Looking through the list of juniors heading to this weekend's Netball NSW Hart Senior State Titles is a who's who of the Orange Netball Association's Toyota Cup guns.
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Orange's under 15s and under 17s will land at Campbelltown this weekend to take on the best NSW has to offer, and both outfits will relish the chance to tackle their respective championships divisions.
Ellie Mooney, Tessa Smith, Liv Dolbel, Lucy Dean, Hayley and Caitlin Prestwidge, Georgia Cornish, Sophie Banks, Ella Stringer, Holly Board and Megan Eslick make up the under-15 side, once again coached by stalwart Tegan Dray with Sammie Spicer and Maddie Cole her assistants.
The under-17 outfit, coached by Mikayla Riley, is a star-studded group too.
Headlined by NSW under-17 rep Alex Emerson, Sophie Brisbane, Tabua Tuinakavadra, Lucy Nagle, Ally Kaufman, Farrah Staniforth, Rhiannon Dennis, Emily Williams, Poppy Keegan, Bailie-Rose Miller, Milly Wilcox and Annalise Maier make up a side that on paper looks a genuine chance of championship glory.
A number of them have all played together for a number of years and they have a few combinations established.
- Orange under-15 coach Tegan Dray
"A number of them have all played together for a number of years and they have a few combinations established," Dray said of her under-15 group, while that rings true of the under-17 side too.
Both sides have left no stone unturned in their respective title bids, the under 15s having the benefit of playing together in the Bing Lee West-Central West Regional League, in which they claimed an undefeated title win.
Dray, Spicer and Cole worked hard through that tournament to establish those combinations the former mentioned, before explaining the group's goals won't necessarily be outcome-based this weekend.
"If we have a go, enjoy themselves and play some hard netball, that's what we want from the weekend. I prefer to look at development," Dray said.
"We played championship division last year and have played in carnivals against championship level teams, so we know what we're getting into."
"We're hoping the fitness is good enough."
The under-17 group all rolled through the Regional League too but didn't have the benefit of playing together, Riley explained they were split between the association's two division one sides, which claimed a one-two finish.
In fact the first time they played together was only a few weeks ago, although they do know each well on and off the court, that familiarity a crucial factor.
"Obviously (that's) not a lot a lot of time to learn the ins and outs and work on our combinations, but there's still a number of girls who've played together," Riley, assisted by Em Brisbane, said.
"We've tried to make sure the girls have all gelled and bonded really well.
"Obviously being an under-17 side it has bottom aged and top aged (players) and we've tried to make sure the girls know each other well."
She said the side was playing a "really good brand of netball", but like Dray hadn't set goals for the tournament, and will instead focusing on playing the best game style they could.
Games begin from 9.30am on Saturday morning.
- ORANGE UNDER 15s: Ellie Mooney, Tessa Smith, Liv Dolbel, Lucy Dean, Hayley and Caitlin Prestwidge, Georgia Cornish, Sophie Banks, Ella Stringer, Holly Board, Megan Eslick
- ORANGE UNDER 17s: Alex Emerson, Sophie Brisbane, Tabua Tuinakavadra, Lucy Nagle, Ally Kaufman, Farrah Staniforth, Rhiannon Dennis, Emily Williams, Poppy Keegan, Bailie-Rose Miller, Milly Wilcox, Annalise Maier
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