Western rival still hoping for support

Kayla McAlister is banking on some hometown support tomorrow.

Not for Western, but for Auck-land-Waitakere when the two teams clash in round two action of the national netball championships at the TSB Stadium in New Plymouth.

The 22-year-old should have plenty of support from Waitara.

"I'm looking forward to the game," she said yesterday. "There's a bit of pressure on ... in front of family. I've got grandparents from both sides living in Waitara and plenty of aunts and uncles. I've had a few texts this week."

Her grandparents are Charlie and Blanch McAlister and Pat and Mhyre Montgomerie.

First priority for McAlister, whose older brother is All Black Luke, is getting on court. "I've been out injured. I hurt my ankle at the first training run and this will be my first game back. I trained this week and I'm just hoping to get some court time."

McAlister is in her first year with the Auckland-Waitakere first division side after playing one year with the second side. "I only came back home from Palmerston North two years ago. I'm working for the Ministry of Justice ... as an administrator for leaky homes."

In the opening round of play, Auckland-Waitakere escaped with a 53-52 win over Southland in Invercargill, while Western lost 66-47 to Canterbury in Palmerston North.

Western coach Annette Pearce was confident her team could turn things around and secure a win against Auckland-Waitakere.

"We've had a look at them this year. We lost a pre-season game to them by 14. We know we have to win this one if we want to make top four," she said.

"The girls have trained well this week. We had a big score against us last weekend, but in all fairness to the girls, they played well. It was always going to be hard against a Canterbury side with seven Mystics players in their starting lineup."

Pearce said the only player under an injury cloud was shooter Jess Grinlinton, while Lana Phipps would miss the match because of work commitments.

"It's great to be coming to New Plymouth to play a game.

"It's been a while since we played up there and that's a shame," she said.

"The girls are buzzing to be back playing in New Plymouth especially with so many Taranaki girls in the side."

The danger player for Auckland-Waitakere is shooting star Catherine Latu and shutting her down will be key for Western.

Western will also need to get more ball to their shooters – Amber Bellringer and Chantelle Ngaia – after Canterbury put up a lot more shots last weekend.

- © Fairfax NZ News