JAMAICA’s international netball season is far from over, as the Sunshine Girls are gearing up for an intriguing series with South Africa later this month.

They announced their squad for the upcoming series, with a few interesting names included and not included in it.

The most interesting part of the court is their shooting contingent.

With Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard ruled out of the series thanks to pregnancy and Romelda Aiken-George also not named, it leaves a big opportunity for perhaps some newer faces to really star and prove that not having Fowler-Nembhard is not going to be an issue moving forward.

After not being named to the national team for several years and speculation she might switch nationalities, Shimona Jok is back in the Jamaican national team and is likely to fill that tall goal shooter role normally filled by either Aiken-George or Fowler-Nembhard.

She is only a couple of centimetres shorter than both Aiken-George and Fowler-Nembhard, and with more willingness to really leap for the aerial ball than the other two, could provide an interesting different element in goal shooter than what Jamaica normally have. Aiken-George and Fowler-Nembhard normally use their height and just reach for the ball when being fed it as opposed to really leaping for the ball which is more Jok’s style of game.

The question then becomes, who plays goal attack alongside Jok?

Well, there are three main contenders – Shanice Beckford, Rhea Dixon and first time squad member Brie Grierson.

Beckford is the most experienced of the three, and is realistically the most likely to at least start the first test match. She may be the shortest of the three, but is also quick and agile, and can whip her way around opponents with ease. She is coming off an at times frustrating 2024 calendar year though, so that may play a part.

Dixon has been named in her second national team squad, after playing in the Horizon Series against England at the back end of 2024. Having now fully swapped allegiances from country of birth England, Dixon is a completely different type of player to Beckford, but domestically has partnered a goal shooter with a similar style of play to Jok for the past several years now, so should be able to partner Jok really well. She is also really composed in the ring, which can always come in handy.

That just leaves Grierson, who much like Dixon is English born but has now switched to Jamaica.

Now she provides a set of skills that is again totally different from what Beckford and Dixon provide. A couple of years ago Grierson was purely a goal attack, playing a style along the lines of what Dixon does. But, these days she has transitioned to mainly play as a wing attack, which coincided with a move to a London Pulse side that very much had a set pair of first choice shooters.

On the wing attack front, Grierson is 175cm, which is about seven centimetres taller than Jamaica’s current first choice wing attack Khadijah Williams. South Africa are a pretty tall side on average, so any extra height the Jamaicans can get is not a bad thing. Grierson is also used to feeding a shooter like Jok, so should be in tune with her style of play.

So, which way will they go? The series is three matches, so hopefully they really try all the potential combinations and truly see what is at their disposal. But ultimately, time will tell.