Onwards and upwards

Astorm is brewing in the camp of Jeparit-rainbow A Grade netballers.

The Horsham District Football Netball League side has largely appeared to be facing a never-ending uphill battle against it competitors, averaging less than three winning-games a season since 2015. That was, until, last year. From one win and 15 losses in 2018 to six wins and 10 losses, the Storm showed signs of a revitalised side in 2019, even proving their worth in several close matches against the league’s ladder-toppers.

The effort saw them finish in eighth place last year, and in the lead-up to the new season Jeparit-rainbow netball director Colleen Petschel said the club’s focus would be on maintaining this momentum.

“This year will be about building on the positives that were established last year,” she said.

“The A Grade girls were winning a couple of those last games, and even though we didn’t get into finals, we’re hoping to build on their end-of-season play to help carry us through to finals this year.”

As with 2019, the Storm’s strength will be in its numbers and continuity of players, with the club maintaining its full A Grade list as well as regaining a few senior players back from leave, such as Ash Morrison and Alex Schulz.

A Grade coach Jo Perkins said she hoped this depth would strengthen the side by providing Jeparit-rainbow with multiple options and player configurations when it came time to select squads.

“We’re very happy with pre-season so far. I think we have about 11 to 12 girls who could all play A Grade,” she said.

“But obviously we can’t have them all, so that will filter down into B Grade and really help lift them.

“We still have quite a young A Grade side though, with most of the girls under 21 years old, so to be able to include one or two senior heads this year to help lead the way will be good, which will probably come with players such as Ebony Sparks.

“We also have a couple of girls who might move up from the younger years into A Grade.

“There’s a lot of depth at the moment, we just need to do a bit of working out to get the best fit.”

Perkins said the Storm started its pre-season training about mid-january, and was currently practising two days a week.

“We’re certainly looking at fitness in training,” she said.

“I think last year the girls struggled a bit at the start of the season, especially with the weather being hot at the time. We have a couple of scheduled practice matches for mid-march.

“These will just be about seeing which girls sit where and which girls work best in the defensive ends and attacking ends.

“I’ve coached a few of the girls a couple of seasons ago, so it will just be about navigating where their strengths are now.”

Perkins said Jeparit-rainbow would face Kalkee in its first match of the season.

The Storm is yet to fill C Grade and 17-and-under coaching roles and is determining if it has player numbers to fill a C Reserve side.