‘Very definitely’ the end for Sargent

Harcourts player-coach Kelly Sargent will "very definitely" be making her last appearance in the regional superleague netball competition when her side takes on Kapi Mana at the Te Rauparaha Stadium in Porirua on Saturday.
It will be Harcourt's final game for the 2009 season and will dictate whether they finish with a very commendable seeding of sixth or seventh in the 12-team superleague series.
Sargent's decision to call it a day has been prompted in the main by a combination of injuries and family reasons. She is due to undergo an ankle reconstruction in about a fortnight's time and while she has been told that should not stop her from playing netball she believes the time is right to restrict any further involvement to Wairarapa club play.
"I think you could say I'm starting to feel my age," the 34-year-old quipped. "I'm not bouncing back from all the knocks you get like I did in the good old days."
Sargent has also found the time involved in coaching, selecting and playing at superleague level takes its toll on family life and sees cutting back as being a positive in that respect.
The prospect is, however, that Sargent won't be the only Harcourts player making her superleague swansong this coming weekend, indeed she sees 50 per cent of the current squad possibly heading in that direction and for the same reasons of injury and family too.
That being the case the possibility of Harcourts being replaced in the superleague competition in 2010 by a team drawn from all Wairarapa clubs is seen by Sargent as an obvious move, and one which would have her support.
"It's very difficult for one club when you start getting injuries like we have, it really does test your depth," she said.
Never one to mince her words, Sargent admits to being continually frustrated with the administration of the superleague, both on and off court.
On court the liberal interpretation by referees of the contact rule is seen by her as damaging the profile of the sport ... and the international between the Silver Ferns and the World team in Wellington on Monday night did nothing to ease that fear.
"They talk about netball being a no-contact game but that's absolute rubbish the way it is refereed now," she said. "It's all about push and shove, the skill factor isn't nearly as important as it was. Frankly I don't like it, not at all."
Another frustration for Sargent is a superleague draw which has seen Harcourts playing their last four games over the hill, and just a handful of games at home all season. She is still bemused why the division one fifth and sixth playoff match between Harcourts and PIC 2 last weekend which was initially scheduled for Masterton was changed to Taita, and also why this weekend's match against Kapi Mana is being played in Porirua when Harcourts are currently the higher seeded of the two sides and could therefore have justifiably anticipated a home game.
Then there was the situation where other superleague clubs were allowed to utilise Pulse players once their transtasman Cup obligations were over while Harcourts were not given that opportunity.
"You can't get away from the fact they have treated us like country cousins, you might almost think they didn't want us there in the first place," she said.
As to this Saturday's game Harcourts will be without the Phillips sisters, Waimarama and Te Ata, who are part of the Kuranui College team which will be contesting the lower North Island championships in Gisborne. They have replaced by two players from Trevs Sports premier two side, Lisa Goldsworthy and Lisa Hannam.
Sargent is expecting another testing assignment against a Kapi Mana who were demoted from division one halfway through the season and then headed the points table in division two.