zealand netball circles but she’s hoping a strong season may change that.
The Steel’s ANZ Premiership campaign starts on Monday evening against fellow South Island side the Mainland Tactix in Christchurch and she’s expected to be on court.
Namana said the team had been training well since coming together in January. “We’re going up there to win.“
The loss of England Roses international George Fisher to injury for a second consecutive season has given the 28-year-old her chance with the Steel and she is keen to grab it with both hands.
“I am really excited for the opportunity. Obviously it’s a huge loss for us not having George there but I am really excited to hopefully step up and get some minutes under my belt.”
Namana comes to the role with experience of the English Super League where she played for the Severn Stars, a franchise owned by the University of Worcester.
It was an experience which she believed had helped her netball.
“I went over there as a goal attack so I had to learn a new position, so now I feel it’s added a string to my game and helped me get a contract back here in New Zealand. It’s nice being able to offer something different if we need it.
“I also feel playing a different style of netball that was incredibly physical has helped and lining up against quality international players like Fran Williams has seen my game improve.”
It’s Namana’s first fulltime contract in New Zealand, having been a training partner with the Steel, Pulse and Mystics in the past.
“I love being in this environment, I am really lucky to be down here with the Steel and learning from the best in the business in Kate [Heffernan] and Shan [Saunders].
“Georgia Heffernan and I were just talking the other day about when George comes back into our environment she is going to be such a handy tool to bounce ideas off and offer another perspective.
“So when she is back it’ll be great for three of us shooters to learn from.
“I’ve worked really hard to get here, so to know I will be getting some game time is exciting.”
She said the team has a great feel to it in 2024.
“We have really good team vibes at the moment and Curly and Jo (Head Coach Reinga Bloxham and performance lead Jo Morrison) recruited really well and we have experience who have been away and come back into the environment like Abby (Lawson) and Taniesha (Fifita). We’re shaping up nicely and building well.”
Knocking over the Tactix won’t be easy as they boast the most national league experience of any franchise across their 10 contracted players with 819 matches, including four players who have played 100 or more national league matches – Te Paea Selby-Rickit (153), Jane Watson (148), Erikana Pedersen (104) and Karin Burger (103).
The Steel’s 10 contracted players have played a combined total of 575 matches which is the second most in 2024.
However, a fair chunk of that – 159 in fact – can be attributed to midcourter Shannon Saunders.
Namana was amped to face the defensive prowess of Burger and Watson.
“It’s going to be an exciting challenge. They are two world class defenders and facing them will give me a good indictation of where things are currently at with my game.
“It’ll be exciting.”
Injuries are set to delay Jennifer O’Connell’s and Saunders return to the side with the duo missing from Monday’s encounter which begins at 7.30pm.