The midcourt is the engine room of any netball side, and Jordan Cransberg is set to lead the charge for the Victorian Fury through the centre. Having missed a large chunk of the 2019 season – the last time the Australian Netball Championships was contested (the Australian Netball League at the time) – through injury, Cransberg is excited to finally represent Fury.
“This is my first opportunity to compete in a Fury team so it’s exciting. It means so much to represent the state and it’s always a privilege, but being able to do it for Fury is something I wanted to do for a very long time so it’s pretty incredible,” she said.
“I’m just really looking forward to getting out on court with everyone and seeing what we’re doing at training put into practice. It will be good just to play netball – that’s what we train for, and it’s what we want to do.”
Fury boasts an experienced and versatile midcourt with London Pulse’s Tayla Honey returning to the fold along with Melbourne Vixens star Hannah Mundy and Vixens training partner Sharni Lambden set to pull on the navy dress in Traralgon.
“It’s so much fun, we’re all quite similar but also very different. Tayla has a fair bit of experience in terms of being in an elite environment and so does Hannah, so I’m learning so much and I just love playing with them. We all bounce ideas off each other and it’s a collaborative environment.”
When it comes to tactics through the midcourt, the motto is straightforward according to Cransberg: get it to circle edge.
“We’ve been focusing on keeping balance across the court and having that patience with our feeds, so using the strength of the give and go’s and using each other to open up the goalers as well,” she said.
Although the Fury are looking to make it consecutive titles when they hit the court in Traralgon, Cransberg is also excited about the opportunity to actually play netball after a disrupted couple of years.
“The goal is we want to be the best team there and we do want to win, but it’s about taking that opportunity to play together and develop as a group, learning as much as possible from each other and the coaches and the other teams we play against,” she said.
“I think it’s always valuable going into these tournaments and having a week of just netball. Being immersed in that elite environment is really important to help develop your netball and also get a bit of exposure as well.”
The Australian National Championships kick off on Monday 22 August – watch every game live and free on Kayo Freebies.
