LG Mystics Team for the 2009 ANZ Championship Confirmed

Thursday, 15 January 2009

The LG Mystics team for the 2009 ANZ Championship has been confirmed, with an interesting player signing on for what is bound to be an exciting second season.

English shooter Pamela Cookey, a shooter on the recent tour with her national team joins the franchise and will provide plenty goals and experience too. Cookey, 24 was a member of the English team which won bronze at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games and silver at the under-21 world champs in 2005 and was a member of the England team at the 2007 world champs in Auckland.

Mystics chief executive Mark Cameron said with New Zealand light on experienced shooters, he had no option but to look to international players to plug a gap in his squad.

"There's a lot of exciting young talent coming through, but we just need that little bit more experience. Ideally we would love to have one of the Silver Ferns in that mix, but that wasn't to be so we have looked offshore."

Cookey is rated very highly by her national coach Sue Hawkins, a former coach in the Auckland region. Also new into the squad are midcourter Keshia Grant from the Magic and Finau Pulu a former member of the Force team from Netball North. Debbie White from the Steel was announced a couple of months ago and is a highly regarded defender.

Former Silver Ferns Jade Topia, Temepara George and Villi Davu remain in the side from the inaugural season, along with the Rasmussen sisters, Grace and Rachel as well as Stephanie Bond, Rawinia Everitt and Cathrine Latu.

Team:

Temepara George
Jade Topia
Grace Rasmussen
Rachel Rasmussen
Stephanie Bond
Rawinia Everitt
Cathrine Latu
Debbie White
Vilimaina Davu
Keshia Grant
Finau Pulu
Pamela Cookey.