NETBALL: Midway through the ACT State League Netball Championships and the Queanbeyan Netball Association (QNA) are yet to have a win, but the team and its coaches are confident change is coming.
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The team have had a number of younger players join their group and were plagued with injury early.
Star Queanbeyan wing defence Cassie Reid tore her ACL in the first game and former Darter Lara Bowyer returned from injury just last week from a similar injury.
New QNA coach, Adele Caesar said the team is in a rebuilding stage, but has already improved a great deal from round one.
"We've had a disappointing start to the season, but we've also won quarters, we just have exectute in all quarters," she said.
"We're imporving each game- our shooting percentage is slowly, but surely, going up and our interceptions are slowly but surely going up.
"We've almost got all of our players back from injury, but the team is still getting used to each other."
Training locations and times change weekly for the squad, making it difficult to get all players training together, Caesar said.
The return of Lara Bowyer will be a "game changer" for the squad, Caesar said- captain Jenna Spears and state goal attack Brittney Reynolds will also be ones to watch.
Bowyer said her knee "felt good" in her first game back on Friday, April 24 in QNA's loss to South Canberra.
The champion defender said a difficult start to the season was always on the cards, but expects improvement.
"We have a young team, new combos and a new coach," Bowyer said.
"We always knew the start of the season was going to be tough, but by the time finals come around we'll be a different team.
"I'm excited to see how we'll look because we've already come a long way."
Captain Spears said after the match on Friday, May 1, against Canberra Netball Association, the team would have finished playing each team once and other teams may get a shock when they meet the QNA in round two.
"It's taken us a while to gel- it's been disappointing because we've played well in patches, we just can't keep it flowing," she said.
"But there's no reason why we can't come out and be competitive with everyone in the second round.
"Every team is strong, including us, so we shouldn't be taken lightly in the second round."
