Amity Bugeja, Mackay High ready for Vicki Wilson Cup championship tilt

While the long-term goal of playing professional netball has not changed, Mackay star Amity Bugeja is solely focused on the Vicki Wilson Cup finals.

The long-time dream of playing professional netball has been put on hold for one week, as Amity Bugeja prepares for a major Queensland tournament.

The Mackay High side will travel to Brisbane to compete in the Vicki Wilson Cup finals, and the Northern Mendi Rays goal attack will be an important piece of the championship puzzle.

Bugeja said the Mackay team was beginning to gel ahead of the tournament.

“We’re starting to familiarise ourselves with each other’s strengths and weaknesses, some of us haven’t spent much time on the court together,” she said.

“Bringing the cup to Mackay would be a massive achievement, winning would just be no other feeling I’ve felt before.”

Bugeja models her game on Steph Wood and Helen Housby, two professional goal attacks plying their trades in the Suncorp Super Netball.

She said reaching that level was her dream since she was a child.

“I’ve always been a fan of Steph and Helen, they bring a whole different dynamic to the game because they’re not the tallest shooters,” Bugeja said.

“If they’re that short in the big leagues doing amazing things, it means I can get there as well, whether that’s in the Super Netball or for Australia, that’s always been a goal of mine.”

Despite being a serious offensive threat for Mackay, Bugeja said the success of the side was because of the defensive efforts of her teammates.

“I thought the defenders did an absolutely amazing job in our games earlier in the year,” she said.

“Summer and Tazma aren’t the tallest defenders but they really worked so hard to help us transition into attack really easily.

“Thankfully we rewarded their intercepts and their defensive efforts, but they really helped us get a number of wins.”

The Vicki Wilson Cup finals will be held on September 2-3 in Brisbane.