THE 2022 Australian Netball Championship (ANC) is just around the corner, and after a Covid induced two year hiatus the redesigned national second tier competition is back. 10 teams from across the country will be facing off in Traralgon later this month for the title.

In preparation for the tournament, we are going to preview each of the 10 teams that will be competing at this year’s tournament. Next up is the GIANTS Academy.

The 2022 ANC will be the first time the GIANTS will feature in an formal competition, after not entering in the old ANL.

Fans of the GIANTS in the Suncorp Super Netball will recognise a number of faces set to take the court for their aligned Academy side at this year’s Championships.

Eight of the 12 members of the GIANTS’ ANC side are either GIANTS SSN training partners or members of the GIANTS’ actual SSN squad.

Ang Frketic, Erin Burton, Jemma Donoghue, Nat Sligar and Eliza Burton were all training partners with the GIANTS for the 2022 SSN season, and will be keen to prove themselves at these championships to retain those coveted spots next season. They also come against several of their fellow GIANTS training partners who will suit up for the Canberra Darters at these championships.

Sligar will also play alongside sister Amy at these championships, who is one of three members of the GIANTS SSN side who will suit up for the Academy side these championships, the other two being Matisse Letherbarrow and Lauren Moore.

All three of these players are contracted for next season, but really struggled to get game time in 2022, so will no doubt use these championships as the perfect platform to prove to Julie Fitzgerald and her coaching staff why they should be given more opportunities on court in 2023.

The remaining four members of the squad have all come from the New South Wales Premier League, so no doubt will jump at the opportunity to prove themselves at this level in the hope of catching the eye of an SSN club that may be looking for some training partners for 2023.

Emily Moore is a goaler, while Ellen Spencer is a defender, and Megan O’Keeffe and Emma Thompson are both midcourters.

Giants Academy 2022 ANC Team

Eliza Burton, Jemma Donoghue, Ang Frketic, Matisse Letherbarrow, Emily Moore, Lauren Moore, Erin O’Brien, Megan O’Keeffe, Amy Sligar, Nat Sligar, Ellen Spencer, Emma Thompson

Giants Academy’s Fixture

Monday August 22– Tasmania
Tuesday August 23 – Bye
Wednesday August 24 – Southern Force
Thursday August 25 – Vic Fury
Friday August 26 – Sunshine Coast Lightning