The Australian Diamonds plan to put Tasmania’s future stars through their paces in a gruelling session on the eve of next month’s New Zealand Test match in Launceston.
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Netball Tasmania’s high performance manager Julie Hoornweg is expected to announce three Tasmanian hopefuls in her TIS program to join the world champions in the side’s only training run at the Silverdome.
Australian coach Lisa Alexander’s choice is four netballers to also include Winnaleah’s Kelsie Rainbow, now based in Victoria.
The players will be a part of the shadow squad from the Diamonds arrival on Monday until the Test match on Wednesday night.
New Zealand additionally has also requested at least seven Tasmanians towards an impromptu hit-out days after the First Test in Sydney.
“The Australians want just a few more in and around their team, but the New Zealand want a team to play against,” Hoornweg said.
“So they have initiatives and two different requests.”
Last year the Scottish and Welsh national teams, and also the Australian Centre of Excellence, had invited the Tasmanians to train.
Hoornweg, the one-time coach for the Melbourne Vixens and England, said the sessions helped fast-track individuals towards possible future national honours.
“It’s just fantastic for the girls,” Hoornweg said.
“You can’t buy this sort of opportunity to train with Australia and also to train with New Zealand.
“These are the sort of by products of an international match being in Tasmania.”
Alexander said as national coach she did not request certain players, preferring to leave the final decision down to Hoornweg.
But Alexander has heaped praise on the improvements of Rainbow.
She had landed in Launceston earlier this year during the national netball 21-and-under championships to watch the midfielder at the Silverdome.
“If Kelsie is able to make it, definitely I’d like her (to come),” Alexander said.
“I don’t know whether she can make it as she’s now in Melbourne.
“But we’ll leave that up to Julie to decide which athletes get that gig.
“She’s the best person to make that decision as she knows clearly the sort of athletes we’re looking at.”
Alexander said there was no preference over selecting future national players or netballers that are further back in the queue and need the experience to improve.
But she expects players to harbour ambitions to play for Australia within five years.
“It will be someone who has shown the right work ethic and attitude,” she said.
“So it’s not just about performance – they have to have the right ability to fit in with the training as well.”