Top netball comp gets shake up

Paige Drummond returns to the Harcourts squad. PHOTO/CHRIS KILFORD

NETBALL Wairarapa's premier one competition will have a rather different look this season.

Firstly, all matches will be played indoors in the Chanel College gymnasium on Thursday and Friday nights and, secondly, the grading round will involve the six teams expected to contest the main championship further down the track, not the 10 that participated in a combined premier and premier reserve series last year.

Netball Wairarapa centre manager Sandy Biel said the decision to play indoors rather than outdoors on Saturdays at the Colombo Rd courts, which are the headquarters for the sport in the region, was taken by the premier one clubs.

"As is the norm we gave them the option and they elected to go indoors, it was their choice and we're happy to run with it."

While grading round matches in the lower grade senior competitions and the primary competitions will get under way this Saturday, premier one play will commence on Thursday, May 13, when Pioneer Blue and Wairarapa College A will do battle at Chanel at 6.15pm. At the same venue the following night, Harcourts will play Gladstone Gold at 5.30pm and Celtic will meet Carterton New World Red at 7.15pm.

Having just the one college side in the premier one grade in Wairarapa College is unusual as St Matthew's Collegiate has been a regular over the years as has Makoura College.

Biel said the absence of St Matthew's and Makoura was not altogether unexpected as both colleges were in a rebuilding phase and it was always challenging to blood young players in the top grade.

"They felt it would be better for their players to start in a lower division and that's understandable," she said.

Meanwhile, defending champion Harcourts might have been the dominant team in premier one for several seasons but defence coach Sarah Watson isn't about to predict it will be more of the same in 2016.

While the likes of head coach Geraldine Carroll, Danielle Sargent, Sheridan Puhara-Gallon, Paige Drummond and Hannah Brewer will be back after celebrating success last year, there will be five or six new faces in the line-up and Watson says a lot will depend on how they shape up as the season progresses.

"Obviously there is a bit of work to do when it comes to building combination.

"I'm sure we will still be very competitive but we'll just have to wait and see how things pan out."

Watson said the move to playing indoors on a regular basis was supported by Harcourts because it made for a faster and better standard of netball and would probably mean fewer injuries as well.