After a successful 2019 where they fell just short of the grand final, the Horsham Saints will field somewhat of a new-look side in 2021.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The side has lost star sisters Rene and Maggie Caris who are both currently on AFLW lists and will be playing netball elsewhere this year, as well as wing-attack Gabby O'Brien.
Maggie Caris who currently plays for Melbourne University Lightning, was in line to play for Australia in this year's Netball Youth World Cup, before it was cancelled due to COVID in March.
Saints' Co-coach Ash Grace is happy for the sisters who are doing great things.
"The Caris girls are playing netball elsewhere, which is really good for them and they've got a lot more to strive for now which is really fantastic," Grace said. "They're both playing and doing really well there which is all we can hope for them."
READ MORE:
While losing both players hurts the Saints, some handy recruits in conjunction with their emerging youth talent, means it's not all doom and gloom.
"We've got Megan O'Connor (Noradjuha-Quantong) back, Kiana Marshman has come down to us from the Giants and we've got Jess Farrow who is a new goalie for us as well," Grace said. "We've got a few new and returning faces which is really good and then we've got some really good juniors coming up through the ranks too, that we'll probably utilise throughout the year."
To "develop as a team" will be the goal for the Saints according to Grace.
"We're quite new (together) which is good but yeah obviously you wanna strive for success and you wanna get that flag, but to knock it down week-by-week is probably the way to go and to just keep working at it the hard way," she said.
Although there will likely be a lot of new faces in the league after a year off, Grace believes the standard of netball won't suffer.
"There's a lot of teams that have got some new players, as well as returning players which is positive," she said.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.mailtimes.com.au/
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/Wim_Mail_Times
- Follow us on Instagram www.instagram.com/wimmeramailtimes/
Did you know you can receive updates straight to your inbox? To make sure you're up-to-date with news from across the region, sign up below.
Matt Hughes
Matt is a sports journalist at The Standard.
Matt is a sports journalist at The Standard.
