Netball: Angry Aussie faces up to a new court battle

As far as paradoxes go, the nickname of the Force's new Australian import Megan Dehn is right up there.

As her soft-spoken voice trickles down the phone line, one could be mistaken for thinking she couldn't be anything but courteous. But when the inevitable question of her nickname comes up, Dehn (nee Anderson) giggles mischievously and confirms the difficult-to-believe - her nickname is, in fact, Angry.

Dehn explains: "I used to work at a fruit shop from when I was about 14 through until the age of about 22, while I was at uni and stuff. The boss was just being a smart arse one day and started calling me Angry because I was never angry."

The name was borrowed from Angry Anderson, the lead singer of Australian hard rock band Rose Tattoo. Dehn isn't disappointed her nickname has not followed her to her new home at netball's Force franchise. "The girls over here just call me Megs. I think I prefer it," Dehn said.

The human movement graduate has had a bumpy road to the Force. After playing well for her domestic franchise, the Sydney Swifts, the 31-year-old believed she had a good chance of being selected for Melbourne, previously notching up 15 test caps for the green-and-golds. But that self-belief took a battering when Australian coach Norma Plummer failed to select the experienced Dehn for the national training squad in December.

This may have been the perfect opportunity for her to live up to her Angry nickname but Dehn took her omission on the chin.

"It was pretty bizarre, actually. I was pretty disappointed. It did take me a long time to get over it - it always shakes your confidence when you don't get into a team but, at the end of the day, she is the coach and you have to respect her decision," said Dehn.

During such a testing time in her netball career, she relied on wise words by the Force coach, Yvonne Willering, having already sewn up a deal to play the domestic season in New Zealand.

But that was not the end of Dehn's Commonwealth Games dream. A late injury forced Plummer to reassess her options on attack. A phone call arrived from Plummer asking her to attend a training camp.

"Initially, I didn't want to go. I didn't want to come to the camp just to make up numbers." Dehn was concerned she would go to the training camp only to be dumped again - concerns that were dealt with by the Australian coach, saying all 15 attendees would be up for selection.

After some consideration, Dehn chanced her hand, once again, at gaining selection - and this time was picked.

"In that six or seven weeks, I was dropped, had got married and then got back in [to the Australian team] in late February."

With all of those ups and downs, Dehn believed it was worth the heartbreak. "The Commonwealth Games were amazing. You just can't describe it. You have 80,000 to 100,000 people cheering for you. It was two weeks of going 'Oh my God, look at that'."

After the euphoria of the Games, Dehn has now made Auckland her new home. She is thankful to the Force for making the transition from across the ditch all the more bearable.

"I'm loving it. I am just having a great time."

She is relishing the opportunity to adjust to the New Zealand style of play.

"That has been one of the reasons why I am liking it so much."