'She's been a phenomenon': Surprise debut leads to more opportunities

The athletic teenager wasn't in Cobden's round one calculations until the day of the match.

Clover, 16, was expected to play in goals for the Bombers' division one netball team against Hamilton Kangaroos.

Instead she was thrown into defence to fill a void.

What happened next changed the course of her 2023 Hampden league season.

The Bombers needed someone to cover talented Kangaroo Ella Sevior - an open grade star who was helping an undermanned division one team in goals.

"Someone on the div one bench said 'I've actually heard Nikki is quite a good defender'. And we'd never even seen her play defence at training," Cobden coach Sophie Hinkley said.

"They put her in at keeper against Ella Sevior who is the open captain at Hamilton and has been a great, strong junior and Nikki would've taken 10 intercepts in a half of netball.

"I have never seen someone come out and just dominate as much."

It left Hinkley with a decision to make.

"I didn't have her on my list for open that day so I just added her to the list," she said.

"Essentially she just picked herself."

Clover, in her second season at Hampden level after crossing from Warrnambool and District league club Timboon Demons, embraced the opportunity.

"I was meant to be just playing in div one. They said 'go in keeper, we don't really expect much' and I did really well and we did end up winning that game," she said.

"After that Sophie was like 'we want you to do that in open'. It was unexpected."

Hinkley has since made the most of Clover's natural talent.

The Timboon P-12 student is working in defence alongside the experienced Nadine McNamara and had the challenge of negating South Warrnambool premiership player Hollie Phillips in round six.

"She's been a little bit of a phenomenon for us," Hinkley said.

"She is just incredibly raw as a defender so we've been taking it really slowly with her development."

Clover, who will represent Hampden's 17 and under side at the Netball Victoria Western Region championships on Sunday, June 2, was unlikely to see court time in open as a goal option this season, given the plethora of attackers at the Bombers' disposal.

Hinkley said the move to defence had paid dividends for both Clover and the club.

"She plays goals in the under 17s and got some opportunities last year in our div one side and was incredible in their premiership," she said.

"She made a huge difference at goal shooter in the grand final. She is just completely unflappable and super strong."

The 2023 division one flag is a fond memory for Clover.

"I'd never played in a final, that was my first finals series so to win the premiership was amazing," she said.

"It was really tough because we had come across them (Koroit) throughout the season and it had been close and it was a new experience again."

It came after she made the choice to join the south-west region's major league.

"I came from Timboon and was playing seniors there as well and I just wanted a new challenge in a different league and to try and improve my skills," she said.

Clover, who lives on a farm outside Timboon, also plays basketball for Terang Tornadoes and this year has taken up football, adapting to a ruck-forward role for Western Victoria Female Football League side South Warrnambool.

"By all accounts she's very gifted in football and basketball as well so she just has that natural innate ability to read the play," Hinkley said.

Clover, who turns 17 in December, is loving football's physical nature.

"I have been loving it so far. There's a few girls who come from Timboon (to play)," she said.

Cobden, which sits third with a 4-2 win-loss record, travels to play Portland at Hanlon Park on Saturday, May 25.