Missing Trio Hamper Flight Of The Phoenix

Newcastle Herald

Thursday May 10, 2007

Renee Valentine - Netball

SHARELLE McMahon, Bianca Chatfield and Natasha Chokljat boast 402 national netball league appearances between them not to mention 134 Australian caps.

Their total national league experience is more than double that of the 13 other players in the Melbourne Phoenix squad combined.

But Phoenix head to Newcastle today without the experienced trio for their clash with the Hunter Jaegers tomorrow night.

McMahon, Chatfield and Chokljat are in England on tour with the Australian team in preparation for the World Cup in November.

Phoenix coach Julie Hoornweg still has experienced players Ingrid Dick, Wendy Jacobsen, Johannah Curran and Renae Hallinan at her disposal but will be fielding some untried partnerships.

"Every game is a danger game, but when you've got three of your leading players out, certainly it is," Hoornweg said. "It gives opportunities to others, so that will be fantastic, but we'll have combinations on court that have not played there before.

"Last week against [Perth] Orioles we gave quite a few opportunities.

"Some of them came on and performed particularly well but, like anything, there were a few teething problems, so we've worked through those at training this week.

"Hopefully we'll be a bit smoother in our transitions this week."

Like the Jaegers, the Phoenix started the season with players untested in the national league.

"Some of those might get a taste this week," Hoornweg said. "We had a new one out on court last week in Talei Bari, who had her first run ever in CBT [Commonwealth Bank Trophy]. Sarah Wall got some more court time she hasn't had any for a little while and Sarah Ashmore and Abby Sargent have been splitting their court time each week, and they're getting stronger every time they go out on court."

Phoenix are unbeaten after two rounds. The Jaegers opened their season with a 56-51 win over Perth then lost 59-42 last week to Adelaide.

"I saw their match against Thunderbirds last week, and they've got some fine young talent," Hoornweg said. "I think they looked particularly strong in the second and the third quarters they seemed to combine well and work the ball through the mid-court, so we'll be looking to our mid-court players to make their life a little bit more difficult.

"[Emma] Koster and [Jessica] Mansell and the young defender, Maryanne Hamilton, they seemed to put the shooters under a bit of pressure, so we'll have to make sure that we work hard enough down in attack to combat that."

The match is the first at home for the Jaegers this season and is one of just five games in Newcastle this year.

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

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