The Netball Show
S7 Ep82: Pamela Cookey (01st November 2024)
(upbeat music) - Hi, this is Nat Metcalf. Flyhawk have developed a unique 3D kit designer that's fully customizable. So if you're looking for a new kit for your team for the new season, visit flyhawk.com or email info@flyhawk.com with your ideas now. - Nation Player is the easy to use, one-stop radio and audio app. Download Nation Player now on the Apple App Store or Google Play. Nation Player, where on are you? - The netball show with Flyhawk. Raising the bar for netball and winning sport. - Netball show with Flyhawk delighted as always to speak to Pamela Cookie. - Hey, always a pleasure to be here talking with you. I have said over the years, like this drip feeding of one player announced or one unit announced and then two weeks later, someone else gets announced or you get to like the week before the season and you still don't know the full squad. Doesn't really help with building that momentum and really making a bang in the league. So it's really amazing that we were able to do it this year and all the teams brought in and having it on Sky Sports New, all these different clips to give everyone a chance to meet the teams and find out a little bit more about them in preparation for the season in one big bang was awesome. It was such a fab day seeing everyone again after the season finished last year and just getting into grips and getting a glimpse of what we could see in 2025. And I think Sky did it really, really well. - Let's have a look first of all when Birmingham Panthers, a lot of players have followed Joe from the stars and that's going to be a huge advantage for her. - Oh, definitely. I think to have the, 'cause she was with seven stars for two years and she brought together some players that not necessarily were like your starting sevens who have been in the game a few years but either riding the bench or getting like a few games here and there. And so she was able to bring these players through and really give them that starting seven roles. You're like a sub-siggie, you're Gabby Marshall's, you're just shores. She had time to work on them and really bring out what she saw in them to make a solid team. And obviously last year they got themselves in that top four and into those semifinals. So to be able to bring those players along with her, she's not starting from scratch again. She's not going to be playing this year. She's going to solely focus on being a coach. And so that influence and that knowledge that she's gained, she can now use that with those players that she's brought over but some exciting new ones as well. - Four Gabby's in one team is going to be a bit of fun for her. We welcome Gabby Sinclair back there. Do you know much about Gabby's coffee? - Not huge amounts about Gabby's coffee but I have heard some really fab things in terms of she's a real up-and-coming defender. She has been part of the Vixen's training partners kind of set up. She was picked for Magpies as well during that COVID year. So really starting to find her feet in terms of gaining that knowledge and that experience. And I think when Charlie Nordger is kind of raving about her, you know, she's got something special that she could potentially bring. And I'm looking forward to seeing what she can do with Jazz Brown because Jazz was phenomenal last year. Like the way that she really rose through and at least she's just starting to read the game and pick up ball for the youngster. I think there's so much more we're going to see from her and to be able to partner with Gabby Coffee as well could be a real solid defensive unit. - Not a number for us. Chelsea's got a lot of known combos in that squad. - Yeah, she really has. And I think that is definitely smart of her because you've got Iron and Christian and Han Layton. They've been together in Scotland, Rio Dixon and Brie Gris. And they've spent time when they were at Leeds, Jader, Pecover and Tash Pueblan at Bath. But it's not just players that have been in the same team. They've been in those same units. And so Jader and Tash both in that defensive end, Brie and Rhea in that goal attack, wing attack position. So again, it's good for her because Nottingham Forest Network, brand new team, but you want to not be so far on that back put when you're just trying to build players and connections. If you've got some connections already built and developed, you can then kind of work around that. And I think that's really, really careful from Chelsea to get these combinations together. And then add in your rolling striker and your Felida Coddondi as your imports, who are, yeah, they're so solid and so strong. Very impressed with Felida when she was playing with Uganda. She is so wily comes out with ball that you just don't think she's so athletic. And I think she can only grow and develop further playing in our league. And Rolyne really come into fruition, her strength and her mindset, so accurate on the shot. She spent a little bit of time down in Australia with the Mavericks in their kind of training set up, had a couple of games in last season. But she is fearless when I saw her play up against Australia when she started her international journey. She didn't blink an eyelid. She even up against the world number one. She still came and stood at grand. So again, another good sign in to add to that. And it's now a case then, how can you make these players into a strong consistency? - Some of the Chelsea interviews, when she got the post and it was just how, it was almost a different side of Chelsea and how she could really embrace the role that she's been given. And she's gonna be assisted by the likes of Karen, Sheona and Shan as well. So that team of court in all of this is really gonna assist not in them for us. - Oh, yeah, definitely. I think that's what we have to look at. Like when you're bringing especially new coaches, you don't just put them in a position and go off you go. Like you want me to surround them with good people that have already got that experience that can, and have someone that wants to learn from that, but not lose her core values or the direction that Chelsea wants to go. And so I think they've done it. And again, another good way of doing things in terms of putting her in that team that they can all work together in that coaching setup. And she can really use all the lessons and tricks that she's learned from being a player and transfer it late that now into being a coach. - I suppose the question then is how quickly will there be pressure on Chelsea and the rest of the team to hit the ground running? - I don't know whether you say pressure. The pressure everyone puts that on themselves to perform week in week out. But I think they will get a little bit of leeway compared to some of the more established teams because they are new into the league. But I think as a high performance team, you're looking to bring those results straight away. - I refreshed my ricks, London my ricks. - And we have that option of a brand new dream lineup. You know my love for the cookie green word done combo, but how about Austin, Buchanan and Greenway? That one paper looks absolutely amazing. - What a coaching lineup indeed. You've got the Tamsa Greenway who just knows how to bring out the best in a player, netball knowledge and her knowledge of developing athletes and the developing the right environment where the athlete can progress as well as the team. I think it's one of the best in the world. Alongside Kamala Buchanan, who has been part of Maverick since the dawn of time. She is such a great center court player in her day. And now she's translated into this coaching environment where she's starting to pull together, develop that culture, develop the players and how they can then translate onto on-core. And then Mickey Austin played with her, but I've never had her as a coach. But the players that are doing that, played with her, but I've never had her as a coach. But the players that have had her a coach has said that she has such a great netball brain and her ability when she's fully on coaching mode to translate that from training into a match and make a player feel really good and really special and show improvement over time. It's so, so good. And then you bring all three of them together with their love of netball, with their love of the game. They all want to win, they all want to be successful. And so it could be a cauldron that could produce something really, really special. - And right across the board as well, is obviously the team under the team in that new feeder league. Maverick's in particular have got Sachel and even for this forever stormy, EME, Bev Bostog and Sophia Kandaper as well. Just join on that experience. - Oh, it's great that those are well established names that you've just mentioned. And I think for netball in England to really grow further, it's about that next level of coaches coming through. And so if you can put them all into this great environment where they're learning, where they're improving day in day out, where they're challenging each other, where we know they've been so good on the court or also like you talk about Sachel Grant who has been part of pathway coaching for such a long time now. And she's really taken some girls from right at the beginning into the performance mindset and to have all that in one club and to really focus on developing the coaches. You can only think that the players are also going to come up leaps and bounds as well. And so that is really key, I think, across the board that we focus on coach development as well as we're focusing on increasing our players. - Obviously Chelsea Blackman has joined as well. So what do you think she'll bring to simply? - Chelsea's been part of the Thunderbirds in that, again, training partner set up, had a couple of games on the court in that goal defense position. I think her coming into the mix alongside with a Vicieri solo and a Razzi question in that defensive end. Vicieri and Umraz, when they're fully fit and they play multiple games in a season, they are a brick wall to get through. You add in Chelsea Blackman with that Aussie style, that Aussie experience. And then again, that takes them to the next step. She's just 23 years of age. So a real youngster that's got some experience and now building her way. - And what about, is he Phillips move from Pulse? (laughs) - I love Izzy Phillips. Last year playing for Pulse, she was so exciting. Such a down-to-earth young lady who was really smart, really measured, but then explosive on the court. Playing that kind of center wing defense role, she just bought another dynamic to Pulse. And so for the team, Tamzin, Cam and Mickey, to get her across to Maths, to kind of inject into their center court, I think is a real win for them. And it just adds, they've got quite a young team. Oldest is Razz at 27, Vicieri solo is 26, the rest are younger. So it's just a nice group of, I think, young women that are just really passionate, really talented and still really wanting to learn. And so I think we'll see a lot of growth in that team over the season. - The net will show is now also available via SkyQ and Sky Glass. Select Sport and we're on the podcast's rail. (whooshing)
Pamela Cookey looks at some of the new teams joining the Netball Superleague in 2025