Jerra Joeys goal attack Brittney Reynolds. Photo: Andrew Johnston
THE Jerra Joeys may have fallen two quarters short of toppling Waratah in last Sunday’s Queanbeyan Netball Association grand final but it appears only a matter of time before the club returns to the premiership stage.
The last club other than Waratah to claim a first division title in 2008, Jerra can take plenty of confidence from the performance of its teenage stars who held their own against Waratah’s experienced line-up.
Sisters Brittney and Jessie Reynolds, centre Georgia Stephinson and shooter Meg Sokic are all just 15-years-of-age and look set to form the backbone of the Joeys’ line-up for the foreseeable future.
Further boosting Jerra’s junior prospects, the club also took out the Cadets Division 1 grand final with a 45-39 victory over Bungendore.
And while the club wasn’t able to back up that success in the first decision decider, Brittney Reynolds said there were plenty of positives to take out of the result.
“I think we really scared Waratah,” she said. “They did seem a bit rattled, especially since most of us are a bunch of 15-year-olds and the Waratah players have all had plenty of experience.
“I really thought we had them [at half-time] but I knew it would come down to the last quarter, it always does against Waratah and they just got us in the end.
“Considering there are four of us in division one at the moment who are only 15, hopefully we’re only going to keep getting better and better.”
The junior representative player meanwhile, was lucky to have just been able to take to the court for the Joeys last weekend after fracturing her wrist earlier this season against Bungendore.
A doctor’s misdiagnosis, which did not initially pick up the fracture, saw her return delayed until the week before the final.
“I knew straight away I’d done something to it [against Bungendore] but I had the x-rays and nothing was pulled up so I came back a couple of weeks later and played half a game but it wasn’t any good,” she said.
“It was fractured the whole time but the doctor didn’t see it. When they did find out [it was fractured] I had to spend three weeks in a cast and my first game back was the week before [the final].”
