Resurgent with a new-found love of the game, Southern Blast co-captain Abby Erwood hopes her side can finish the Synergy Hair Netball League with a flourish and turn the points table on its head.
The Blast are sitting fifth on the SHNL points table and host Mainland at the Edgar Centre in Dunedin on Sunday.
It remains a mathematical chance for the Blast to finish in the top two – needing maximum points in their last two outings and other results to fall their way.
“I hate losing and I’d love to see our side really play to its potential and finish strongly,” Erwood said.
The 25-year-old comes from a strong netballing background with her grandmother Shirley Annan having represented her country in 1960 as Silver Fern no. 28, while Erwood’s twin sister Sophie also played at the National Netball League level.
The defender made her Southern Steel debut in the former trans-Tasman league in 2016 before becoming a regular fixture in the side in the ANZ Premiership. Needing a change of scenery, Erwood made a big shift to Central in 2021 where she featured for Manawa and also took the next step for court time with the Pulse.
A complete break from the game followed, taking up a job as a shepherd on a station near Wanaka, but it wasn’t long before Erwood was looking at club netball options and turning out for Invercargill at the New Zealand Open Championships helped rekindle her love of the game.
It was the spark she needed to trial for the Southern Blast.
“I just had this wee urge in my belly,” she said.
“And when I trialled and I looked at the list when the team was named, I thought ‘here’s a team that can do this’.”
But a hefty first up loss to Manawa was a “bit of a shock” before bouncing back the following day in a demanding double-header and going down by just two goals.
“The way we came back the next day it was like, that’s the team that I thought we’d be, and I’ve seen patches of that throughout the season,” Erwood said.
“It’s just about ensuring we can string those patches together and I think we’re still searching for that 60-minute performance.”
Wins over the Comets and Marvels in recent weeks has only strengthened those thoughts and Erwood has enjoyed the Blast’s campaign.
“It was kind of like I’d never left. “It’s all fallen into place although I do feel like an ‘old dog’ in the side – at 25,” she said with a laugh.
Now she hopes to pass on some of the netball knowledge she has garnered over her years with the Steel at the elite level.
“I was very fortunate to have some really experienced players around me – people who just taught me some small things that made a big difference. Hopefully I can pass a few of those ‘light bulb moments’ on to others,” she said.
But beyond this campaign, Erwood is unsure of her netball pathway.
“I really haven’t given it any further thought beyond getting out on court for the Blast this season,” she said. “I’m just enjoying playing and being with the girls – it really is the reason I came back.”
In other SHNL matches this weekend, the fourth-placed Northern Marvels host Waikato-BOP, sitting in third, at The Trusts Arena in Auckland.
Central Manawa are in the box seat for a spot in the 14 May Grand Final having dropped just one game this season while the Robinhood Comets are currently in second spot with three rounds to play.