By Blair Burns
Narre Warren’s netball introduction into the Southern League couldn’t have gone any better as the Magpies continue to fly high.
The team is 5-0 in the top division under coach Michelle Mashado and has already defeated two of the most highly-rated teams in Cheltenham and Dingley.
Narre Warren netball has been a powerhouse in the Outer East league for many years and won back-to-back A grade premierships in 2023 and 2024 before making the move.
President and A grade vice-captain Chelsea Tonna said the netball club was initially “pretty apprehensive” about the move to Southern, but it had been a huge success for the club.
“The only real thing we were apprehensive about was not playing alongside the footy and having that mateship … but we’ve had lots of home games so far which we are really grateful for,” she said.
“We just took on a really positive outlook on what Southern netball could be for our club and we’ve got seven senior teams which we’ve never had the opportunity to do before.”
Tonna said the transition had been “seamless” and encouraged other sides who were tossing up about a potential move, to just do it.
“We want clubs like Beaconsfield and Berwick to join the Southern League so it can become even stronger and we can have even more local netball courts used,” she said.
“It’s such a better calibre of netball across the competition which is awesome and it has been growing and growing.”
From an on-court perspective, the Magpies have slotted into the league and quickly became one of the benchmark teams with a perfect start to the season.
“Cheltenham was a huge game for us, coming back into Southern against the back-to-back premiers and we had done the same thing in Outer East, so that was really good,” Tonna said.
“Even Dingley on the weekend, they were another grand finalist and it was really good to win another close one.
“We’ve only won one game which was a bit of a blowout, the other four have been hard-fought wins.”
Grace Loelu has been starring for the Magpies as goal shooter and the young star has scored more goals than any other player in the league with 189 after the first five rounds.
“I coached her back in the Under-11s and it’s been amazing to watch her growth over the years, we work together great in the goal ring,” Tonna said.
“She’s obviously had Erin Bell mentoring her in the past few years at Narre and now Casey netball, so I can’t take any credit for her skill.”
Tonna thanked Mashado for the power of work she had done with the side, along with club president Peter Lindsay and Chris Toner for their support throughout the move to Southern.
