Tino Fa’asuamaleaui spouse Jordan Ngarimu among 30 foundation Gold Coast Titans netballers

The Titans fledgling netball team has unveiled its inaugural training squad with one player fans will already be familiar with from the sidelines.

THE Gold Coast Titans fledgling netball team has unveiled its inaugural training squad ahead of the 2022 Sapphire and Ruby competitions with one familiar face for footy fans.

The partner of Queensland Origin star Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Jordan Ngarimu, was among the group of 30 netballers who will fight for a place in the Titans’ top team.

Over five weeks of pre-season training the group will be split into two teams to contest Queensland’s elite Sapphire Series and its feeder competition the Ruby Series.

“I am so excited and can’t wait to get to work with our training squad in a couple of weeks,” said Titans coach and netball royalty Temepara Bailey.

“We have some work to do; however, I know the girls will be up for the challenge.

“I am looking forward to working with the girls, not only as players, but more importantly understanding who they are as people, and I am sure it will be the same for them.”

Training begins in February.

Northern Rays centre Jordan Ngarimu. Picture: Evan Morgan

GOLD COAST TITANS SAPPHIRE/RUBY NETBALL SQUADS

Leigh Alder; Stella Atkinson; Abby Boland; Tiarna Brooker; Peta Coles; Bayley d’Hotman de Villiers; Darcie Davies; Talitah Faifai; Bryah Gafa; Emily Gilbert; Lily Gray; Josie Hungerford; Tehya Hyssett; Ashleigh Keefe; Montana Ma’aelopa; Brooke Marchant; Abigail Meafou; Jessica Milne; Ellie Muir; Courtney Murphy; Dakota Newson; Jordan Ngarimu; Alorna Ngatokorua; Kristen Oxenford; Ruby Paton; Charli Pearse; Leah Pue; Madeline Smith; Amaris Toia; Trinity Toia

BOND BAIL AFTER TITANS ARRIVAL

THE arrival of the Gold Coast Titans netball franchise has forced a foundation Sapphire Series team from the same city to pull out of the competition.

Bond University powerbrokers have confirmed it will exit the state netball league, revealing they did not want to competefor talent and resources with the newly created Titans team that has secured a three-year licence for the Sapphire Series.

The Titans have a long-term ambition to enter the Suncorp Super Netball league.

“In light of Netball Queensland’s new Gold Coast franchise, Bond Sport is reviewing its netball strategy and confirms it isnot seeking to extend its current Sapphire Series licence,” a statement from Bond University read.

“After more than three years as the only elite netball club on the Gold Coast, we are incredibly proud of the role the clubplayed in developing and growing a tiered development program and substantially increasing the profile of the sport.

“The Bond Netball club believes it is in the best interests of the Gold Coast netball community to collectively get behindone team in the Sapphire Series, and not compete for talent and resources, and wishes the Titans well with their new endeavour.

“Bond Sport will always have a netball club on campus for students at the university.

“The club is extremely proud of the role it has played in the development of netball on the Gold Coast.

“During the past three years, the Bond Netball Club has invested heavily in pathway development that resulted in success atthe junior State Championships, again winning the “Under-16 title this year and finishing runners-up in the highly publicisedunder-18 grand final to the Suns under-18 men’s representative team.

“The Bull Sharks club was a foundation team in the state competition in 2019 and has competed successfully in both the Sapphireand Ruby competitions over the past three years.

“Bull Sharks teams have appeared in Sapphire and Ruby semi-finals, produced back-to-back under-16 and under-18 championshipsand/or runners-up titles, produced six Queensland under-17 representatives and twelve under-19 representatives.

“At the Australian level, the club has produced national representatives including four under-17s, six under-19s and one under-21player, and others have moved on to Super Netball teams.We trust that this heavy investment in junior development continueson the Gold Coast.”

EARLIER:

TWO-TIME Super Netball winner Gretel Bueta has backed the Titans push into the sport and opened the door for a potential homecomingwith the club.

Bueta is one of Gold Coast’s most decorated netball players, having won two titles with the Queensland Firebirds, representedAustralia and crowned the Liz Ellis Diamond award winner for the country’s best domestic and international player.

The Gold Coast Titans have secured a three-year licence to enter the Sapphire Series, beginning in 2022, and have voiced theirdesire to one day feature in the Suncorp Super Netball competition.

Bueta, 28, has thrown her support behind the move, declaring the city had more than enough talent to make the side a powerful force across the country. while revealing she was open to potentially playing for the Titans at the highest level one day.

“It is so exciting to see,” Bueta said.

“We have seen how well the Sunshine Coast Lightning have gone (since launching in 2016).

“Why not bring that to the Gold Coast? I definitely think the Gold Coast should try and get a Super Netball team. It creates more opportunities for players coming through.

“I was doing a clinic at the Hinterland Netball Association on Tuesday and they had around 120 girls going for one representative team. There is a lot of young talent coming through.”

Fellow Gold Coaster Reilley Batcheldor is another Gold Coast product who is currently playing for the Lightning while former Bond University player Ash Ervin is currently training with the Firebirds.

EARLIER:

A SUPER Netball licence is “ultimately an ambition” of the Gold Coast Titans says CEO Steve Mitchell, who on Wednesday officially announced the club’s entry into the HART Sapphire Series from next season.

As first reported by News Corp on Wednesday, former Kiwi Fern star Temepara Bailey will be the Titans’ inaugural coach (more below).

The Titans have signed a three-year deal to compete in the state league competition from April 2022 – the club’s first foray into netball and second women’s sports team after its NRLW side, which was also berthed this year.

And just like its NRLW side, the Titans’ modus operandi for the netball arm of the club’s sporting family will focus on providing a pathway for local talent to remain and play at the top level on the Gold Coast.

“There’s 11,500 participants that play netball on the Gold Coast,” Mitchell said.

“It’s an enormous community that is closely aligned with our rugby league communities.

“We have very close ties with netball. (NRL player) Tino Fa’asuamaleaui’s partner is an elite-level netball player – so too is Erin Clark’s mother, Temepara (Bailey), who we’ve been fortunate enough to secure as our coach and who will take us forward over the next couple of years as we develop this program.”

Mitchell said the club had already tapped its affiliate rugby league schools with an eye to building its base of netball development programs across the Gold Coast.

“We will work through, as we have in the rugby league space, with all the high schools we have – Keebra Park, Marsden, Coombabah, Marymount and PBC, and we will do likewise with our netball programs.

“Over the next two years (we will) work hard and connect with this community and bring this to life.”

Mitchell confirmed the club had a long-term goal of entering the Super Netball competition.

“Ultimately that is an ambition of ours but our first focus is to make sure we do the Sapphire Series really well,” he said.

“Those six (Gold Coast netball) associations and the schools that sit beside them, we need to get that right. That’s our focus in the immediate to midterm.”

Netball Queensland high performance director Demelza Fellowes welcomed the Titans’ entry into the Sapphire Series.

“It’s a thrilling day for us at Netball Queensland,” she said.

“This is another era for us in terms of expansion and the fact we can draw in a partner such as the Gold Coast Titans into our league showcases where the league is going.”

The Titans will run player trials on December 5 and 15, with the 2022 season to tip-off in late-April.

Titans lure Kiwi legend across the ditch

THE Gold Coast Titans’ fledgling Sapphire Series netball team has secured a blockbuster coaching coup, with a personal connection to Parkwood luring legendary Silver Fern Temepara Bailey across the ditch.

The two-time Commonwealth Games champion centre is one of New Zealand’s highest profile athletes - winning the country’s version of Dancing With The Stars in 2008 - and a rising star in the country’s coaching ranks.

She is also the mother of Titans hooker Erin Clark.

Coach Bailey (nee Clark, nee George) joins the Titans from the Northern Comets, a feeder team for Super Netball side Northern Mystics, who she coached to the 2021 New Zealand Beko League grand final.

The 46-year-old said the chance to lead the Titans’ foray into the world of netball and reunite with family on the Gold Coast inspired her to take the opportunity across the ditch.

“When Steve (Mitchell, Titans CEO) called me he mentioned that someone had told him ‘Erin’s mum’ should get involved,” Bailey said.

“It was quite refreshing because he didn’t know my netball history.

“I sounded Erin out initially and he was excited I was coming across.”

Bailey made her debut for New Zealand’s Silver Ferns in 1996, going on to play 89 matches before retiring from the international game in 2011 at 36, with a Netball World Championship and two Commonwealth Games gold medals won for New Zealand.

The role with the Titans will be Bailey’s first international coaching gig.

Her vision for the new club is to develop the program to contest the elite Super Netball series from as early as 2025.

“That’s the end goal,” Bailey said.

“Where this all starts is building the foundation for where we want to go.

“Obviously we are here to give opportunities and provide a pathway for young women who aspire to be better in their netball.”

Bailey turned around the battling Comets to reach the grand final in her first true season as head coach by emphasising culture over results.

Success, she said, followed naturally.

“I think that’s the excitement of being a coach,” Bailey said.

“Culture is huge, values are huge. If we get that right, with good attitude and the ability to work hard, I think we have a recipe for success along the way.”

The Titans have invited a squad of local players to trial for a place in the team, including the partner of Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Jordan Ngarimu

The squad will be selected by December 20 with a five month window to prepare for their first match expected to be in late April 2022.

Originally published as Tino Fa’asuamaleaui spouse Jordan Ngarimu among 30 foundation Gold Coast Titans netballers