The Peel Football and Netball League will field its first ever representative netball side when it’s top crop of players form one team to take on the brand new Metro League early next year.
Playing under the banner of the Peel Cavaliers – the same as the men’s football side at the Landmark Country Football Championships – a handful of the PFNL’s finest netballers from their 2018 season will hit the courts in Perth on Friday nights from February to April.
Tackling the open division the Cavaliers will find themselves pitted against opposing local netball associations from around the state such as their neighbouring Mandurah Netball Association among others from Fremantle, Joondalup and Rockingham.
Run by Netball WA, the competition has been designed to underpin the West Australian Netball League (WANL), and is expected to open doors to aspiring players looking to take on higher levels of the sport.
It will be the first time the PFNL has fielded a netball team under the Cavaliers name, with the league’s new netball coordinator Anne Bowey labeling it an exciting time for the Peel-based competition.
“Just to have more associations driving up participation numbers in netball is fantastic,” she said.
“I think it’s great for the sport that the PFNL is looking to open more doors for its local netballers – it might take some time to get the team off the ground but it’s definitely exciting.”
The squad held their first trials on Sunday, and will hit the courts again this coming weekend as they mould their inaugural Cavaliers outfit.
Bowey said the side was shaping as a competitive one.
“I think we’ll have a very strong team,” she said.
“The rules state that players have to have played in the PFNL at some point in the 2018 season, and the standard of netball in the league is pretty good so I think we’ll go well.”
PFNL general manager Geoff Hiller said fielding the side was a significant step forward for the league’s netball program.
“Just to be able to offer players more ways to play than just at their local clubs is healthy for our competition,” he said.
“Hopefully it becomes a regular thing and we’re fielding more and more Cavaliers sides.”
The inaugural Metro League will be run as a pilot season, kicking off on February 8 with two weeks of finals to conclude on April 5, 2019.
Justin Rake
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
Sports journalist for the Mandurah Mail, Australian Community Media, Fairfax Media.
