Portland signs Laura Kelly as 2024 open netball coach

Laura Kelly has committed as Portland's mentor for the 2024 Hampden league season.

The defender, 25, last played for the Tigers as a teenager before embarking on a Victorian Netball League stint with Ballarat and lining up for Alvie in the Colac and District league.

She's spent the past two years living and working in Queensland but will relocate to Portland from the Gold Coast prior to Christmas in readiness for the Tigers' pre-season.

"I am looking forward to being back there and be able to fully settle in and be back with the team and the coaching role is very exciting," Kelly told The Standard.

"The netball scene is a little bit different on the Gold Coast so I was missing it pretty quick when I moved up here.

"That's why I travelled back in my first year up here because I was desperate for some Saturday netball, so I was lucky to go back to Alvie that year (in 2022) and continue playing."

Kelly, who has played socially three nights a week this year, is excited to rejoin the Hampden league after an extended period away.

"I had an ankle injury in my 100^th game for Portland and I had to get an ankle reco so that was the end of that season and my VNL season all in one," she reflected.

"When Portland reached out about playing (in 2024) I was super keen. I loved the Hampden league when I played in it, it's a really good standard of netball.

"Coaching got discussed and I have done a little bit of coaching, I was coaching at Alvie in the juniors, and I really enjoyed that.

"I was very open to the discussion and I think it will be exciting to work with the people who have been at Portland since I've been away.

"There's a lot of experience at Portland still as well as some really positive junior development coming through."

The Tigers' netballers finished ninth in 2023 with two wins and 18 losses while the senior football side collected the wooden spoon.

Kelly, who works as an occupational therapist, is eager to team up with new football mentor Lochie Huppatz to help lift both sides up the ladder.

She wants Portland to be known as a competitive opponent "that fights for everything".

"I have always been a bit like that in my netball career and I guess I hope I can have a team that's similar regardless of what the score is that day," Kelly said.

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