Not much went right for Melton Centrals in the Riddell District Netball League last season.
The club was badly hampered by injuries to key-position players throughout the year as it tried to transition a number of new faces into its set-up.
Even though so much went wrong, Centrals showed just how tough they are, fighting from down and out at the season’s mid-point to qualify for finals.
With the new season just weeks away, Centrals’ head coach Randy Pereira is confident that, given a decent run without injuries, the club can again return to the top end of the ladder.
“You never really know how it’s going to play out until those first few weeks when you can see all the teams,” he said.
“Last year was tough, but I think we will be able to get up to the top three. That would be great for the club.”
Melton will be without gun mid-court player Tran Truong this season. Truong, who won the league’s best and fairest last year, has retired and will be a major loss.
On the flipside, the Centrals welcome back top shooter Rebecca Morabito, a member of the club’s premiership side in 2014. Pereira says it will be the tallest side for many seasons.
“Tran has already said that if we need a fill-in, she will be happy to put her hand up. We feel like we’ve done pretty well with our recruiting, though,” the coach said.
“I think we have a fairly good squad. Every team goes into the season with plenty of hope, and the first few weeks will tell us more, but we are really happy with the squad we have.
“Having tall goalers will be ideal. We will have someone we can just pop it over to.”
This year will be Pereira’s last at the helm. He will remain at the club but step down from coaching at the end of the year.
“I think it’s at a point now where we need to get someone in with a netball name who can attract some good VNL players,” Pereira said. “That’s the way the competition is going. A lot of teams are bringing in quality players. I’m really looking forward to this season, though, and working with all our teams.”
Centrals begin the season against Rockbank.
