Netball: Coach confident England put turmoil behind them

England netball coach Sue Hawkins. Photo / Greg Bowker

England netball coach Sue Hawkins is confident her team have put the turmoil of 2010 behind them and are well positioned to challenge for the world title in Singapore.

Hawkins said last year's very public stand-off between the national body and two of her star players has not hurt team unity heading into the world championships, which begin in just over a week's time.

Netball England took the extraordinary position of trying to prevent top defenders Geva Mentor and Sonia Mkoloma from playing in the transtasman league this season, insisting that they stay back in Britain with their national teammates.

The duo went ahead and signed their ANZ Championship contracts anyway, with Mkoloma returning to Sydney to play for the Swifts, while Mentor transferred to the Melbourne Vixens after three seasons with the Adelaide Thunderbirds.

That prompted an intriguing stand-off before England Netball eventually backed down from threats that they wouldn't select the pair for the world championships.

Hawkins said Mentor and Mkoloma asked the national body to reconsider their position after the Commonwealth Games, and put together a proposal that would allow them to play in the world's best netball league as well as for their country.

"That whole ANZ conversation was really directed by our players. When the players finished the Commonwealth Games the senior players wanted us to revisit it, which we did, but we placed conditions that those two players had to come back with," she said.

In hindsight England Netball may have been right to want their players back at home where they could more closely monitor their progress.

Both players had disappointing 2011 ANZ Championship campaigns, with Mentor spending a lot of time on the bench later in the season at the Vixens as she battled for court time with Bianca Chatfield and Julie Corletto, while Mkoloma struggled to have the impact she has had in previous seasons.

But Hawkins said she is happy with the way the pair have been training since they returned to England this month.

"They did what needed to be done and they've come back in ... they're working their butts off at the moment."