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RNZ News
3 hours ago
- Lifestyle
- RNZ News
Netball: Tenacious Magic midcourter impresses as ball-winner
Magics Georgie Edgecombe Photo: DJ Mills / Georgie Edgecombe's ball-hunting abilities in a position that doesn't usually shine has been turning heads in the ANZ Premiership. The Magic midcourter has been the most consistent performer in a team that struggled until earlier this week when the Magic had a big win over the Stars to notch up their first win of the season. The 24-year-old's explosiveness off the mark and closing speed have seen her win a lot of ball at wing defence, a position which requires a lot of graft but doesn't necessary get the rewards. But after four rounds, Edgecombe is in the top 10 for intercepts and sits fourth for deflections behind circle defenders Carys Stythe, Catherine Hall, and Jane Watson. Edgecombe grew up in Hamilton and lives in Cambridge where she went to St Peter's for her college years. While she was at St Peter's, she played alongside some of the country's top up and coming female athletes in two other sports, including Tall Fern Charlisse Leger-Walker. Edgecombe won national sporting titles for her school and representative sides in basketball and touch. St Peter's were national New Zealand Secondary Schools basketball champions. Leger-Walker, who has made a name for herself in women's college basketball in the United States, spearheaded the college A-team, alongside fellow Tall Fern Ella Bradley, who also plays in the USA. Former Tall Fern Leanne Walker coached the St Peter's team back then. "I was keen to be a part of the basketball team and have some fun. Obviously Charlisse is a bit of a GOAT so it was cool to play alongside her and her mum Leanne coaching us, so we had a pretty strong team led by Charlisse and Ella," Edgecombe said. Edgecombe also played in the U18 Waikato touch team when they became national champions. Members of that side would go on to represent New Zealand in touch and sevens. "Touch was definitely my summer sport that I gravitated towards and would still love to play but there's not much time in the year at the moment but loved touch and that kind of whānau based sport that I grew up playing, I spent a lot of summers on the touch field." Charlisse Leger-Walker of New Zealand Tall Ferns. Photo: Photosport Edgecombe's start in netball was typical. "I started playing when I was about eight or nine. I was definitely super sporty and netball was just one of the sports I participated in," Edgecombe said. "My parents encouraged us, I've got two older brothers we did as many sports as we could, mostly as a social thing at first and as we got a bit older got a bit more competitive and wanted to take it more seriously." At St Peter's she came under the tutelage of former Silver Fern Amigene Metcalfe, who would later become the coach of the Magic when Edgecombe first joined the team. Edgecombe captained the Senior A netball team for the three years that she was in the side. In her final year at St Peters, she was head girl and very busy. "I tried to play those other sports as long as I could but going into my final year was probably when I thought 'I could continue netball after school' and started thinking about it a bit more seriously. In year 13, I focussed mainly on netball, I still played touch in the summer but in those winter months it was just netball, it was school, it was reps." Her decision to focus on netball paid off - later that year she was named in the NZ Secondary Schools Squad for 2018. In her first two year's out of college, Edgecombe was a Magic training partner and played for the feeder team in the National Netball League. In 2020, she made the NZ U21 squad ahead of the 2021 Netball World Youth Cup, which was cancelled due to Covid. Her second season as a fully contracted Magic player in 2022 was a baptism of fire, when she was thrust into the wing attack position to help cover injury. She was mostly a circle defender at high school and the new position was counter-intuitive to what she was used to. In the season's since then she has mostly played wing defence and a bit at centre. "Wing defence is where I feel most comfortable and feel like I can have the most impact on a game at the moment but I do enjoy when I get to play centre just having the ball in your hands a bit more." Georgie Edgecombe (right). Photo: Photosport Now in her fifth year at the Magic, Edgecombe has taken a number of stunning intercepts this season. "That's every defenders most exciting part of the game and what we work towards in our trainings. I think wing defence can sometimes be a bit of a grind position where you do a lot of work out front to set things up for the defenders behind you, but it's cool in our defensive unit we've got structures where anyone can get ball. "It's just putting yourself in the right positions and definitely exciting and an adrenaline rush when you get those cool intercepts." What are the physical attributes that allow her to cover so much ground? "Agility comes into it but a lot of it I would say is fitness, having a good engine to be able to keep going for the full 60 minutes. My fitness is something I worked hard on in the off season and it allows me to keep running, that's my mentality. The wing attacks are running everywhere so I have to try keep up with them." Edgecombe was named in the Silver Ferns development squad for the first time last year, played for NZA in training matches against the Silver Ferns, and played for the FAST5 Ferns in November. She graduated from Waikato University at the end of 2022 with a Bachelor of Communications and is still figuring out what she wants to do with it. Edgecombe is not afraid to say she has her sights on the Silver Ferns. "For sure, that's definitely the goal long-term. For now my main focus is helping the Magic to be successful ... and whatever will be in the future whether it's this season or in the next season ...hopefully, it's definitely the goal." Veteran Magic circle-defender Georgia Tong said it was an asset having someone as tenacious as Edgecombe in the team. "You know that she's always going to have your back and she's just going to go and go and go again and she's a really positive person as well. Being on the line next to her is really good when you know you haven't got a few balls in awhile, she's always like 'come on we've got this next one'," Tong said. The Magic meet the Stars again on Monday night in Auckland.
Scoop
6 hours ago
- Sport
- Scoop
Pulse Happy To Be Home As Season Tightens Up
Press Release – Netball Central Zone Building into some quality form, Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse are eagerly awaiting their ANZ Premiership netball league re-match against the Northern Mystics in Wellington on Sunday. The match marks the halfway point of the campaign, this year's season being reduced to just two rounds and putting the squeeze on the importance of winning each outing. The Pulse and Mystics sit second and third, respectively, on the points table, equal on points but with the Pulse enjoying a better goal differential. The Mystics outshone the Pulse by 11 goals three weeks ago but a lot has changed since then. 'One less round has certainly made the situation a little bit more intense,'' play-making Pulse goal attack Tiana Metuarau said. 'You don't get another round to save yourselves, so every game is a must-win and we want to put ourselves in the best possible position for whatever the end of the season will look like……and put ourselves in a good position for the business end. 'We want to go all the way, of course, and we've been chipping away since the first game, so we're excited for this weekend.'' With the Pulse's attack line of Maddy Gordon, Whitney Souness, Metuarau and Amelia Walmsley playing a full 60 minutes together for the first time since 2023 in last week's match-up against the Steel, the signs for further progress are encouraging. And they are confident the necessary improvements and adjustments will happen second-time around against the Mystics, who have their own problems with uncertainty around the hand injury sustained by key shooter Donnell Wallam. 'During our pre-season we were so disrupted and a huge portion of our starting seven were on managed loads or weren't playing at all and I've only played about six or seven ANZ games in the last two years post my injury last year, so like anything, the more you do it, the better you get at it,'' Metuarau said. 'And so with the more game time we're getting as a team and as a group, I feel like we're making huge improvements and progress to be heading in the right direction.'' The Pulse got the confidence-booster they were after against the Steel, negating the influence of what can be an intimidating Invercargill crowd and showing character to come back from a strong third quarter surge from the home side to finish with a bang when posting a 25-goal winning margin. 'We all did our jobs really well, and that's what netball is. If you do your job well, you should win and that's what happened at the weekend,'' Metuarau said. 'Scoring a couple of super shots in the third quarter gave us a bit of confidence as well. With the new rules, anything within 10 goals is a somewhat pressured situation. You only have to score five two-pointers to catch up, so it's a different dynamic but definitely to head into the last quarter with over 10 points was really good for us.'' A dynamic on-court presence, Metuarau, 24, notched 100 games for the Pulse earlier in the season, playing a total of 119 so far during her career after also spending 2021 with the Steel, and nowadays is somewhat of a veteran after bursting on to the scene as a 16-year-old schoolgirl in 2017. Happy with her form and how she's tracking this season, Metuarau had her best super shot return with five from eight against the Steel and while enjoying the associated buzz has some reservations. 'I'm still very much in the mindset that it changes the game because teams can score twice as many points with doing half the amount of work type of thing,'' she said. 'The frustrating thing is if you're able to get a buffer, then the opposition start hitting all these twos, it takes away from that traditional piece of the game, all the intricacies and things that go with it, so that's the only thing I have against it. 'But it is exciting and it definitely makes you feel good when you knock down some twos.'' After successive weekends playing in Auckland followed by the long haul south to Invercargill, the Pulse can't wait to play their first match in Wellington and their much-loved home at TSB Arena on Sunday.
Scoop
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Scoop
Starting Strong: First Place Tactix Believe They Are Just Get Started
After posting their biggest ANZ Premiership win so far, the Tactix believe they have not reached their full potential as the team prepares for a round-five rematch against the Steel in Invercargill. Week-on-week, the team has been learning in game errors and have been working hard to protect their possession of the ball, with the side delivering the highest rate of intercepts and deflections with gains in round four. Reflecting on their on court gains, goal shoot Martina Salmon believes the show of improvement for both attack and defence, is only the tip of the iceberg for the Tactix. 'As a team we are just getting started, and we have so much more to give on court,' Salmon said. ''I am looking forward to what the team brings in this week's game against the Steel.' Meanwhile, Tactix head coach Donna Wilkins is resisting making too many player changes, but acknowledges the coveted shooting positions are competitive with Martina Salmon, Ellie Bird and Te Paea Selby-Rickit performing well. 'I have to be a bit more ruthless, I don't like to make a lot of changes, but I will switch things up if it isn't working…at the end of the day it is about the team result,' Wilkins said. Wilkins reiterated that the shooter's cautious use of the two-point shot is proving a winning strategy, with Ellie Bird landing 100% of her one-point goal attempts against the Mystics. 'We are seeing the other teams starting to take the two-point shot less and less, unless it comes with a degree of certainty. In the first round we saw teams taking over ten attempts, and that is drastically changing,' Wilkins said. In her seventh season for the Tactix, Ellie Bird believes working on her mindset has positively impacted her game, and helped her land 50 out of 50 shots in the last game. 'I have shifted my mentality, it's not my netball mindset that has changed, it is my mindset in life that has changed - positivity, self-belief, not beating myself up when I make mistakes, throwing perfectionism out the window… you can really surprise yourself with how much further you can go when you take those limitations out,' Bird said. She has also observed the team quickly adapting to a new era of netball under Wilkin's coaching expertise. 'I really love Donna, she has a lot to add, she has a real passion for the sport and you can see the fiery passion that she had when she was playing, come through in her coaching,' Bird said. The well-aged combination of Ellie Bird and Te Paea Selby-Rickit has brought success to the goal circle, with Bird saying they can read each other's next move on court. 'Te Paea will always be looking at me to pass the ball and I am always ready, there is a trust and confidence that you build over six years together,' Bird said. She believes the Tactix will have to work to stay at the top of the table, but the secret to success comes down to attitude and putting in the work off the court as well. 'Staying at the top just takes the top 10%, it's the team's mindset that will get us there.'
Scoop
12 hours ago
- Sport
- Scoop
Pulse Happy To Be Home As Season Tightens Up
Building into some quality form, Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse are eagerly awaiting their ANZ Premiership netball league re-match against the Northern Mystics in Wellington on Sunday. The match marks the halfway point of the campaign, this year's season being reduced to just two rounds and putting the squeeze on the importance of winning each outing. The Pulse and Mystics sit second and third, respectively, on the points table, equal on points but with the Pulse enjoying a better goal differential. The Mystics outshone the Pulse by 11 goals three weeks ago but a lot has changed since then. ``One less round has certainly made the situation a little bit more intense,'' play-making Pulse goal attack Tiana Metuarau said. ``You don't get another round to save yourselves, so every game is a must-win and we want to put ourselves in the best possible position for whatever the end of the season will look like……and put ourselves in a good position for the business end. ``We want to go all the way, of course, and we've been chipping away since the first game, so we're excited for this weekend.'' With the Pulse's attack line of Maddy Gordon, Whitney Souness, Metuarau and Amelia Walmsley playing a full 60 minutes together for the first time since 2023 in last week's match-up against the Steel, the signs for further progress are encouraging. And they are confident the necessary improvements and adjustments will happen second-time around against the Mystics, who have their own problems with uncertainty around the hand injury sustained by key shooter Donnell Wallam. ``During our pre-season we were so disrupted and a huge portion of our starting seven were on managed loads or weren't playing at all and I've only played about six or seven ANZ games in the last two years post my injury last year, so like anything, the more you do it, the better you get at it,'' Metuarau said. ``And so with the more game time we're getting as a team and as a group, I feel like we're making huge improvements and progress to be heading in the right direction.'' The Pulse got the confidence-booster they were after against the Steel, negating the influence of what can be an intimidating Invercargill crowd and showing character to come back from a strong third quarter surge from the home side to finish with a bang when posting a 25-goal winning margin. ``We all did our jobs really well, and that's what netball is. If you do your job well, you should win and that's what happened at the weekend,'' Metuarau said. ``Scoring a couple of super shots in the third quarter gave us a bit of confidence as well. With the new rules, anything within 10 goals is a somewhat pressured situation. You only have to score five two-pointers to catch up, so it's a different dynamic but definitely to head into the last quarter with over 10 points was really good for us.'' A dynamic on-court presence, Metuarau, 24, notched 100 games for the Pulse earlier in the season, playing a total of 119 so far during her career after also spending 2021 with the Steel, and nowadays is somewhat of a veteran after bursting on to the scene as a 16-year-old schoolgirl in 2017. Happy with her form and how she's tracking this season, Metuarau had her best super shot return with five from eight against the Steel and while enjoying the associated buzz has some reservations. ``I'm still very much in the mindset that it changes the game because teams can score twice as many points with doing half the amount of work type of thing,'' she said. ``The frustrating thing is if you're able to get a buffer, then the opposition start hitting all these twos, it takes away from that traditional piece of the game, all the intricacies and things that go with it, so that's the only thing I have against it. ``But it is exciting and it definitely makes you feel good when you knock down some twos.'' After successive weekends playing in Auckland followed by the long haul south to Invercargill, the Pulse can't wait to play their first match in Wellington and their much-loved home at TSB Arena on Sunday.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Game shooting in ‘right direction'
Southern Steel shooter Aliyah Dunn (left) puts up her shot as Central Pulse defender Parris Mason, Steel shooter Georgia Heffernan and Pulse defender Kelly Jackson watch on under the hoop in Invercargill. PHOTO: MICHAEL BRADLEY PHOTOGRAPHY Netball New Zealand chief executive Jennie Wyllie believes things are heading in the right direction for the sport. She confirmed last week the ANZ Premiership, facing an uncertain future due to a new broadcast deal, would return next year with all six teams involved and was likely to be played during the same time frame as this season. The 2025 season has hit the ground running and Wyllie said broadcast ratings were up 40% and the community game was "thriving". "What we're seeing is Kiwis are loving it," Wyllie told the Otago Daily Times. "It's all pointing in the right direction for netball." The ANZ Premiership has been slashed from three rounds to two this season — which means teams get only 10 games before the playoffs — and there have been innovations including the two-point shot, timeouts and a coaches box. Wyllie said there had been some "heart-stopping moments" through the opening games, and while she conceded two rounds did not make a long season, she was pleased all teams hit the court strongly. Like many traditional netballers, Wyllie admitted she had reservations about introducing the two-point shot, but felt it had its place. "It's going down well. The players are enjoying it," she said. "Sometimes you could have been a minute to go, three goals down and thought the game was done — that is no longer the case. "I think those kind of things have been really interesting talking points and great to be able to see it come to life as we envisaged it when we were planning." The tactical nature of timeouts, and when coaches used their coaches box to deliver messages during the game, intrigued her the most. "What I've loved is the strategic nature of what I'm hearing from the coaches box, when they're using their timeouts and when they're talking with their players. "We've got three new coaches in the mix this year and it's brought a really different dynamic. "I'm really impressed with how they're all being quite strategic. "I think that for me as a netty is really exciting." Aside from their blip against the Central Pulse at the weekend, the Southern Steel have been tracking well this season. They recorded a massive win over the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic and were pipped by one point against the defending champions, the Northern Mystics. Even Wyllie thought the Steel had secured a win over the Mystics — "I was screaming at the TV that there was time" — but she was proud to see how they were bouncing back after a tough couple of years. "I think it's amazing resilience and to see a team that have had a tough few years, injury plagues, with a fresh new coach in there, they've been formidable." The ANZ Premiership reaches the halfway point this weekend. The Mainland Tactix hold top spot with three wins and one loss. The Pulse and the Mystics, who are awaiting results on Australian Diamond Donnell Wallam's wrist injury, round out the top three. The Steel sit fourth with one win and three losses, followed by the Magic — who picked up their first win on Monday — and the Northern Stars. In round five, the Steel are home to the Tactix, the Pulse meet the Mystics and in a repeat of this week's game, the Stars play the Magic.
