Giant coup snares Caitlin Bassett for 2019 Super Netball
THE signature of the most wanted woman in Super Netball has been secured in a giant coup for NSW netball.
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THE signature of the most wanted woman in Super Netball has been secured in a giant coup for NSW netball and fans.
Australia captain Caitlin Bassett will on Tuesday be confirmed as the star signing of a Giants club hoping to make it third time lucky in the elite netball competition in 2019.
And in Bassett they have found a player who knows how to get the job done with the Diamonds gun part of the winning Sunshine Coast Lightning team the past two years.
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The signing is also a significant get for the state of netball in NSW with Bassett a major drawcard for netball fans.
Bassett’s decision to move south for the 2019 season is the biggest news in the game since Super Netball teams were allowed to sign players from rival clubs post the Grand Final late last month.
The Daily Telegraph flagged Bassett, who lead Australia at the Commonwealth Games, as a potential Giant over a week ago.
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The Giants have fallen short in their goal of winning Super Netball in both 2017 and 2018.
The first year of the competition they were beaten by Lightning in the Grand Final and this year were downed by Bassett and her now former teammates in the preliminary final.
Bassett will be a perfect fit for a side which will head into 2019 without veterans Susan Pettitt, a former shooting teammate of Bassett in the Diamonds, and defender Bec Bulley.
Lightning’s 2019 team will again be coached by Noeline Taurua who last week was named Silver Ferns coach.
Having the Diamonds captain playing under the coach of Australian netball’s biggest rival may have been viewed as a less than ideal circumstance in a world cup year.
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Interestingly the move to the Giants will now see her play alongside England’s leading shooter, Jo Harten, who has re-signed with the Giants last week.
Basset’s decision to move to Sydney will also be a major benefit to young midcourter Jamie Lee Price who recently made her first Diamonds squad but has yet to make an Australian 12 for an international series.