'We dont want to win,' say Harcourts

Harcourts coach Kelly Sargent isn't joking when she says the last thing her team wants in the 2009 season is to successfully defend the Netball Wairarapa premier one title they won last year.
For if that happens it will mean Harcourts missed out on achieving their prime objective, that of representing Wairarapa in the regional super league competition against the top club sides from Wellington, Hutt Valley, Kapiti and Kapi Mana.
The side heading the premier one competition table at the end of one complete round of matches eight games in all will earn that honour, and forfeit any chance of winning the championship as a consequence.
Which isn't a worry for Sargent who is keen to see Harcourts test themselves at a higher level.
"The super league is where we want to be, and that's where the focus is," she said. "Everything is being geared towards that, anything less won't be good enough."
Sargent isn't falling into the trap, however, of reading too much into last year's form when Harcourts were simply a class above their premier one opposition, scoring more than 1000 goals and not once coming close to defeat.
She sees the loss of key players like goal shoot Hope Phillips, who has transferred to Celtic, and Astee Karaitiana, who is sidelined by injury, as perhaps weakening the squad to some degree .
And Sargent believes the standard of premier one sides could be stronger this year and that if complacency creeps into the Harcourts camp they were likely to pay for it.
"Obviously I would be lying if I said we didn't expect to win all our games here, we do but at the same time we aren't under-estimating any of the other teams," she said. "It's no secret how we like to play and I'm sure they will be formulating plans to make life difficult for us."
Centre Katie Wyeth was an outstanding player for Harcourts last season and is likely to be one of their trump cards again, as are experienced shooters Sargent, Geraldine Carroll and Mishelle Teahan and defenders Eliena Heggie and Sarah Brooking.
The return of Emma Foote will be a huge plus too and a couple of youngsters in Amy Lucas and Dana Fleet should also make their presence felt.
Lucas played for St Matthew's Collegiate last season while Fleet still attends Wairarapa College but has chosen to play for Harcourts rather than them. She is a midcourt player while Lucas usually plays at the attacking end but will take a defensive role for Harcourts, an area where her height should come in handy.
Premier one play this season is being staged at the Genesis Recreation Centre in Masterton on Thursday and Friday nights with this week signalling the start of competition action.
Tomorrow evening has Kuranui College A and Wairarapa College A kicking things off at 6.45pm with Harcourts playing Gladstone All Blacks at 8.15pm.
Kuranui College have lost five of the squad which took them to the runners-up spot in 2008 and while they will still start favourites against Wairarapa College a close battle is in prospect.
Gladstone All Blacks will no doubt see themselves as drawing the short straw through having to play Harcourts first up but in Celia Donaldson and Kate Jurlina they have a couple of hard-nosed defenders whose combined efforts should keep the final scoreline to reasonable bounds.
Friday night has Carterton Sports Arena up against Celtic at 6pm and Fagan Motors playing St Matthew's Collegiate A at 7.30pm.
Carterton will be looking to Stephanie Bunny and Anna Stuart to give their side an advantage in midcourt over a Celtic side which has gained some talented new faces in Hope Phillips, Trisanna Campbell, Jamie Reiri and Danielle Gray.
Fagan Motors were the premier two champions in 2008 and with the experienced Liz Wilton to guide their fortunes should make matters interesting against a young St Matthew's Collegiate line-up which will include two members of the Netball Wellington regional high performance squad in Talia Hullena and Evie Langland.