Souness makes strong return from crippling injury

May 22, 2017
Souness makes strong return from crippling injury

Patience has proved a virtue for talented young Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse midcourter Whitney Souness who has reinforced her long-held promise with a successful return to top level netball.

It has taken months of hard work behind the scenes and a strong mindset after a year on the side-lines following reconstruction knee surgery but it’s starting to pay off for the little pivot in an ever-improving Pulse attack line.

And that’s good news for the Wellington-based team ahead of their next ANZ Premiership assignment against the unbeaten Southern Steel in Porirua on Wednesday night.

``When we first started off I wasn’t very happy with how I was playing but looking back I was quite hard on myself after just coming back from the injury,’’ Souness said. ``Now I’m less critical about my performance, am happier with how I’m playing and that has come with time and just actually playing.’’

All going to plan, the silky-skilled wing attack is likely to square off against Steel stalwart and captain Wendy Frew, the backbone of the well-drilled southerners.

``She’s really, really tough to play against, just that experience and she doesn’t back down to anyone,’’ Souness said. ``She’s all about the man-on-man marking so I’m going to have to work around that and change things up a bit.’’

While opposing teams put plenty of thought into ways of stopping or slowing the Steel’s giant Jamaican shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Reid, the Pulse are mindful of, firstly, getting their own house in order.

The first time the pair met three weeks ago resulted in a slightly flattering 13-goal win to the Steel, the Pulse pushing hard at times but suffering some wobbly moments on attack.

``In our attack end we need to focus on what we’re good at and what we need to do rather than worrying about what’s happening down the other end,’’ Souness said.

``We trust that our defenders are going to get ball for us and we can help them by scoring our own possessions, so it’s a matter of focussing on our own tasks and what we’ve been building on in recent weeks.’’

A member of the New Zealand Secondary Schools team in 2013 and the National Development squad in 2014-15, Souness has long been earmarked as a player with a bright future.

From playing just two games when first chosen for the Pulse in 2015 and missing last year altogether, the 21-year-old Bachelor of Sports Science and Exercise student has come back full of promise to play every minute of the current campaign.

``There was definitely a mental barrier I had to get past to actually trust myself again with my new knee,’’ Souness said. ``But there’s no looking back now. The team’s awesome and I’m just loving every moment I get out there because I’ve never had the experience of regular appearances.’’

In the crafty Te Amo Amaru-Tibble, rising teenage talent Tiana Metuarau and experienced Cathrine Tuvaiti, Souness has a trio of shooters who perfectly complement her own style of play.

``I love feeding all of them,’’ she said. ``They all play differently, so it challenges my game and having to adjust to what suits the situation. No one is an out-an-out holding shooter, they have moments of doing that but everyone is moving all the time and I like that because I like being on the run all the time.’’

There is no doubting the skill-set and athletic ability, the work-on for Souness now being to step up and grow her ability to run the attack line.

``The skills that she has are really impressive…..her movement on the ground, her aerial ability, passing and catching, all that’s really fabulous and now it’s a matter of working in with the rest of the (attacking) group and learning about what to do when,’’ Pulse assistant coach Sandra Edge said.

ENDS.

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