Darling Downs Panthers duo named in Queensland squads

Darling Downs Panthers duo set their sights on Queensland representative honours after impressing selectors at state titles.

Teen duo Simone Botha and Amy Williams are ready to stake their claim as the Netball Queensland stars of tomorrow.

The Darling Downs players were recently named in under-17 and U19 Queensland squads.

Botha was selected in the initial U17 squad, with Williams named in the U19 side.

The selections were made off the back of the Queensland State Titles held at Nissan Arena recently.

For both players, earning a place in the side came as a surprise after the highly-competitive state titles.

“It was a mixture of emotions, I was really shocked and I don’t think I have fully processed it yet,” Botha said.

“I thought I was playing well and I was hoping for a chance but you never know.”

For Williams, this year was all about returning to the court as she took part in her first major competition since her ACL reconstruction last year.

“It was a huge shock (to make the team), I didn’t really expect it,” she said.

“This year was definitely about just getting back into the swing of things so I wasn’t expecting anything huge and it was very surprising hearing my name called.”

Williams said she was proud to make the side after all the hard work she had put in over the last 15 months to return to the court.

“There was a fair bit of work in that rehab process so that did feel pretty good knowing that all that hard work had paid off.”

Darling Downs netballers Amy Williams and Simone Botha.

It has been a meteoric rise through the netball world for Botha as she only took up the sport in 2020 and was delighted to have achieved one of her goals which she has been working towards.

“I have had this as a goal since last year so I have worked really hard to try and get there,” she said.

However, there is still plenty of work with the pair set to participate in a rigorous training camp with the squad size to be cut down before next year’s National Netball Championships.

The squads, which consist of 30 players each, will take part in six training camps before they are cut down to just 16 players each.

“We have training as a squad in November and December, then in early December, they will announce a squad of 16,” Botha said.

“Then in January, we do more training and they will announce the team for nationals.”

The final team will consist of 12 players from each age-group who will represent Queensland at nationals next year.

Botha and Williams are both using this selection as motivation for the coming months to try and make it as far as possible in the team.

“I have about a month before that first camp so I am definitely going to put in the hard work between now and then so that will be a big driving factor trying to get as close to that 16 as I can,” Williams said.

After making the squad in 2021, Williams said she had hoped to return to the side but after suffering her injury last year.

“I previously made the Queensland squad in 2021,” she said.

“I was an invitee and then got elevated, so it was my goal after that to make that squad again but obviously I hurt myself so I wasn’t eligible for that squad last year.

“It was a pretty big goal, not as much for this year, this year’s main goal was just trying to get back into competition without getting hurt again.”

Looking ahead, Williams and Botha were hopeful to continue making rep sides in the future with the former hoping to make the final U19 Queensland side next year.

“I am bottom-age for the Queensland Under-19 team this year so definitely next year I would like to come really close to making that team and that is probably my nearest goal,” Williams said.

“My future goals would probably be playing for those higher up teams like the Queensland Firebirds and teams like that.”