The GIANTS have made the best possible start to the 2021 pre-season, dominating two practice matches against the Adelaide Thunderbirds.
The GIANTS squad hit the road to the regional New South Wales town of Orange for the weekend, where they were warmly welcomed by the local community.
The squad was missing Diamonds Jamie-Lee Price and Kiera Austin, as well as Matilda McDonell - whose workload was being managed - but it was a great opportunity for the club’s training partners Annie Miller, Amy Sligar, Jemma Donoghue and Latika Tombs to travel with the team, along with GIANTS Academy athlete Ang Frketic.
The GIANTS hit the court on Friday night in a match closed to the general public but with a small contingent of families and friends in attendance.
The team started with Jo Harten and Sam Poolman at either end and with five training partners getting their first taste of top-level netball.
“It was the first opportunity for a lot of those girls in the orange dress and they were just so excited and so proud to pull it on which was great to see,” mid-courter Amy Parmenter said.
“They all absolutely smashed it. They all played a significant amount of the match and looked like they regularly mixed it against the top teams.
“The Thunderbirds were missing Shamera Sterling and Lenize Potgieter so it was a real battle of the young guns out there.”
The GIANTS won the match by 19 goals with the next generation of GIANTS all getting valuable court time.
Saturday saw the GIANTS get out and about in Orange and run a clinic at the PCYC netball courts with the Orange representative teams in attendance.
“It was so great to be back at a clinic and able to see and interact with young netballers for the first time in a long time,” Parmenter said.
“They were all in the Orange rep gear which helped turn the place orange and it was great to see most of the girls in the crowd at the game that night too.”
Saturday night saw a sold-out crowd watch the GIANTS defeat the Thunderbirds by 31 goals with a familiar line-up of Poolman, April Brandley, Kristiana Manu’a, Parmenter, Maddie Hay, Sophie Dwyer and Harten all playing the first three quarters.
The final quarter saw hometown hero Annie Miller come on to the roar of the local crowd.
“That was such a cool moment and you definitely don’t take the crowd for granted after last year,” Parmenter said.
“It was a really steady and consistent game and we were able to build on the night before.
“It’s the best I’ve ever seen Sophie Dwyer shoot, she was a standout in probably her first game as part of the starting seven.
“She played so well in a good combination with Jo and was sinking Super Shots from everywhere.”
Parmenter also left a lasting impression on one local following a chance meeting in the supermarket.
“I ran into a lady at the supermarket who says ‘Hi Amy’ as I walked by,” Parmenter said.
“We got chatting and she was actually the mum of the umpire from the Friday night game.
“She told me about her daughter Tash who has cystic fibrosis and alopecia and just loves netty. She plays netball, coaches netball and even coached Annie when she was younger.
“Tash is one of those people who makes the netball world go round and when I heard she was coming back from her third ACL, I though she deserved a little something from the GIANTS.”
The GIANTS will next hit the court on March 24 and 25 with another pair of pre-season matches against the Melbourne Vixens and Sunshine Coast Lightning.
