Wairarapa hunting super league glory again

Defending champions Wairarapa will be looking to make every post a winner in the early stages of this season's regional super league netball competition.
The 12 teams which have entered the 2006 event have been divided into two pools and Wairarapa's first four games will all be at their home base, the Genesis Recreation Centre in Masterton.
They are scheduled to play a Kapiti selection on March 10, Norths from Kapi Mana on March 17, Naenae Collegians on March 24 and Maidstone United on March 31 with their only pool match away from home being against St Marys Old Girls of Wellington at Wellington East College on April 7.
In the other pool are leading Wellington-based clubs PIC and Wellington East, Wellington development squad, Manaroa , Convent Old Girls and KBJ from Kapi Mana..
New Wairarapa coach Marion Tulloch originally named a squad of 14 for the competition but has already lost one in the form of talented Wairarapa College player Abby Hull, who has been named in the Wellington development squad. She will join two other Wairarapa players in Rosie Mahoney and Julia Biggs in that particular side.
Only five of last year's successful Wairarapa team will be part of the action this time round and one of them, outstanding defence player Sarah Brooking, has an injury problem which will probably see her sidelined for the first few weeks.
Tulloch readily concedes the lack of experience and the fact that this year's competition is considerably stronger than that of last year now that the Wellington clubs have entered makes the 2005 Wairarapa effort a hard act to follow but she is convinced her team will still give a good account of themselves.
A conviction which was strengthened by the enthusiasm and skill displayed when Tulloch and her assistant coach Sophie Paki held their first training session on Monday night.
"As a first training it could hardly have been better?..everybody is just so keen to do well," she said.
Tulloch said she and Paki had stressed the importance of Wairarapa not playing the "nice" netball which is often good enough to win on the local club scene.
"Netball at the top level is much more aggressive these days and we have to measure up there both mentally and physically," she said."We have to adopt a hard ?nosed attitude, we can't afford to sit back and let the other sides dictate."