ONE of the absolute standouts of this year’s Netball Super League (NSL) season has been Leeds Rhinos defender Vicki Oyesola.

Not one of the biggest names in the competition, Oyesola has been putting out consistently strong performances that will hopefully have her on the radar of the Roses pathway system sooner rather than later. Perhaps the fact she is not at a top performing club has worked against her and her ability to get recognised, but either way hopefully this season’s performances will change that. 

Oyesola was particularly impressive on the weekend against Manchester Thunder, helping her side to almost pull off an almighty upset against the reigning champions. She finished with 10 deflections, five turnovers, three intercepts and a rebound in the narrow loss. 

With her performance against the Thunder as source material, this Player Focus aims to take a deeper dive into Oyesola’s game, and try to determine what makes her such a great defender.

From the get go it was clear that Oyesola is not afraid to come flying out of the circle and challenge for a possible intercept. She does not fear potentially getting called for a penalty or what the ramifications might otherwise be if she does not successfully land the intercept.

Oyesola is a very physical defender, and is well prepared to test the line of whether her defending action warrants a call of contact or not. She likes to use a very body on body style of defending, and the shooter is always well aware of her presence. 

She is always very alert to her surroundings, and even when not defending her specific opponent or the shot she is always trying to block off any possible pass options while the opposition team is heading into attack.

Oyesola also communicates well with her fellow defenders, never getting in the way of the goal defence while moving around the circle.

Although she did finish the weekend’s clash with a team-high 14 penalty calls, most did not come from mistimed intercept attempts, but mainly from her physical defensive style in the circle.