Launceston's leading ladies will break in their home openers in style this weekend, with the Northern Hawks and Cavaliers playing double-headers at the Silverdome.
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The Silverdome series comes off the back of a 2020 grand final rematch between the two sides, with the Hawks emerging victorious 69-48.
For the Cavs, this weekend's matches against the Karana Flames and Waratah will serve as a chance to right the ship, according defender Bec Hyland.
"It was a great learning opportunity for us," she said.
"We tried not to be too hard on ourselves and realised that we have a lot of new girls especially in our defensive end. Our focusses will be building on connections, trusting each other and just trying to have fun and play netball."
The Cavs sit behind the Hawks in second on the Tasmanian Netball League ladder - Hyland said Saturday's loss served as a learning opportunity for the remainder of the season.
"Hawks are a really knowledgeable and experienced team so we always learn a lot from them," she said.
"They just played smart netball and have a lot of confidence - I think we got a bit rattled and maybe didn't share that confidence."
Hyland joins teammates Hannah Lenthall, Shelby Miller, Hayley McDougall and Zoe Claridge in being named to Tasmania's Australian National Championship initial roster.
"It speaks a lot to Cavs, the culture and that we work really hard," Hyland said. Hawks captain Danni Pickett said her squad was very excited to finally be playing their first home game for the season.
While pleased with last week's win over the Cavs, Pickett said the Hawks were ready to re-focus as they play the Kingston Blues for the first time followed by the Flames.
"For us. playing them [Blues] for the first time is a bit of an unknown," she said.
"We've just got to go in with a bit of a clean slate against them, and focus on what we've been focussing on the last few weeks which is consistency."
The Cavs will play the Flames at 12.30pm on Saturday before the Hawks play Kingston at 3.30pm.
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The Examiner's Junior Sports Awards, sponsored by Woolworths, provide acknowledgement of accomplishments by players, coaches, volunteers, teams and clubs across the region.
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Entries must include a photograph of the entrant.
Harry Murtough
Born and raised in Launceston. BA of journalism from Monash University. Sports reporter covering basketball, netball and cricket.
Born and raised in Launceston. BA of journalism from Monash University. Sports reporter covering basketball, netball and cricket.
