Swifts gun Paige Hadley muscles-up to take big hits at netball World Cup 2019
It’s not often a player is happy to pile on the kilos but this weight gain has changed Diamond and Swifts star Paige Hadley’s life as a netballer.
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It’s a four kilo weight gain which might just have saved the international netball career of Swifts midcourter Paige Hadley.
Four kilos which has given her the power and strength to give as good as she gets on the netball court.
A muscling up that has seen the 26-year-old bring confidence and “a bit of mongrel” in the Australian midcourt.
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“I put on more weight to take on the physical hits from players,” Hadley said of her new, improved body which regularly sees her tackle players both taller and burlier.
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“I always felt strong but now I can take hits and play my craft. Now I’m able to play along with the best. Absorb the hits and not let it affect me.
“I love playing against players who can give it to me and take it.”
The Swifts veteran has had plenty of opportunity to test her new toughness in Super Netball with a recent intense and physical battle with Jamaican defender and Adelaide Thunderbirds gun Shamera Sterling a testament to her new toughness.
Despite a significant height disparity, Hadley held her own against one of the guns of the international game and a Super Netball standout.
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The transformation was also key to Hadley being bought back into the Diamonds squad last year and then forcing her way into the World Cup which begins on July 12.
“This year I have focused on my game to bring mongrel and be a little more patient,’’ said Hadley, who required stitches after a nasty head-knock in the pre-season said.
“The Diamond way is a very quick style of netball so I wanted to be doing that while being strong, being smart.”
Hadley is just one of three players in the Diamonds who were also part of Australia’s successful 2015 World Cup campaign in Sydney.
She, captain Caitlin Bassett and shooter Caitlin Thwaites are the only players in the Diamonds 12 to have World Cup experience.
Australia’s first game of the World Cup in Liverpool is against Northern Ireland on July 12.
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WORLD CUP
July 12: Diamonds v Northern Ireland, 8pm AEST
July 13: Diamonds v Zimbabwe, 6pm AEST
July 14: Diamonds v Sri Lanka, 12am AEST
#The remainder of the schedule will be determined by pool rankings.