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The Muster- Logan Savory: Netball's Predicament · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Logan Savry of the Southland Tribune joins us once again. Sav,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: good afternoon. The hammer to fall on the MPC this
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: upcoming weekend. Northland against Canterbury in Christchurch. Northland, undoubtedly. This
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: is the story of the season.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's an absolute fairy tale, isn't it? I think
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: outside of those in Canterbury, I think everyone's probably on
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: the Northland bandwagon at the moment. But what they've done
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: for their region, winning the Ramfriley Shield and holding it
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: for a wee bit, but I think the fact that
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: they lost the Shield and have kept performing is pretty
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: impressive because there's normally, we've seen it in Southampton, there
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: can be a bit of a hangover after losing the Shield.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: and they've just kept performing, and that performance against what
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: is a pretty quality Otago team, stacked with a lot
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: of Super Rugby talent, was pretty impressive on Friday night,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: so you go to Taniwha.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: The last time they were in a final was probably
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: against the Stags back in 96 in Div 2, would
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: that be correct?
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: It probably is, actually, yeah. Certainly not making the big dance,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: and I think Look, I absolutely love this year's MPC competition.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: It feels like anyone can beat anyone, and Northland has
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: been the fairy tale story. And I think it also
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: gives a lot of unions hope that actually if they
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: get things right, they can be a force in the competition.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: We always talked about the lowest spending unions always going
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: to struggle in the MPC competition. But here's Northland who
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: is in that bracket and is now playing all one
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: one away from winning the competition. So I think it
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: gives a bit of hope too for other provinces.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: I wonder what Northland were paying at the tab at
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: the start of the season. A lot.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: A lot I could have. Yeah, I mean, even just
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: to make it this far into the final, I don't
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: think anyone would have given them a shot.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: King Country winning the Meads Cup, Whanganui getting up in
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the Lahore Cup at the death, but King Country, this
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: is the story as well. The Meads Cup going to
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: the name of the going back where it belongs, arguably
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: after the late, great Sir Colin Meads. This is cool.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is absolutely cool. Yeah, that's another great competition. Actually,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: I spotted Joe Walsh running around for King Country, who
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Southland Rugby fans may know as a former Stags loosehead prop. But, yeah, great. Obviously,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: the two South Island teams couldn't quite get it done there. But, yeah, look,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: I think everyone will recognise the poignant moment that is
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: of the Meads Cup going to King Country.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: And I always remember King Country back in the mid-90s.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: They were like the Stags. They were up or they
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: were down, there or thereabouts. And in 95, when Southland
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: almost stayed up there, but a guy called Michael Blank
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: kicked a penalty to take us down. I know, I
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: can hear you wincing. It's still almost raw when you
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: think about it. And all of a sudden, that's when
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Southland went up in 96, 97, promotion and relegation, and
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: they got rid of.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that game.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: That stirs emotions.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: It does, usually. That was the most deflated I've ever
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: been after watching a sports event, I reckon. And I
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: remember being at a speaking event, actually in Gore, and
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Colin Meeks was speaking, and someone in the crowd asked
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: a question about Southland losing a lot of their talent
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: to elsewhere, and he said, well, Tribe of King Country,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: we were first division side at one point, and now
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: everyone's leaving. So that was a real change of fortunes
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: for them, wasn't it? But yeah, I mean, it's great.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: They've found their niche, obviously, in that Heartland competition. They're
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: still a passion there, whether it's Premier, Provincial Rugby, or
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: in the media or the Hall Cup, the passion's still there.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: And how good does that King Country jersey look as well? Now,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: the Silver Ferns got the chocolates over the diamonds yesterday,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: but the bigger question remains regarding New Zealand netball and
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: the competition replacing the ANZ Premiership for next season. From
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: a Southern perspective, where do we sit here?
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Well, there's not a lot. I think that's the story
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: at the moment. There is not a lot going. I mean,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: I'm sure behind the scenes there is, but there is
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: not a lot of confirmation as to what what is next. Obviously,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: as you said, real bright moment yesterday for the sport
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: of netball and what was a very commanding victory over Australia.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: But on the domestic front, yeah, not a lot of
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: news at this stage and that is the story at
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: the moment. We're inching closer towards the end of the
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: year and when traditionally teams would crank up around signings
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: and planning and everything and there's a bit of a
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: bit of a gap there where we don't really know
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: what's going on.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: I mean, if you're overseas, you're earning good coin and
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: you're happy in your environment, what was a one-year sabbatical
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: is going to turn into two. If you're happy in
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: your surroundings, I mean, you're not going to be over
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: there forever, but you might as well embrace it. And
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: this will be the issue that Netball New Zealand's got
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: getting players back.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, you're dead right. I mean,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: at the end of the day, if you're if you're
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: getting paid more elsewhere and living in a place, experiencing
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: a different place that you quite enjoy, then it would
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: be hard to pull them back. And that is going
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: to be the next problem for New Zealand netball when
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: it comes time when they can get a new professional
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: competition up and running, luring these players back. I guess
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: there'll be a bit of a rebuild where they bring
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: some young players through and hope just to latch onto
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: those and retain them. I guess that's probably... probably the
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: hope but there's a lot of water to go under
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: that bridge before they even get to that point of
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: being able to um you know to start rebuilding one.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Story last night that was the white friends losing to
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: australia but taking them to the death only losing by
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: two wickets with say eight balls up their sleeve but
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: i think the fact they took australia so deep was
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: a really positive um sign.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah absolutely i think you know australia is the benchmark
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: in women's cricket isn't it um So, yeah, that is great.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: There's been a fair bit of change around that, what
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: firms set up, both in terms of coaching and senior players.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: So encouraging. Yeah, and I think any time we can
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: push Australia and hopefully we can get some victories over
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: them was a nice one.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: OK, Sav, local club cricket getting underway in a couple
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: of weeks. I mean, the tennis competition on Saturday is
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: dead and buried. There's one happening throughout northern Southland, I understand.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: But that's just the nature of the beast, and we
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: talk about this time and again, the issues with the
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: winter codes, but the summer codes aren't immune either.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: No, absolutely not. I mean, yeah, across all sports, it's difficult.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: You know, cricket has... Well, we all know cricket's got
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: its challenges right across the board, like we talked about
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: netball's domestic competition. But right down to the grassroots, it
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: is a challenge. I've got to do a little bit
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: of digging to see where things are at ahead of
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: the club season. But, you know, if I talk from
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: the past, there has been a bit of a drop,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: I would say, in high school playing numbers. And that
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: is eventually going to flow into, probably already is flowing into,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: making it tougher for senior clubs to put teams out
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: on a sad day.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: So....
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: Cricket is a sport that's dear to my heart so
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: I hope that there can be a bit of a
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: revival there but it is challenging in a world where
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: it's hard to get people committing to long form competitions.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: A great message as well for anybody who wants to
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: participate in summer sport by all means it does exist
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: just go and look it up online as such Some.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Of my best mates actually many of my best mates
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: have come from spending many of said days playing cricket
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: with them and yeah they'll be memories I forever cherish
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: so yeah beach sitting at home.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: On a on a sad day good on you Sav
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: keep up the great work of the Tribune always appreciate
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: your thoughts thanks Andy Laugh out loud with Ag Proud,
• 8:40
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• 8:43
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• 8:46
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• 8:51
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• 8:53
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• 8:59
  Speaker 1: That's us out of here for the afternoon. The podcast
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: will be up shortly, thanks to iHeartRadio. I'm Andy Muir.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: The Must has brought to you, of course, by Peter Genetics.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Enjoy the afternoon. See you tomorrow, 1 o'clock.