IT has been an action packed first year of Netball Draft Central filled with plenty of excitement and growth. The team here at Draft Central have worked exceptionally hard throughout the year to produce high quality content and cover a range of leagues across the world.
The 2019 netball calendar was full to the brim with the Netball World Cup the highlight of the year. The Silver Ferns broke their World Cup drought clenching victory over world number one Australia, while in the Suncorp Super Netball the Sunshine Coast Lightning looked to make history with a three-peat but fell short against a quality New South Wales Swift team.
We attended the Suncorp Super Netball, Australian Netball League (ANL) and M-League Premier Mixed and Men’s grand finals while we also covered the Victorian Netball League (VNL) throughout the year. We proved that we are not afraid to discuss all things netball related even diving into the intricacies of umpiring and look forward to consistently growing our name, repertoire and coverage with further coverage of the aforementioned league. In 2020 Netball Draft Central is aiming to cover the Queensland Sapphire Series in an endeavour to diversify our content and broaden our horizons.
Our coverage was not just restricted to Australia though, with the team covering the premier leagues in New Zealand and England such as the ANZ Premiership and Vitality Netball Super League (VNSL) respectively. Looking ahead to 2020 we are hoping to expand our international coverage and provide more in-depth wraps, reviews and articles along with a host more features.
We were lucky enough to interview fan favourite and cross-coder Ash Brazill, along with young guns Tara Hinchliffe and Jess Anstiss. We also managed to secure an interview with Silver Ferns and Lightning coach Noeline Taurua while Ameliaranne Ekenasio provided plenty of insight into her life both on the netball court and off-court. We also took our podcast to another level in 2019 and will be aiming to go even bigger and better next year.
In our first year, we also created two magazines one specified for the Netball World Cup and the other dedicated to SSSN. Both were filled with a wealth of content detailing player profiles, positions and team previews. Each magazine had player features retelling their journey to the top with the likes of injured Malawi and Melbourne Vixens shooter Mwai Kumwenda featuring in the World Cup magazine.
Diamonds delve into positives despite disapointing result
DESPITE having already lost the series, the Australian Diamonds still came away from Wednesday night’s final Constellation Cup match with something to smile about having convincingly won the final test. Reflecting on it all post match, Diamonds’ head coach Stacey Marinkovich described the importance of winning the match to bookend the year as “huge”. “I […]
Silver Ferns don’t clean sweep but still come away happy
WEDNESDAY’s final Constellation Cup match brought mixed emotions for New Zealand, because although they lost that match they were still able to celebrate post match because they had already won the whole series. Speaking after Wednesday night’s final test of the series, Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua was reflective of it all. “I thought […]
Kelpies big winners, but big picture shows plenty to still be done
DESPITE how things went for the Australian Diamonds in their recent Constellation Cup series against New Zealand, things could not have been more different for the Australian Kelpies, who clean swept their series with the Kiwis after a 71 to 39 goal win in game four yesterday. Speaking after yesterday’s match, star Kelpies’ defender Josh […]
Diamonds win match, but Kiwis still come away with big prize
THE AUSTRALIAN Diamonds have avoided an undesired series whitewash against New Zealand, winning the final match of the 2024 Constellation Cup 63 goals to 50. Proceedings were tight early, but then the Diamonds were able to really put their foot down in the second and third quarters to really open up the game on […]
Lightning strikes twice for Hobson
IMAGINE going in for a routine scan to see how your body is holding up and being told you had no ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). Being told that the previous surgery you had five years ago wasn’t performed correctly. Being told you had to have a corrective surgery right when you were climbing up ever […]
Kiwis claim series over disappointed Aussies
NEW ZEALAND has won the 2024 Constellation Cup after beating Australia 61-43 in the third test to claim the series. Diamonds’ coach Stacey Marinkovich swung the changes pre match, making three changes to the match day squad and a couple to the starting seven, but ultimately the outcome was the same result. By contrast New […]
NXT Gen League details revealed
IT WAS another important day in English netball overnight with important information released about the new Under 23 feeder league for the Netball Super League (NSL). Confirmed as the NXT Gen League, it has been designed as a development league for younger players trying to get into the NSL. Although most players named in the […]
Kiwis go two up, but not all hope lost for Aussies
NEW ZEALAND’S stranglehold of Constellation Cup matches in New Zealand has continued, after downing Australia again to take a 2-0 lead in the 2024 series. In what might have felt like a sense of déjà vu for Australia and its fans, New Zealand had a strong first half which really catapulted them to the successful […]
Celtic Cup squads begin to be announced
THREE of the four nations competing at the upcoming Celtic Cup have announced their squads for the series over the last few days. Northern Ireland has arguably the biggest names of the three announced squads so far, with Netball Super League stalwarts Michelle Magee, Emma Magee and Niamh Cooper all included. Northern Ireland coach Shenoah […]
