Dubbo's Division 2 Opens Head Coach Sharon Edmunds walked away from the three day NSW Netball State Titles competition with a certain amount of confidence that the future is in good hands.
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"I've been coaching rep sides for about thirteen years, so for me it's sort of coming to an end," Edmunds said.
"I look at it overall and I'm very happy with it, everyone was very relaxed and no one got overwhelmed with the occasion."
No strangers to a tough contest, the Division 2 Opens team finished eleventh last year, but were able to build on momentum offered by great results in the lead up to the competition to carve out a higher spot this year.
"We did really well, we were really excited and I'm happy for the girls, we came ninth out of 24 positions, so they did really well," Edmunds said.
Edmunds said that consistency was key in the improvements on display during the three day comp.
"Definitely having a full team was ideal and we all relied on each other, we had quite a few injuries and stuff, so we bonded really well before we left and executed really well over the three days."
"Our midcourt Payton Harris was a standout, she went for three days straight and had barely any time off and was just instrumental in what we did," Edmunds said."
"It was a really consistent effort across the three days from everyone."
"Eloise Bell as well, she was really good in defence and Sarah Bridges who also showed up strongly in defence for us."
While many of their competitors had been playing for longer, Edmunds said the younger players didn't let inexperience hold them back.
"It's funny because the majority of the girls are a relatively young opens side, our youngest was seventeen, they did really well coming up against some of the more experienced teams."
"The majority of the harder, really experienced sides play in division 1, not to say that our division wasn't just as intense," Edmunds said.
"But I wouldn't know that we actually learnt anything from the competition, rather I think that the girls as a team put in a really good team effort together, rather than taking individuals aside and expecting them to do well as individuals."
The improvements the team made led to them putting in some of their best performances in recent years, with Edmunds attributing the shift to the state of mind the women approached the competition from.
"We ended up playing the team that was coming first on the third day and we went in really relaxed."
"It was the second last game and we gave them a really hard time, we ended up only losing by three, so that was definitely a memorable performance."
