Netball Australia has confirmed the 10 athletes selected for the Australian team competing in the Fast5 Netball World Series, presented by Deakin University, taking place on the 27 and 28 October at Melbourne Arena (formerly Hisense Arena).
The team, being led by West Coast Fever head coach Stacey Marinkovich for the second year running, features three Samsung Australian Diamonds squad members and six new additions to the 2017 team.
Australia will be looking for redemption after finishing in third position last year, behind England and Jamaica.
Fast5 coach Stacey Marinkovich is excited by the young and dynamic team that has been selected for the Melbourne tournament and is confident the team has what it takes to claim the title.
“Selecting this team presented a difficult task with the depth of talent on show throughout the 2018 Suncorp Super Netball season,” Marinkovich said.
“The Fast5 Netball World Series provides fantastic opportunity for us to showcase and further develop the talent present within Netball Australia’s programs – different athletes bring different skill sets and we believe we’ve selected the ideal combination of athletes to finish on top this year.”
Australia will play five games against Malawi, Jamaica, New Zealand, England and South Africa over the weekend and the top two teams will play off in the Grand Final on Sunday evening.
Coach of the GIANTS Netball Suncorp Super Netball team and more than 300-game coaching veteran Julie Fitzgerald has been announced as the assistant coach for the series and will bring great experience to the team of emerging elite talent.
Fast5 Netball is fast, exciting and energetic – with different rules to regular netball to give it a quicker edge including: five players-a-side, shortened quarters, multiple point shots and double point power plays.
This year is the final time the series will be played in Australia, where it has been hosted since 2016. The Australian Fast5 team will gather in Melbourne on Tuesday 23 October for a pre-series training camp.
A full schedule for the series can be found here: http://fast5worldseries.com.au/event-schedule/
Tickets for the Fast5 Netball World Series, presented by Deakin University, are available via: http://fast5worldseries.com.au/tickets/
The Fast5 World Series will be broadcast live on 9Gem.
2018 Australian Fast5 Netball World Series team
1. Jessica Anstiss – Western Australia
2. Kiera Austin – New South Wales
3. Verity Charles – New South Wales
4. Sophie Garbin – Western Australia
5. Matilda Garrett – Victoria
6. Kimberley Jenner – Queensland
7. Sarah Klau – South Australia
8. Kate Moloney – Victoria
9. Samantha Poolman – New South Wales
10. Kaylia Stanton – Western Australia
