Australian Netball Championships 2022: Reilley Batcheldor suspected ACL injury
A rising Sunshine Coast Lightning star has gone down with a suspected ACL injury while playing in the Australian Netball Championships.
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Things have gone from bad to worse for the Sunshine Coast Lightning with rising shooter Reilley Batcheldor hitting the pine with a suspected ACL tear at the Australian Netball Championships.
It is a big blow for Lightning who already lost their coach Kylee Byrne this off-season.
It follows the club’s worst SSN performance, where they failed to make the finals for the first time.
Batcheldor, went down, crying in pain, late in the second quarter against Force on Thursday, after catching a ball.
She immediately grabbed her knee. Team doctors helped her off the court before she was placed in a wheelchair.
The 19-year-old, who rose to the SSN after playing with QUT Netball.
If confirmed as an ACL tear it will be the second time the long range shooting specialist has suffered the same injury, first tearing it in 2019.
Batcheldor netted 76 per cent of her shots for Lightning this SSN season, totalling 169 goals and 37 super shots.
Vixens GA Kiera Austin, who recovered from her ACL tear in less than 12 months to return this season and earn a Diamonds call up, reached out to Batcheldor via Instagram, sharing a cartoon reminding her fellow shooter that she will bounce back.
“Just popping in to remind you that it’s all a wave baby. One second you are on top of the entire ocean then you are face first into rock bottom,” the cartoon says.
“You know what’s dope about the scientific makeup of the human body you float.”
The 20 rising stars of the Australian Netball Championships
- Emma Greenwood
The rising stars of Australian netball will hit the court in Traralgon from Monday as the revamped national second tier competition kicks off.
The Australian Netball Championships may be a shortened format that replaced the season-long Australian Netball League but after being cancelled for the past two years due to Covid, any chance for generation next to hit the court has been welcomed.
While many of the 10 teams will boast Super Netball players who mainly rode the bench throughout the season in the best league in the world, a new a new generation of names and a few old favourites will hit the pine.
The likes of the Melbourne Vixens’ Olivia Lewis (Victorian Fury), Rudi Ellis (West Coast Fever Reserves), Lauren Moore (Giants), Sunshine Coast’s Reilley Batcheldor (Lightning) and rising NSW Swifts star Sophie Fawns will take part in the competition while former Diamonds goaler Nat Medhurst will make her return to the court for the Fever as a mother of two.
But it is a new generation of stars that are set to ignite the court and excite fans who can watch the competition through Fox Sports and Kayo this week.
RISING STARS OF AUSTRALIAN NETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
CAPITAL DARTERS
Milla Papallo
A member of the Australian U19 squad, Papallo, a centre-wing defence who moved to the capital to study at ANU, will help guide the Darters around the court, with her dream to play at Super Netball level receiving a true test from a gaggle of experienced midcourters. With the Darters one of the few teams not linked to a Super Netball side, they have fewer players experienced at that level and Papallo will need to stand firm, with the side set to be tested by the competition’s big guns.
Latika Tombs
As the daughter of a former Wallaby and 94-Test Diamond, Tombs has an excellent sporting pedigree. But like so many elite players her age, Tombs’ chances on centre stage have been few and far in between over the past two years as Covid smashed chances for players just below Super Netball level. The midcourter will be banking on plenty of court time for the Darters - not only to help her team but to take another step on the path towards playing regular elite-level netball.
COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES
Olivia Wilkinson
The talented goaler was named in the Australian U19 squad earlier this year and continues to progress through the ranks after being named in the national U17 squad. Her talent has earnt her a place as a training partner at the Magpies and the Peninsula Waves regular will be out to help her side make its mark this week.
Zoe Davies
She may not have taken the sport up until she was 15 but Davies’ dedication to excellence has pushed her all the way to a training partner role with the Magpies’ Super Netball outfit where she made her debut last season. Player of the grand final in the City West Falcons’ Victorian Netball League premiership win earlier this month, Davies heads into the ANC in outstanding form and the dynamic defender will be a challenge for the best goalers in the competition.
GIANTS ACADEMY
Erin O’Brien
Another member of the national U19 squad, the 189cm defender is a training partner with the Giants’ Super Netball outfit. Mobile for her height, the circle defender will prove a nuisance for shooters throughout the week in Traralgon, where her progress will be guided by Giants assistant and former Super Netball star Sam Poolman.
Eliza Burton
Midcourter Burton is another with an outstanding netball pedigree, with her mother Nicole (nee Washington) having played for the Adelaide Thunderbirds in the 1990s. A Canberra product, the lightning quick attacking midcourter will be out to impress ahead of Super Netball pre-season, pushing her case for inclusion in the game-day squad if cover is needed for a contracted player.
SWIFTS ACADEMY
Audrey Little
The midcourt ace was named player of the grand final at the national U19 titles earlier this year after her back-to-back intercepts helped turn the decider in favour of NSW and ensured her selection in the national squad. The daughter of former Wallabies great Jason, Little is also a Swifts training partner who is expected to challenge the best at the ANC this week.
Ali Miller
Like former Diamond Nat Medhurst, who will play for the Fever in Traralgon this week, former Swifts training partner Miller returns to the ANC a mother and hopes to channel the form of fellow shooter Gretel Bueta when she turns out for the Swifts. The towering goaler made her way through the pathways to the Swifts squad a few years ago and now returns to the elite level the mother of one-year-old Talanoa as fit and motivated as ever.
QUEENSLAND SAPPHIRES
Ashleigh Ervin
Originally a shooter, a poor 2020 season became the impetus for a positional switch, with what her mother called a “message from the netball gods” sending her into defence. Whatever the reason, it’s been a blessing for Ervin’s career, with the Australian U19 squad member one of the country’s top young defenders and a training partner with the Firebirds last season.
Leesa Mi Mi
The younger sister of former Firebirds midcourter Jemma, Mi Mi has plenty in common with her sibling, playing in the midcourt and possessing speed and feeding ability that recently helped the Cougars to a third consecutive premiership in the Queensland Sapphire series. Will link well with the strong Cougars connection in the Sapphires team.
SOUTHERN FORCE
Lucy Austin
The sole full-time Super Netball contract holder on the rising stars list, Austin remains a rising star given her relative rawness at the elite level. A member of Australia’s U21 squad in both 2020 and 2021, like all players selected during the pandemic, Austin has not had the chance to don the green and gold at the junior World Cup but her time will come soon.
Kayla Graham
MVP at the national U19 titles earlier this year, Graham will also play a pivotal role in attack for the Force, teaming with Austin in the circle, with her athleticism and workrate complimenting holding shooter Austin. With fellow Australian U19 squad member Poppy Gilfillan-Silk, Graham and Austin will form a shooting combination few teams will be able to match if all are on song.
SUNSHINE COAST LIGHTNING
Ava Black
The versatile midcourter has risen through the ranks of the Queensland pathway, being spotted by the Lightning, who added her to their Super Netball squad as a training partner. After adding wing defence to her midcourt repertoire, Black also impressed national selectors, who added her to the Australian U19 squad and she’s sure to impress in Traralgon.
Lily Gribble
The young defender is one of the less experienced members of the Lightning team but set to step up to the challenge in Traralgon as they work to build a strong second-tier side after the most difficult Super Netball season in their shirt history. A state league stalwart who has had links to both Queensland Super Netball franchises, Gribble will be looking for a strong ANC campaign to bolster her chances of a formal training partner relationship with the Lightning.
TASMANIA
Ashlea Turner
The sole Tasmanian named to the national U19 squad following the Australian championships in the Apple Isle earlier this year, Turner will be a key member of the ANC squad this week. The young goaler is comfortable in both positions in the circle and will shoulder a mountain of work this week.
Hannah Lenthall
The former Australian U17 and U19 squad member will be called on to do plenty of work in the midcourt, with the Tasmanians one of the few teams without regular Super Netball experience. Will be better for the experience.
VICTORIAN FURY
Gabrielle Coffey
A proud Wiradjuri woman originally from the Northern Territory, Coffey hopes to join Donnell Wallam as one of the only Indigenous players in the league if she gets to add to her Super Netball games tally after making her debut for the Magpies under Covid contingencies last season. A canny defender, Coffey has been working under the eye of mentors Jo Weston and Emily Mannix and is keen to show this week what she has learned from the pair.
Sharni Lambden
Lambden is another who gained the opportunity to make her Super Netball debut last season due to Covid and shone when she came on for the Vixens at wing defence. Lambden will be more than comfortable on court in Traralgon, returning to the scene of one of her first outings for the Vixens last pre-season, where her performance against the Thunderbirds underlined her ability at the elite level.
WEST COAST FEVER RESERVES
Ingrid Moss
Most netball fans would know the zippy midcourter under her maiden name of Colyer, the former Fever player who tore her ACL during the already-torturous 2020 hub season. But Moss will make her return to the ANC a mother, like former Diamonds shooter and teammate Nat Medhurst, who will also line up in Traralgon. Moss has to receive injury clearance to play but if she does, will join a strong Fever line-up in the carnival.
Zoe Cransburg
The Covid-forced cancellation of last year’s titles denied Zoe and twin Jordan the chance to play the 2021 ANC together for the Vixens and the pair will now line up as rivals, with Zoe a key member of the Fever squad having moved across the country to study in the west and forcing her way into the Fever’s Super Netball squad on four occasions in their premiership season due to Covid.
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