AT THE END OF THE DAY | Orange stars to watch out for in 2022

Topping the charts in none other than Annie Miller.

The former Life Studio gun made her debut for the Giants Netball - in front of a packed home crowd mind you - during their preseason tour out west in 2021 and she also managed to get on the court in the Suncorp Super Netball season proper.

But with any luck, her time with the Giants will only act as the introduction to what could be a long and illustrious career. Miller signed on with the Sunshine Coast Lightning.

Miller's new head coach Kylee Byrne said she was excited to see what the Orange talent could bring to the team.

"I think she will really benefit from our Lightning program, working with our team of coaches and high performance staff, as well as our nine other athletes.

"One thing I'm really looking forward to in our 2022 team is the injection of young talent - they are excited, eager to learn and want to put in the hard work to get those on court opportunities.

"Athletes like Annie and Reilley (Batcheldor) are the future of Lightning and I really believe will complement our core group of leaders."

Next on the list is a pair of rugby league players who could be destined for big things.

Jack Cole and Addison Williams were both selected for the Penrith Panthers Jersey Flegg squad for the 2022 season.

Williams will be most remembered here is Orange for nailing a 50 game-winning penalty goal from the halfway line against the Bathurst Panthers for Orange CYMS last season, while Cole is also currently in the Future Blues squad, training with some of the game's best up and comers.

Where they go from here is still unknown, but it's sure something I'll keep an eye out for.

Next up are arguably the two best young cricketers to come out of Orange in the past decade. That would be Phoebe Litchfield and Blake Weymouth.

One has already had her fair share of success, with Litchfield playing a prominent role for the Sydney Thunder in the WBBL, while also lining up in the opening day team for the NSW Breakers in the national 50 over competition.

Weymouth is on the other end of the spectrum, someone with all the talent and still a lot to prove.

He signed on to play with Randwick-Petersham in the NSW Premier Cricket competition.

If Litchfield continues on her current path, then an Australian call-up could be in her future, while for Weymouth, a strong finish to this season could see him crack the first grade team and from there, the next step is the state team.

The next one we have our eye on isn't a single player, rather a team.

The Orange Hawks have a new coach in Shane Rodney for the upcoming Peter McDonald Premiership and after an up and down 2021 campaign, it will be interesting to see if they can put together more of the 'up' performances this time around.

The former Penrith Panthers and Manly Sea Eagles backrower will mentor the two blues next winter, taking over from Willie Heta's four year stint at the club.

Rodney was part of the 2003 Panthers' premiership win and then later the 2011 grand final victory with Manly, before retiring from professional rugby league following a stint with the London Broncos in the English Super League.

That's quite the resume already, adding 'inaugural Peter McDonald Premiership winners' to that wouldn't look out of place.

"First off, I'm hoping to get to know the guys," Rodney said following his appointment.

"Then we can get our heads down and get into it."

I'm not saying that I think the Hawks are the favourites to take it home this year, but they should certainly cause some problems.

I for one will be watching with great intrigue how they go opening round when they take on hot-shot contenders Dubbo CYMS.

Back to the individual performers and we have two men hoping to shine in the land of the red, white and blue.

Matt Gray got his first Division 1 start for his UC San Diego Tritons in an upset of the California Golden Bears back in November.

The redshirt junior has fallen out of the rotation since then, but a strong finish to the end of the year could do wonders for redshirt senior season. After that, a career in the NBL or Europe may be his best option.

To get there though, he'll need to show he is worthy of staying on the court.

The other Orange athlete hoping to shine at the NCAA level is swimming sensation Ollie McLaughlin.

The former Kinross student will swim for Fairfield University after he received offers from six American schools.

He will compete in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and will leave for the USA in August, 2022 to study international relations.

He'll have a long time to grow and decide if swimming can be a viable career, but it's never too early to be on the lookout.

Then finally, last but not least we have the Orange CYMS women's side which will be looking to defend its Premier League Hockey title in 2022.

Pete Shea's CYMS scraped into fourth position before putting together an unthinkable title run last season, so it will be interesting to see whether that was a one-off miracle run, or just the start of something more memorable to come.

With Lithgow Panthers, Orange United and Bathurst St Pat's all surely to be in the mix once again, all eyes will be glued to the green and golds who will be looking to go back-to-back.

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