BYATT THE KEY FOR BLACK

By Chelsea Carden

The second season for EFL Netball is now in full swing and Norwood’s Division 1 black team has a star goaler in the name of Sophie Byatt.

After just three games, Byatt has already scored 86 points, making herself a well-known leader in the competition. Byatt said that she has had a great start to the season, but insists that it’s her fellow teammates that allow her to score so many goals.

“It really helps having a lot of strength in the midcourt, they are really good at feeding the ball, which makes it easier to shoot.”

Byatt said that Tennille Barwick works especially hard around the goal circle and “is really good at feeding” the ball to her and fellow goaler Kate Spillane.

“Kate and I feed each other really well and seem to gel together considering we’ve never played together before.”

Byatt said that the team is enjoying their first season in the EFL competition and that the Friday nights have been a great change for the girls. The team particularly took well to the grading games, as it has allowed all the new girls to integrate into the team.

“We really enjoyed the grading games. After the first couple of games, we’ve now started to find our spots and are working really well together.”

Norwood’s football and netball players are also flowing well as a collective for the club, with both sides supporting each other on the field and on the court.

“We’ve had some of the football guys actually come and watch us and support us for the first few weeks, which has been fantastic. A couple of the girls have boyfriends that play in the footy, which they’ll go and watch on a Saturday.”

Norwood Black are set to take on the Eastern Lions at Rowville on Friday, in which Byatt admits will be a tough game for the team.

“We played them in one of our grading games, they were quite good and we only won by a point. They have a lot of really good players.”

Despite Byatt acknowledging the challenge ahead on Friday, with an average of 28 points a game, it’ll be hard for defenders to keep Byatt under control and away from the goal circle.