Tara Murray
New Romsey coach Justin Philby is keen to see the young talent at the Redbacks come to the fore in the Riddell District Netball League.
Philby was announced as the Redbacks new coach, replacing Lena Way.
He brings 20 years of experience in netball to the role, including 15 as an umpire and six as a coach.
Philby has been coaching in the Western Netball League on Friday nights.
It was through that umpiring role that connected him to the Redbacks and eventually into the coaching role.
“I’ve been living up here for the two-three years,” he said. “I’d been umpiring around Gisborne and Sunbury and the opportunity came up to coach.
“It was right in front of my eyes.”
Philby said he knew many of the Romsey girls through other netball competitions and umpired many games for the club during this year’s season.
The Redbacks A-grade side missed finals this year, finishing in sixth spot, 12 points outside the top five.
Philby said having that connection with the girls makes things easier.
“I umpired a number of games for them,” he said. “They have a good time here and I know there is a lot of young talent at Romsey.”
It’s that young talent that excites Philby.
The club’s under-19s made the grand final before losing in double overtime.
Phibily was one of the interested onlookers at the grand final.
“There is so much talent to show,” he said. “Some of the 19s will come up and I want to improve the local talents.
“We’ll have trials this week [November 14 and 21] and I’ll get a better understanding. We might have one or two positions we have to fill from elsewhere, but I’m trying to keep local and build that community and culture.”
