Welcome To The New Season

Newcastle Herald

Tuesday April 24, 2007

Renee Valentine

THE Hunter Jaegers are ready to take flight for what is likely to be their

last national netball league campaign, but they are not planning to go out

quietly.

News of a trans-Tasman series to replace the national league next year rocked

the Jaegers to the foundations in the pre-season and has left their future up in

the air.

Jaegers coach Jon Fletcher described the situation by saying he and his players

were in the shop window when news broke that only one NSW team would play

in the new-look elite competition and that team would more than likely be based

in Sydney.

They may be the newest team in the national league, but the Jaegers boast a

rich history, and Fletcher's plans were far reaching and well beyond this season.

Wholesale changes were made to the squad for 2007 - both a result of retirements,

players not renominating and Fletcher adding his own touches ? and it

boasts a youthful fl avour with a view towards a strong future for the club.

But with Hunter now staring down the barrel of extinction, expect an early

coming of age for the baby Jaegers as they put everything on the line this

season and make a charge for a first semi-finals berth.

The Jaegers have come closest to making the play-offs in their second

season, when under inaugural mentor Maria Lynch they finished equal

fourth after seven wins and seven losses but missed the fi nals with an

inferior goal difference to the Melbourne Kestrels.

The Jaegers had hoped to build on that effort for 2006 but were behind

the eight ball when Lynch was sacked and Fletcher was brought in as her

replacement well into the pre-season.

The Jaegers made a horror start to their third campaign ? they sustained a

club-worst 29-goal loss to the Perth Orioles followed by a 35-goal loss to the

Adelaide Thunderbirds - and it looked like it was going to be a long season.

But the Jaegers turned things around with a club-best 36-goal victory over the

AIS Canberra Darters then nearly upset competition heavyweights the Sydney

Swifts and Melbourne Phoenix before closing the home season with a historic

51-49 win over the Thunderbirds.

They have boasted the best crowds in the league for three years straight, and as a

result no visiting team takes lightly their trip to the Newcastle Entertainment Centre.

The Jaegers launch their season in Grafton against the Perth Orioles on April 28.

* Writer: Renee Valentine * Sub-Editor: Adam Couzens * Designer: Mandy Graham * Cover: Tiffany Lincoln * Cover photo: Dean Osland

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

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