AFTER breaking a 10-year finals drought last year, Heathcote will hit the new HDFNL netball season confident it can continue the impressive gains of recent seasons.
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The Saints, under reappointed coaches Brooke Bolton and Kelsey Hayes, could consider themselves ultra-unlucky not to have snapped the drought a season earlier when they narrowly missed the finals, but were quick to rectify the situation by finishing the 2023 home and away season in fourth before narrowly losing to Mount Pleasant in the elimination final.
With a core of dual Esther Cheatley medallist Bolton, Hayes, goaler Georgia Bolton, Isobel and Chelsea Caughey and Jen Van Neutegem returning for another season and some promising replacements putting their hand up to fill the gaps left by departures, the Saints should be more than capable of taking another big step forward and hopefully further bridge the gap on the competition's big guns.
Have you managed to retain most of last year's A-grade squad?
"We've lost (goal shooter) Annalyse Carroll, which is a big loss, and we've lost Maeve (Hogan) as well, which is a bit of a shame. They've both moved away, so it's nice that they just don't want to play under us or have gone to another club around here. Both of them toyed with committing with us, but decided it was probably just a bit too far for them to keep coming back. It's a bit of a challenge for us in replacing them, but I feel we are coming along alright and we are starting to find out how we are going to fill those holes. With Maeve having played at both ends of the court, the only goaler we've retained from last season is Georgia Bolton."
How do you go about replacing the goaling losses?
"We've got a couple of goalers in the pipeline. Sophie Pica, who has played quite a bit of basketball, but has had a few years off netball, has joined the club. She previously played at Strathfieldsaye. And we are also looking at Jess Peck. She played in our A-reserve last year, but played A-grade previous to that, but as a goal keeper. She played shooter as a junior, but hasn't shot in a while. But she is really committed, quite tall and strong and coming along nicely. Both of those girls are putting the hard work in at training and we're happy with how they are progressing. We see plenty of upside in both players."
Albeit you lost last year's elimination final, the club's first A-grade finals appearance since 2013 must give you plenty of momentum going into 2024?
"There were a lot of positives to take from last year. Obviously retaining a lot of the side is a positive, particularly the defence end. I feel we should be able to pick up from where we left off and really push ourselves to be even better up that end this year, and through the midcourt as well. The goaling end might take a bit, just with the new combination, but we can see so much potential in both Sophie and Jess. So we are excited to see what they can offer us."
How are your numbers across the grades?
"We've been really stoked. Nearly all of our under-17s from last year have come up; there is only one who has decided not to play. With six or seven (players) coming up, that will really strengthen all of our grades. And we have picked up a few other girls we are really excited about. We have picked up Hayley Hogan, who can be a really good addition for us. She's a midcourter, has played A-grade at Bridgewater in the past. Probably for as long as Kelsey and I have been at the club, it's the strongest group across the board we've had in the senior grades. So I am hoping the entire senior group will be more successful."
No doubt you will be eying to make it back finals appearances in 2024?
"Finals is definitely the aim, but more than that we'd love to win a final. As long as keep pushing and moving forward and getting better every week, hopefully we can be even more competitive than we have been over the last few years against those top sides."
SEASON FIXTURE
ROUND 1 - April 6
v Mount Pleasant (a)
ROUND 2 - April 13
v LBU (h)
ROUND 3 - April 20
v Colbinabbin (a)
ROUND 4 - April 27
v North Bendigo (h)
ROUND 5 - May 4
v Elmore (a)
ROUND 6 - May 11
v Leitchville-Gunbower (h)
ROUND 7 - May 18
Bye
ROUND 8 - May 25
v White Hills (a)
ROUND 9 - June 1
v Huntly (h)
ROUND 10 - June 15
v Colbinabbin (h)
ROUND 11 - June 22
v LBU (a)
ROUND 12 - June 29
v Mount Pleasant (h)
ROUND 13 - July 6
v North Bendigo (a)
ROUND 14 - July 13
v Elmore (h)
ROUND 15 - July 20
v Leitchville-Gunbower (a)
ROUND 16 - July 27
Bye
ROUND 17 - August 3
v White Hills (h)
ROUND 18 - August 10
v Huntly (a)
