AFTER a less than ideal season in 2023, the Sunshine Coast Lightning had a huge list overhaul, with many of their regular starters no longer at the Lightning after the end of the 2023 Suncorp Super Netball season.

Whilst a list overhaul of that size normally has a negative impact on a side, it does not seem to have had that kind of affect on the Lightning, who are on the verge of making finals for the first time since 2021.

One of those Lightning players who has benefitted from the overhaul is young defender Ash Ervin.

Ash Ervin
15/5/2003 | 192cm
Goal Defence, Goal Keeper

Ervin is not always a body-on-body defender, and is not afraid to give herself some space between her and her opponent to give herself a chance to use her jump to go for the intercept. She is taller than all bar three of the shooters in the league, so she is able to really use it to her advantage.

Although Ervin may have only come onto the Suncorp Super Netball scene last year, 2024 has seen the young Sunshine Coast Lightning defender really grow and become one of the premier defenders of the competition.

She may only be 21 right now, but currently sits second in the league for defensive rebounds, third for deflections and fourth for intercepts.

Ervin is the prime example of someone who through getting more consistent game time has seen her stats grow and she grow as a player.

The beginning of 2023 saw Ervin really struggle to get consistent game time. With Kadie-Ann Dehaney and Karla Pretorious in front of her in the pecking order, it took her until the final month of the season to get more than 20 minutes of game time in a match. By comparison, she has played more than that amount in every game bar three in the 2024 season.

As a result, there was a significant jump in her averages as she was rewarded with more game time, and although it has not continued with all the stats this season, it has for some.

Stat averages – Ash Ervin in SSN

Moving into the 2024 season, Dehaney and Pretorious have moved on, and with Tara Hinchliffe still coming back from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury Ervin moved up a place in the pecking order of defenders behind new teammate Courtney Bruce.

Ervin and Bruce have become quite a solid partnership, with their differing game styles complimenting each other well.

They never get in each other’s way, and alongside Bruce’s tendency to get and go after a turnover, Ervin holds back and watches for the turnover and makes sure there is a defender there if the ball quickly gets turned over again. Although Bruce is the one who generally does it, Ervin herself is not afraid to play the other role too.