Netball: Force call-up continues Latu's meteoric rise

The rise of young shooter Catherine Latu continued yesterday when she was named in the Force side.

Latu, 18, was one of North Harbour's standout performers in last year's NPC and as a result has been rewarded with a place in the Force for this year's National Bank Cup.

Force coach Yvonne Willering said 1.95m Latu proved she could handle the pressure in the NPC.

"The National Bank Cup is another step up from that. But she takes the ball very strongly and she is very accurate. Okay a lot of her goals are close range but we can manage to get the ball to her.

"She hasn't just got height she uses it well."

Former Silver Fern Leana de Bruin (formerly du Plooy) comes in to the side filling the void left by Linda Vagana, who retired last year.

Nicolette Ropati and Ritua Petero have also been included in the side. Ropati, a wing attack/goal attack, played for the now defunct Cometz in 2002 and Petero also has experience in the competition, playing for the Diamonds and the Cometz in the past.

Otherwise the Force take on a similar look to last year, with core players Temepara George (formerly Clark), Daneka Wipiiti, Sheryl Scanlan, and Teresa Tairi all returning.

Willering said the Force would head to Australia for some warmup games and would compete in a pre-season tournament in Te Awamutu before the competition starts in April. Something they had not traditionally done.

"You have to learn from the past, obviously we had a very slow start to the competition last year so we need the competition I guess."

The Canterbury Flames and Southern Sting also announced their teams yesterday. Franchises had to submit the names of up to 12 players to Netball New Zealand on Monday, but they have until February 14 to name their final squads.

The squads

* Force

Leana de Bruin, Kate Dowling, Temepara George, Kimberley Horton, Catherine Latu, Ritua Petero, Nicolette Ropati, Sheryl Scanlan, Teresa Tairi, Daneka Wipiiti, Angelina Yates.

* Flames

Jessica Leech, Nicola McNally (nee Russell), Joanna McCaw, Vilimaina Davu, Bessie Manu, Maree Grubb, Karen Clarke, Shelley Norris, Sonia Butler, Anna Thompson.

* Sting

Sarah Barnes, Tania Dalton, Jenny Ferguson, Anna Galvan, Megan Hutton, Donna Loffhagen, Lesley Rumball (nee Nicol), Kylie Smith, Debbie Telfer, Wendy Telfer, Adine Wilson (nee Harper).