GIANTS fan-favourite Tilly McDonell believes something special is brewing at the GIANTS and she can’t wait to play her role to help the club claim the ultimate success in 2024.
Entering her sixth season as a GIANT, the fun-loving 23-year-old says there’s a special feeling at the GIANTS ahead of the upcoming 2024 Suncorp Super Netball season.
“There’s definitely a buzz around the group,” McDonell said.
“I don’t want to pre-empt anything or come out of the gates too early but I feel like at the moment we are building towards something really special and exciting.
“We love coming to training every day and challenging each other and asking the hard questions and I feel the culture here is really exciting and special to be part of.”
Helping drive her ahead of the season, McDonell admits she’s hellbent on lifting to a new level this year, after what she says was a down 2023.
“I wasn’t very happy with how I went last year in terms of individual performance- it was an up and down season for me,” the young goalkeeper said.
“I left the season feeling unsatisfied and I had this fire in my gut that I wanted more individually and obviously way more for our team.”
With several new GIANTS this season - including superstar goal defence Jodi-Ann Ward, Kiwi Sam Winders, and young GIANT Erin O’Brien - McDonell is bullish about the potential of the 2024 squad.
“We’ve put in a wealth of work in the pre-season and the off-season after coming off last year where we knew our performance wasn’t good enough and it didn’t represent us and what we play for and who we are.
“We each had to personally work on a lot of things and as a larger collective and I’m excited for more pre-season games and seeing some of our combinations in action as it’s a great opportunity to keep growing before the season starts.”
Known for her infectious and fun-loving personality, McDonell says she’ll continue to take the court full of joy this season but insists there’s still a fierce competitor underneath the smile.
“I think there’s two sides to my nature,” she said.
“It’s funny that some people see me more as the goofy and down- to-earth character and then some see me as the serious competitor.
“My team and my family and friends see both sides which is interesting, but I take things I’m passionate about really seriously and I take netball really seriously and love competing for my team.
“In saying that I tend to try and find the lighter side of things and I’ll always try to find the joke in the less serious things.
“I want to make people laugh and I love talking to people and connecting to people and it’s nice to have a bit of a balance I think. If I was too serious all the time it wouldn’t be me and it wouldn’t work for me so I like having the two different spectrums to my personality.”
With strong competition for the starting goalkeeper position once again this season, the energetic defender says she’s loving the challenge amongst her teammates after a strong summer working on her game.
“I knew I had a lot to work on so I went away and had a really solid off-season and came back feeling refreshed, fit and strong and feeling ready to attack the new year and the new season.
“I’ve definitely been working hard and continue to work hard to cement that starting goalkeeper role, but in saying that I feel we’ve got a really awesome and mobile defensive unit which is so exciting.
“It doesn’t really matter to me who is out there [on the court for the GIANTS], I just want us to win and I feel our defensive team is really starting to gel and click and it’s exciting to see how it develops.
“The best defensive combos are built on trust and communication and if that continues to grow then I think we are onto something exciting.”
McDonell and the GIANTS will continue their pre-season preparations when they take on the Suncorp Super Netball’s newest side, the Melbourne Mavericks, in a pair of matches in Wagga Wagga and Griffith from March 1-3.
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