Beck holds court: Parker's plans to see young Lions develop

BO'C: What are some of the focuses heading into the game against Barnawartha this weekend?

CP: I won't be there this weekend but it'll be to keep developing the young girls and try to put a four quarter effort in. There's always a quarter that lets us down and that's probably because they're young and not used to playing at that intensity. We'll look to keep working on what we've been working on throughout the year, which is complete systems across the whole court.

BO'C: Being a bit of a development year, who have been some of you young standout players?

CP: At the start we had a 14-year-old, two 15-year-old's, a 19-year-old and two players step up from C-grade, so we're definitely redeveloping. The 15-year-old's have done really well. Grace Eales has worked really hard to get her fitness up and consolidate her spot in the starting seven. Chelsea Parker has really stepped up as well. She's probably not playing in goals as much as she'd like, but she's forming a nice spot in the midcourt. Stephanie Lassey is our other little young gun and she's really stepped up and can run the whole game out in the centre.

BO'C: Are you still setting goals at this point in the season?

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CP: Absolutely. Once we had played everyone the girls identified games where they thought we could catch a win. They're definitely penciling in a few games that they could cause an upset in. We want to keep developing what we're working on and achieve a four quarter effort. We had a really good game against Yack, it was just a couple of errors that cost us. They keep putting themselves out there and I can't fault them in that sense. When you're that young playing A-grade netball, it takes a bit of time to develop.

BO'C: Coaching again next year, what are some of the things you'll focus on over the off-season?

CP: We'll try and get some previous A-grade girls and some new girls to support the young ones to ease the pressure. We'll just keep developing the plays and systems I've brought in. I was a GV player for 12 years and coached in the Murray league, so I've had some really great coaches in the GV, interleague and state level. Hopefully I'll bring what I can to provide them with skills they can use for the rest of their netball careers.

BO'C: Who's your grand final prediction?

CP: We were really impressed with Kiewa. They had an injury when we played them and we thought if they had their strong starting seven they'd be really handy. It's a tough one out of Thurgoona and Rutherglen, but maybe Rutherglen.