Netball: Netball battle of the south

By Sarah Nealon


The Southern Sting will be hungry for victory when they meet the Otago Rebels in the final of the national netball league in Dunedin tonight.

Armed with Silver Ferns Bernice Mene and Donna Loffhagen, the Sting are the only team in the Coca-Cola Cup to have beaten the defending champions.

Last year, the Invercargill-based side were beaten by the Rebels in the final, but coach Robyn Broughton said her side were determined to overcome them tonight.

"The girls are just jumping. They're very excited," she said. "We've talked a lot this week about tactics and game plan and we're all feeling pretty positive.

"When we played against the Rebels a month ago, I think we took them by surprise. We changed a lot of on-court positions and basically changed tactics."
Broughton would not say what her game plan was for tonight, but hinted that she may have a few surprises up her sleeve.

"We might try something different," she said.

The Otago team, however, are not fond of losing.

"We don't like to tarnish our record," said Rebels coach Georgina Salter. "I'm confident we can win."

She said her side had the advantage over the Sting because of a strong team spirit.

"The girls are all very close friends. They have a kind of harmony on court. Six players live together in three separate flats and we do a lot of things together as a team, that don't involve netball," she said.

But next year the make-up of the Otago team could change. Six players finish their tertiary studies and may want to find work outside Dunedin.

"They've got to do what's best for them," said Salter. "They've got loans to pay off and naturally they want to make some money."

Broughton said: "We've done our homework and we're going to focus on ourselves. I think the biggest thing for us to overcome is going to be nerves."