CRAFTY netballer Mandy Knee will be a chameleon of the court in the coming months.
The talented attacker will wear the Port Fairy dress in Western Regional State League open action, which starts tonight, but will be working busily behind the scenes as the new joint-coach of reigning A grade premier South Rovers for the approaching Warrnambool and District Football Netball League (WDFNL) season.
Knee is putting equal effort into both tasks at hand.
“I guess state league is a bit of extra pre-season training,” she told The Standard yesterday.
“It will be good to play at a higher level against the best girls in the region.”
It is no surprise Knee craves competition.
As a teenager, she was part of Hamilton’s all-conquering Monivae College netball team which won the Victorian schoolgirls’ championships year after year.
The modest Knee thanked luck for being the right age to slip into that successful side, which also won an Australasian championship.
But it’s clear there was something more to it.
The versatile midcourter and goaler also played representative netball for the Glenelg region before being picked up by Victorian Netball League (VNL) side Vic Churches, now known as Ariels.
However, Knee’s sparkling run came to a crashing halt when she was just 21.
“I had a lot of ankle problems and I was told I would never run again,” she said. “I played my last game on my 21st birthday. Then I was sidelined for the next seven years.”
Five operations later, Knee had relocated to Port Fairy and was desperate to return to the court.
She eased back into the game with the Seagulls in 2009 before crossing to South Rovers in 2010.
Last year the agile Knee, who plays with a trademark smile on her face, captained the Lions to a premiership.
“It will be a big task to back that up,” she said.
“We will have a bit of a player turnover and some people are retiring.
“It will be a completely different team and until we get into training it will be hard to know how we’re looking.
“We had a good turnout at training (on Tuesday) and we’re really excited by that.”
Knee will coach Rovers alongside former Koroit netballer Kristyn Abbott.
But tonight she will switch into the purple and gold outfit of Port Fairy Netball Association for the opening round of Western Regional State League.
Coached by Bev Bourke and Leanne Perry, the team includes Seagulls regulars Nicole Dwyer, Sarah Moroney, Rebekah Moroney, Steph Watson and Emily Forrest. They will be boosted by Portland’s Stacey Rolph, South Warrnambool’s Maddie Dalton, Casterton’s Marni Perry and Hamilton’s Anastasia Hamill.
“It’s a fairly young team but the girls have had a lot of experience,” Knee said.
“We’ve been training since December and trialling different combinations. We’re not there to make up numbers.”
Port Fairy has even attracted some local sponsorship for its state league team, thanks to the hard work of Dwyer.
The Seagulls face South West District tonight at 9.15pm at the Arc.
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