New coach to lead from the sidelines after serious injury

Arandt, 27, joined the Warrnambool and District league club last year and was part of the Bulldogs' A grade side before she suffered a broken wrist and elbow midway through the season.

The Bendigo-raised defender, who moved to Warrnambool five years ago after completing her study in Albury, works as a physiotherapist at Warrnambool Base Hospital.

The injury forced her off work for eight weeks and she decided it was best to remain on the netball sidelines.

Arandt said the coaching gig gave her the chance to stay connected to the club.

"I decided I am not going to play this year but still wanted to be involved with the club and they needed a coach and I thought I might give it a crack, thinking I might do B grade but instead got given A grade," she told The Standard.

"It is exciting and will be a good opportunity and I think it's a good chance to help the development of some junior players and hopefully get some new recruits to the club.

"I have only really coached juniors more so in the past, so coaching senior grades will be a little bit different.

"It is wanting to help the club develop as a whole. We are trying to make it more of a team environment rather than set grades."

Arandt represented Strathfieldsaye Storm while growing up in Bendigo and played socially while completing her degree in Albury.

She had a stint at Hampden club South Warrnambool prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her friend Laura Roberts, who will be her assistant at Panmure, helped steer her towards the Bulldogs when she decided to make a netball comeback in 2023.

"I like Panmure, it's a very social club and I made lots of friends through playing netball last year and it's probably kept me in the Warrnambool area to be honest," she said.

"I'd had a few years off netball during COVID and it was good to get a bit of competitiveness back into my life and we had a really great team, we all got along really well and had a good role model in Bec Mitchell coaching.

"It felt good to be back playing netball last year but it was just unfortunate I had an injury that was quite annoying."

Arandt feels at home in Warrnambool. She lives with her partner Ryen Nixon, a podiatrist who plays soccer for Warrnambool Wolves.

"When we first moved down here we were like 'we'll stay for 12 months' and then we were like 'two years, that's when we'll get a good sense if we like it or not'," she said.

"And here we still are."

Panmure will start pre-season in February. The Bulldogs' round one match is against Old Collegians on April 6.