Netball prospects bright

Press, 19 August 1978, Page 12

Netball prospects bright

The return of two former New Zealand representatives, Frances Granger and Christine Pietzner, will give Canterbury a team of considerable strength and experience at the national netball tournament in Timaru next week.

The presence of these two seasoned players will markedly improve the team’s prospects of wresting the New Zealand title back from Auckland. They are the cream on the coffee as far as Canterbury is concerned, for the provincial line-up includes four other national representatives and a South Island player. With all this talent abounding

in its ranks, Canterbury will probably be regarded as the team to beat by the tough North Island sides. Pietzner, who will captain the side and cover the centre and wing attack positions, and Granger, a superbly accurate shooter at goal attack, are both back on the courts after a season in retirement. Both played for New Zealand in 1973-74.

Like her brother, Wayne Cottrell, Pietzner is among the most tenacious and competitive of players, and her ability to direct play and unify the team’s effort will be one of Canterbury’s strengths. She will feed two of the best shooters in the coun-

try, Granger and Adrienne Prattley, .who won national honours this year after only one season of senior netball. Prattley was outstanding at last year’s tournament, and was chosen as player of the match after the North-South game. She has taken a little time to regain confidence this season after being injured. At the other end of the court Canterbury will have the highly versatile Maxine Blomquist. The national coach, Lois Muir, used her as a goal attack in the recent games against Trinidad-Tobago and on the New South Wales tour, but the Canterbury coach, Cath Brown, sees Blomquist’s talents best utilised as a defensive player. At Timaru she will be employed basically as a goalkeeper, but occasionally as goal defence or wing defence. Her uncanny ability to uncoil swiftly in mid-air to bring off spectacu 1 a r interceptions makes her a valuable asset. Stiffening the Canterbury defensive screen will be Leigh Mills, a national

! player with an admirable I big match temperament, i and Janice Henderson,. re- ' nowned for her high leaping and telescopic reach. I She was off form earlier

in the season, but has fought her way back into contention, and is exs pected to have a good tournament. Another player to

bounce back was Lyndsay Pugh, who has had an uneven season because of earlier ill health. A shooter who was converted to wing attack, she had a good trial series. Few young players have made such an impact on the game as Geane Katae, a new national representative who first played for Canterbury at the age of 14. Her quick eye and strong reflexes should enable her to feed the forwards with the right passes for favourable shooting. But she will not be the youngest member of the team. The new “whiz kid” is the 15-year-old Wai Toumouna, a Riccarton High School pupil who will benefit greatly from the pressure of a national tournament. Miss Brown has been working on fitness, handling skills and team combinations with her girls. She expects the team’s hardest games to come from South Canterbury, Auckland, North Shore and Wellington. Auckland has proved traditionally hard to beat, and Wellington took a one-goal decision over Canterbury earlier this season.