Netball: Five Southern Steel players in national trials

Five Southern Steel players have been named to trial for the Silver Ferns and national development squad next month.

Shooters Brooke Leaver and Te Paea Selby-Rickit, midcourters Shannon Francois and Gina Crampton, and defender Storm Purvis will join 20 other players at the week-long trials starting on December 7 in Auckland.

They will be scrutinised by a familiar face, when former Steel head coach Janine Southby oversees her first trials as national coach.

Southby was appointed as the 10th coach of the Silver Ferns last week, after coaching the Steel the past three years.

She is known to develop young players, and opted to move forward with a youthful roster in her time in charge of the Steel.

Francois is the only one of the five Steel players who has played for the Silver Ferns, but it would not be a surprise to see Southby name one or two of the others.

Purvis is a real chance to make the team, particularly with captain Casey Kopua, who is understood to be considering retirement, granted extended leave until the end of January.

There is also a chance Southby could move on from 38-year-old defender Leana de Bruin, whose playing days are surely numbered.

Crampton (23) has had only one season starting in the ANZ Championship, but is one of the more promising wing attacks in the country.

She is joined by fellow up-and-coming midcourters Samantha Sinclair and Jamie-Lee Price, both of Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic, at the trials.

Giant 1.92m goal shoot Maia Wilson (17), who has signed with the Central Pulse for next year's ANZ Championship, is the youngest player in the group, which also sees the return of veteran defender Anna Harrison after giving birth to her second child.

Cathrine Latu, who was overlooked by former Silver Ferns coach Waimarama Taumaunu for this year's World Cup and Constellation Cup, also has the chance to get back into the team under Southby.

The 2016 Silver Ferns squad and national development squad will be announced on December 10.

 


Silver Ferns
Triallists

Cathrine Latu, Brooke Leaver, Bailey Mes, Malia Paseka, Te Paea Selby-Rickit, Maria Tutaia, Ameliaranne Wells, Maia Wilson, Gina Crampton, Kayla Cullen, Shannon Francois, Laura Langman, Erikana Pedersen, Jamie-Lee Price, Grace Rasmussen, Samantha Sinclair, Leana de Bruin, Katrina Grant, Temalisi Fakahokotau, Anna Harrison, Phoenix Karaka, Jess Moulds, Storm Purvis, Sulu Tone-Fitzpatrick, Zoe Walker.


 

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