Rising stars get their shot in accelerated Super Netball season

An accelerated Super Netball season may be stretching the limits of the sport’s biggest stars, but a host of talented youngsters are thriving.

Sunshine Coast Lightning netballer Binnian Hunt. Picture: Glenn Hunt

An accelerated 2020 Super Netball season may be stretching the limits of the sport’s biggest stars, but a silver lining has been the extra opportunities provided for a host of talented Australian players waiting in the wings.

The persistent complexity of border closures and quarantines forced by COVID-19 has resulted in a Super Netball season based in Queensland for the foreseeable future, with each team playing two matches per week.

To help clubs manage this increased workload, match day team lists have been increased from 10 players to 12, with a total of 14 athletes allowed into the hub.

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Those changes, combined with the introduction of unlimited rolling substitutions, have seen a huge spike in rotations and plenty of chances for the next generation of talent to enjoy some game time.

After three rounds, 15 Australians have made their Super Netball debut, a flood of talent welcomed by national under-21s head coach Kylee Byrne.

“In our (Super Netball) environment, sometimes they’re there just to make up numbers, or to help you get some strategy or opposition scenarios. But what I love is that they’re actually in match situations now, and they’re having to learn as they go, and you can see the ones that are adapting and making the most of every opportunity,” Byrne said.

This exposure is doubly important in 2020, after Netball Australia was forced to abandon the second-tier Australian Netball League that has served as a key pathway for talent identification and development.

Young players have struggled to break into Super Netball teams in previous seasons, with experienced players extending careers and international stars flocking to the Australian league.

The problem has been most pronounced in the shooting circle, where some Diamonds have had to settle for regular time on the bench.

Binnian Hunt has lived that struggle for shooting opportunities over the past five years. After some promising performances in Queensland’s underage representative teams, two knee injuries led to her being dropped as a training partner with the Queensland Firebirds after the 2016 season.

She was then signed to train with the Lightning and has had to wait three years before finally getting the chance to take the court a week ago in Sunshine Coast’s Round 2 win over Collingwood.

Hunt described her sudden shift from the fringes of the team to the court this year as an absolutely surreal experience.

“You’re playing with role models and idols that you’ve always looked up to. You’ve just got to pinch yourself sometimes and calm your nerves because you’re thinking, ‘Oh my gosh I’m passing the ball to (New Zealand captain) Laura Langman’.”

Sunshine Coast head coach Byrne has Hunt pegged as a future Diamond, which would come as no surprise in a talented sporting family.

One of Binnian’s brothers, Herman, was a prop with the Queensland Reds, and another, Hymel, is starting on the wing for the Newcastle Knights this weekend. Former Wallaby and cross-code star Karmichael Hunt is Binnian’s cousin.

Victorian midcourter Molly Jovic was only getting an occasional match with Collingwood’s feeder team, the Tasmanian Magpies, in 2019, and was focusing on a career in accounting as her netball prospects faded.

Then she was offered a training partner position with Collingwood, which opened the door for a debut in Round 1. Jovic is competing for court time with a talented unit of players, but was named match MVP on Tuesday after a starring role in the Magpies’ four-goal win over the Queensland Firebirds.

“It’s a shock that I’m here now, after that journey,” she said.

“It’s great to see people who have struggled to push through to this level before actually getting an opportunity to show what they can do,” Jovic said.

Byrne said that coaches around the sport are encouraging the league to make the shift to 12 player teams a permanent change.

One impediment could be cost. Club training partners are only guaranteed a small salary of a few thousand dollars per season, but all additional players in team hubs are currently being paid the league’s minimum wage of $30,000 pro rata.