Tara Murray
Continued development is the focus for Romsey in the Riddell District Netball League this season.
It’s been a tough couple of years for the Redbacks, with a number of players departing and the club struggling to attract a coach.
While they haven’t won a game in the A-grade competition this year, there’s plenty of good signs for the future.
Michelle Brinkhuis has taken on the role of A-grade coach. She said they were looking to find someone to come in and take on the role.
“It has been a tough couple of years,” she said “We’ve struggled to get an A-grade coach.
“We’re looking for someone to come in and help the young girls. We’re after someone skilled and a good fit and can give the girls confidence to help them continue to enjoy their netball.”
Brinkhuis said getting in a good coach would also attract new players to the club, to help provide some experience around the young group coming through.
She said they had a good group of young local players coming through the ranks.
“We’ve got some good juniors coming through and we want to see them develop and a good coach can do that,” she said.
“Libby Quigley is one who has come all through the juniors. Georgia [Shattock] is another who played in the VNL [Victorian Netball League] a couple of weeks ago.
“We’ve got some 14 and 15 year olds playing in the under-19s and we would love to see them play A-grade in the future and get them through the ranks and keep enjoying their netball here.”
Redbacks netball coordinator Sam Richardson said they were loving the resilience of the playing squad.
She said they had built a dedicated leadership group who are committed to the club and its future.
“We have been dedicated this season to developing some of our local younger players who will one day become the future of our senior club,” she said. “We know we have a great junior program with lots of young talent coming through the ranks and we look to see some reward in the coming years.
“Each week we are dedicated to our training, focusing on implementing game plays that work for us and looking forward to the rest of the season. We will keep celebrating the small wins and continuing to improve.”
The Redbacks have a bye on the weekend.
Brinkhuis said they were hopeful of getting a win on the board in the last few rounds.
“Our aim is to win a game and we go into every game thinking we can do that,” she said.
“Our first aim is to win quarters. Looking at games we don’t start well and we need to aim to be a bit better.”
