Coach rates old side

Kelly Sargent has changed camps but she still sees Harcourts as the team to beat in this season's Netball Wairarapa premier one competition starting this week.

After being player-coach of the Harcourts side which won last year's title, Sargent is now coaching the side which were runners-up to them in 2011, Wairarapa College.

But she is under no illusions at the magnitude of the challenges facing the students if they are to turn the tables this time round.

"Honestly, you'd have to think that they [Harcourts] will take all sorts of stopping, they just have so much experience and skill," Sargent said.

A sentiment easy to understand when you consider that players of the proven calibre of Katie Wyeth, Emma Foote, Geraldine Carroll, Sarah Brooking and Asti Karaitiana will all be part of the Harcourts line-up again, along with a notable acquisition in ex-St Matthew's Collegiate defender Paige Drummond.

Sargent is optimistic, however, that Wairarapa College will make another bold showing too.

They have gained the services of talented defender Evie Langlands, who played for Maidstone in the Hutt Valley premier grade last year, and will also have three of last season's best performers in captain Kahu Brown, Shyanne Aporo and Danielle McKay.

Joining them will be a group of promising youngsters including Taylor Carson-Butler and Lara Pritchard.

Sargent has had the Wairarapa College team in training for a couple of months now and says the emphasis has mainly been on enhancing the basic aspects of their play such as passing, catching and footwork.

"They are coming along nicely but there is still plenty of scope for improvement, hopefully they'll keep getting better as the season goes on," she said.

The change in format, which sees this season's premier one championship contested by eight teams and played over two full rounds followed by a semifinal and final, pleases Sargent, who says results will be important right from the word go.

"The pressure will be on all the way through and that makes it more interesting for everybody."