Bassett chasing ‘mind boggling’ opportunities with Giants move

Sunshine Coast Lightning have lost club captain Geva Mentor and Australian captain Caitlin Bassett to free agency.

Australian Diamonds captain Caitlin Bassett has joined the Giants for the 2019 Super netball season. Picture: Brett Costello

Sunshine Coast Lightning have lost club captain Geva Mentor and Australian captain Caitlin Bassett to free agency only a fortnight after the team’s second successive Super Netball championship.

It was the latest development of a frantic off-season in which every player in the league has been out of contract.

Bassett signed a three-year deal with Sunshine Coast’s rival Giants Netball. The Giants have won more regular season matches than any other Super Netball team, but are still chasing an inaugural title.

Bassett said that staying on with the Lightning would have been the “easy option” but that she would be letting herself down if she didn’t pursue bigger things in the Harbour City.

“The lifestyle on Sunshine Coast is fantastic. For me I got to the stage, where once I’d gone to all my little cafes, and met everyone, and I just wanted to keep growing and get bigger.

“The options and opportunities down here in Sydney are just absolutely mind-boggling,” she said.

Bassett said the move was not motivated by a heftier contract but by the opportunities for employment post-retirement as she completes her journalism degree.

She also emphasised her desire to “leave a legacy on netball” and to help develop the next generation of Diamonds.

Mentor is yet to announce her destination, but the Collingwood Magpies and Adelaide Thunderbirds are the only teams left with room for a goalkeeper.

Lightning chief executive Danielle Smith said that the team “engaged in a number of contracting decisions with both players”, and highlighted the highly competitive nature of a market in which every player was up for negotiation.

The team is expected to announce replacements for Mentor and Bassett by the end of this week.

The West Coast Fever’s 2019 roster was finalised yesterday with the signings of young players Alice Teague-Neeld and Olivia Lewis, but most of the focus in Perth remained on the ugly departure of former Australian representative Nat Medhurst.

The Fever announced they were releasing Medhurst last Friday, a move that stunned teams around the league.

Fever head coach Stacey Marinkovich said yesterday she had no personal issues with Medhurst, but the club had to “bite the bullet” and replace the 34-year-old with younger talent. “We’re looking for sustained success,” she said.

That replacement was announced yesterday with former Magpie and Vixen goal-attack Teague-Neeld heading west after a disappointing season in Collingwood’s struggling forward line.

The options for Medhurst are returning to her home state and joining the Thunderbirds, signing with the Magpies or retiring.

A handful of other big names remain unsigned as Super Netball’s game of musical chairs winds up.

The Magpies confirmed yesterday that Diamonds shooter Caitlin Thwaites would not be at the team next year, but did announce the signings of captain Madi Robinson, Kim Ravaillion and Matilda Garrett.

Defender April Brandley and dual-code star Ash Brazill were not offered contracts and remain unsigned.

The Lightning surprised many yesterday by ruling out recruiting New Zealand star Maria Folau, despite the presence of Silver Ferns coach Noeline Taurua at Sunshine Coast.