The Netball Show
S7 Ep58: Sam Bird (Part 01)(04th Sept 2024)
(upbeat music) Knackknack off here, online at flyhork.com, you can find the full range of their netball products, including hoodies, leggings, netballs, and so much more. There are even kit packages that suit everyone. They are available in UK sizes four to 24 and also in different lengths too. Plus, we can even send you a sample pack for a returnable fee to try some of the range. Get yours now. - The netball show with flyhork. Raising the bar for netball and winning sports. - Sam Bird from London Pulse here on a netball show with flyhork. First of all, Sam, thank you for your time. And let's have a look at some of the pull squad that's just been announced, and I'm not too sure about eight o'clock in the morning. That's probably for all of us. And there's obviously the decrease in the number of teams and reduction in contracted players this season. So I suppose, first of all, how much juggling did you have to do to reach that final squad list? - Um, I think it's unusual because obviously everybody has been out of contract. So we've never really had a season with a reduction of places combined with everybody being out of contract. So I think for the players, it was probably more, well, more chaotic, I guess, 'cause they were strong players are getting lots of offers. And then you had some players that were playing super league that weren't getting any. So I think it's probably been quite a challenging year for the players, but for us as a club, we sort of set ourselves out really three sort of approaches with this recruitment, which was the first was to retain the core of the squad. Then secondly, to really try and find a top class attacking center, because we felt we really needed to bring that into bolster our championship chances. And then thirdly, sort of stick to what we've always done, which is look at young talent and bring that into the squad. So although it was a lot of white noise, there was a lot of chaos, a lot of offers flying around. Fiona and I just really tried to stay focused on what we were trying to achieve, which was to keep a really strong core of our squad, which as you can see, we've done. Have you had to do much almost juggling and looking at players that can play in several positions? - Yeah, it's interesting because obviously with 10 players, you sort of feel like you want players that can offer potentially more than one position. But the more we thought about it, we still felt that we wanted to go for quality in their first position. And if they can offer a second position, then great. But I think the reality for us is that if, for example, you had an illness or an injury that meant you didn't have one of those players in the 10, we've got a feed of squad that sits below this team that's got really strong athletes in it that can come up and fulfill a really strong role as well. So we sort of started thinking about all do we need players that can play across multiple positions. And whilst that's nice, we still fell back on. Well, let's find the very best players we can find in their top positions and usually find they offer well in a second position anyway. - And you know that you've got that, especially given the success and that growth over the last couple of years? - Yeah, I think, you know, as you know, we really take a lot of pride in our pathway and the fact that the 21s, 19s, 17s of all medal showed the sort of strength of the pathway. So we've got faith that we've got players that sit just beneath this super league side that can come in and do a job if necessary. - Before we get onto the super league, obviously, there was that recent success at school games and you'll be hoping that you maintain them for pulls in future years wherever possible. - Yeah, I mean, I went to the school games. It's always good to cheer on all the squads at all levels and obviously taking over a second pathway in the South as well was really interested to look at the storm players and maths players and the pulse players in particular. And to see all three of those franchises in the top four was really good. It shows that there's a really good pipeline of players across the Souths and east of England and the Southeast of England. And that's really exciting because that sort of competition drives up the standard. So that was really good. And yeah, I was sort of joking that there are a couple of young players there that have very bright futures ahead of them, whether that's in our franchise or others. So it's always great to see the youngest players competing and it's good to have a whole picture as a CEO of what the pathway looks like from under 15s all the way up to under 23. - Someone new to pulse this year in the super league as well is Tyler Orr, obviously ex Thunderbird and ex teammate of Georgie Orr, just as well. We know about her breakthrough season in the SSN, but how did she come to join? We're getting up early in the morning and watching the games live. - Yeah, well, listen, I'm very sad, Andy. So I watch netball all around the world. It's been great for me to avoid doing housework and other duties I don't want to do. So sort of track a lot of the players both in New Zealand and Australia and Tyler is obviously in the winning team in some court this year. She's represented Australia at every age group. She's captain their feeder league and she's critically for us. There's a really attacking center that can feed the holding shooter. She's been playing with Ramelza. So, and as you say, some amazing players at Thunderbird. So she was a real target for us to try and recruit and had some really good conversations with our agents and then Tyler herself. And I'm really, really excited about her coming over. She's really, really top class mid-quarter that can, I think, more confidently find live in circle for us. And that's a critical sort of improvement area for us to really focus on this year. - It sounds as well like you're bringing her over to add much more to the squad and not just getting her more game time, which is good to hear. - Yeah, yeah. I mean, she's critical to our success. We've obviously had really good centers in the past. Jade has obviously been awesome at Pulse but had some injury issues last season as I think it's sort of well documented. And hopefully she's over those. But we felt that bringing in a player that's connected, you know, playing its top-class level in some corp already represented Australia and then come to come to us and feed our shooters and work with our attack. It's really, really important for us. So she's a big, big siding for us and really, really, you know, we're really excited to be working with her. - Nicole's back as well, you surname. But how important is it that she grew up some last season? - Yeah, I was so pleased to have Nicole back. She's such a great personality as well as a great player. And I think people got glimpses of her flair and what she can do. And I think having had a season working with Liv and Alicia in particular in that attacking end sort of gives her a head start really on this year. You know, it's always a challenge with import players. You know, you're never quite sure how they're going to settle and what impact they're going to make. But she made a really big impact last year and we think she'll push on this year as well with really, really shaping how that attack looks for us. So, yeah, great to have her back. She's a great personality. And she's forged a good friendship with Alicia as well. So that's really important to us as well, that we've got teammates that connect off the court as well as on the court. So, yeah, and I think she's a band favorite. You know, the way she plays is quite unorthodox at times and you never quite know what you're going to get with Nicole. She's so creative. And I think that's good for the game and for the fans as well. The net will show is now also available via Sky HD, Sky Q, and Sky Glass. So let's sport and we're on the podcast trail. (whooshing)
Sam Bird has been speaking to us on the day London Pulse announced their 2025 squad (Part 01)