WITH five of the starting seven receiving a unanimous vote from the fans, Draft Central’s Team of the Northern Quad Series was 91.7 per cent accurate, with 11 of the 12 players in our team also making the fans’ vote side.. Five of the starting seven remain in their positions, while only the wing attack and centre positions changing, with three different players polling votes at wing attack. Australian duo, Kelsey Browne and Liz Watson both received votes to be named as the starting wing attack, as did South African, Bongi Msomi who was named in the original team. The centre position was a head-to-head clash between Silver Ferns’ star, Laura Langman and Roses’ captain, Serena Guthrie. With both tied after the initial fan vote, Guthrie won the Twitter poll to earn her spot starting, while Langman was named on the bench.

Based on the fan vote however, both Browne and Watson received more votes than Msomi, therefore moving Browne to the starting wing attack and Liz Watson to the bench.  Watson narrowly earned her spot ahead of English goaler, Jo Harten who received one less vote than Watson. There was little doubt that the starting goalers of South African, Lenize Potgieter and Gretel Tippett was the way to go, as was the entire trio of defenders. Player of the Series, Karla Pretorius and teammate Shadine Van Der Merwe were side by side in the Fans’ vote Team of the Series, while English star, Geva Mentor also received the entirety of the votes.

The bench was relatively untouched aside from the Langman and Guthrie swap, with just Watson joining English goaler, Helen Housby, and Silver Ferns’ duo, Maria Folau and Casey Kopua. All of the latter three were unanimously determined as bench players for the Fans’ vote Team of the Series.

Starting Seven:

GS: Lenize Potgieter (RSA)
GA: Gretel Tippett (AUS)
WA: Kelsey Browne (AUS)
C: Serena Guthrie (ENG)
WD: Shadine Van Der Merwe (RSA)
GD: Karla Pretorius (RSA)
GK: Geva Mentor (ENG)

Bench:

Laura Langman (NZL)
Maria Folau (NZL)
Casey Kopua (NZL)
Helen Housby (ENG)
Liz Watson (AUS)

IN: Kelsey Browne (Bench to WA), Serena Guthrie (Bench to C), Liz Watson (Omitted to bench)
OUT: Bongi Msomi (WA to omitted), Laura Langman (C to bench)