infonews.co.nz
INDEX
NETBALL

TTNL names inaugural ANZ Championship All Star Team

Wednesday 11 May 2011, 7:45AM

By ANZ Championship

737 views

TTNL Ltd is delighted to announce the official 2011 ANZ Championship All Star Team:

Position

2011 All Star

Team

Matches

Key Stats (to end Round 12)

GS

Romelda Aiken

Queensland Firebirds

*14

458 goals from 534 attempts @ 85.8%; 60 offensive rebounds (1st

GA

Sharelle McMahon

Melbourne Vixens

7

167 goals from 196 attempts @ 85.2%; 64 goal assists; 94 centre pass receives; 19 rebounds

WA

Emily Beaton

Adelaide Thunderbirds

11

214 centre pass receives (3rd); 120 goal assists

C

Natalie von Bertouch

Adelaide Thunderbirds

13

114 goal assists; 9 intercepts; 16 deflections

WD

Kayla Cullen

LG Mystics

*14

95 centre pass receives; 43 deflections; 15 intercepts; 37 gains

GD

Anna Scarlett

LG Mystics

*14

32 rebounds; 30 intercepts (=2nd); 79 deflections (3rd); 84 gains (3rd); 14 blocks (1st)

GK

Leana de Bruin

Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel

13

37 defensive rebounds (=1st); 30 intercepts (=2nd); 87 deflections (1st); 89 gains (2nd)

Coach

Roselee Jencke

 Queensland Firebirds

 

13 wins from 13 matches

* includes Semi-Final

Five of the competition’s ten teams are represented in the inaugural All Star Team, with 2010 champions the Adelaide Thunderbirds and current Finals Series contenders the LG Mystics the only teams to have two players named in the final seven.

Teams were selected prior to last weekend’s Minor Semi-Final, in which the Mystics’ defensive due of Anna Scarlett and Kayla Cullen, together with Silver Fern star Joline Henry, delivered stand-out performances in the Auckland side’s victory over the hotly favoured NSW Swifts.

At just 19 years, Cullen is the youngest of the All Stars.  Along with Emily Beaton, she is the only All Star yet to earn a test cap; the remaining five members of the All Stars have notched up a total of 327 tests between them.

Unsurprisingly, Roselee Jencke was unanimously selected as the All Star Coach.  Under her guidance, the Queensland Firebirds are on a 14-match winning streak, with their next mission the Grand Final on 22 May.

The All Star Team is a new addition to the ANZ Championship’s suite of official awards, which also include the Most Valuable Player (MVP) and Best Young Player Awards.  The recipients of these two individual awards will be announced next week.

To determine the All Star Team, a panel of netball experts were asked to nominate on a 3-2-1 basis the best performed athletes and coaches across the ten teams in each court position during the 2011 Season.

The expert panel comprised Liz Ellis (Network Ten commentator and most capped Australian player), Tania Dalton (SKY Sport commentator and former Silver Fern), Warren Partland (News Ltd netball writer) and Dana Johannsen (NZ Herald netball writer).

The ANZ Championship Finals Series continues this weekend with the competition’s first ever all-New Zealand Preliminary Final.  The winner of Sunday’s sudden death contest between the First Windows Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic and LG Mystics will go on to play the Mission Queensland Firebirds in the Grand Final, to be held in Brisbane on Sunday 22 May.

For further information, please visit anz-championship.com.