Netball
2 April, 2025
Southern Roos ready to return to winners' circle
While the Southern Roos footballers are rapidly approaching legendary status, the club’s netballers are laying the groundwork for a return to success.
Its sole win in 2024 came against Pimpio, most notably on the road, when the side converted a hot start into premiership points.
Nevertheless, coach Emily Langley said finals action is not out of the picture in 2025.
“Obviously, finals are our push. I don't think you can set your sides any lower than that,
“I think we've got a really good opportunity. We've played now a couple of years together, and while last year wasn't what we wanted, our skills were improving.
“We've got a lot more fire in our bellies to really push ourselves, and I can't see why we can't make finals with what we're looking like at the minute.”
Winning is in the club’s DNA, tasting premiership success in 1997, 1999, 2013, 2014 and 2016.
That drive to succeed has attracted new players to the club.
“We’ve got Kristy Egan from the Horsham Saints, which has been a handy pick up for us,” Langley said.
“We've got April Webster, she's been working on a farm. There’s Beth Linke and Beth Harris… all of these girls cover all areas of the court.”
Langley said her side will hit the court without premier defender Tara McIntyre; however, she has her eye on a fitting replacement.
“Tara McIntyre was definitely a big loss to our senior ranks,” she said.
“She's a very handy goalie, but we wish her all the best in her new adventures.”
“We've got some young girls coming out of juniors; Rory Mason, who played quite a few games in our A grade last year, is coming along leaps and bounds.
“I think she'll come along really well in defense.”
While Mason is not a like-for-like replacement of McIntyre, Langley believes the squad can make the adjustment.
“We're probably very lucky as a team that we've got incredible versatility with our defenders and our attackers can play both ends,” Langley said.
“So we're just testing out some combinations at the minute to see which will work, but we're actually feeling really positive with what we've got on paper at the moment.”