WA 17U State Team Finish Second at National Champs

Western Australia’s 17U side finished second at the National Netball Championships in Darwin after going down to the undefeated Victorians (35-22) in the grand final.

The WA side was forced on the back foot from the start by Victoria and trailed by six goals at quarter time, 11 at half-time and 10 at the final change.

They made up ground on the same team that beat them by 21 goals in the last of the regular round games, but didn’t quite have the firepower to keep up with them after a long and tiring week.

In the 19U division WA finished sixth after going down to Tasmania by one goal in overtime in their final play-off game.

Consolidating an excellent week for Western Australian netball was the strong grouping of WA athletes named in age group representative teams.

WAIS athletes Courtney Bruce and Kaylia Stanton were named in the 17-strong Australian 21U squad preparing for August’s Netball Youth World Cup in Glasgow.

Fellow Western Australian Institute of Sport athletes Denise Shepley and Numi Tupaea are among another seven players invited to attend a national camp with the main squad at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra from April 30 – May 2.

Along with an Australian 21/U squad for WYC, selectors also named Australian 19/U and 17/U squads.

Tupaea was named in the Australian 19U squad, while fellow West Australians Jessica Anstiss, Natalie Bright, Sophie Garbin, Annika Lee-Jones (WAIS) and Nicole Lendich (WAIS) caught the eye of the 17U selectors.

– Netball WA