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The Adelaide Thunderbirds are an Australian netball team.
They currently play in the trans-tasman ANZ Championship, and used to play in the national Commonwealth Bank Trophy.
[edit] ANZ Championship Era
The Thunderbirds are South Australia's representating team in the ANZ Championship. The club announced a new sponsor and a new look for the 2008 season, with the Netball club aligning themselves with the Port Adelaide Football Club in a sponsorship deal which will see the Thunderbirds wearing Port Adelaide's colours of Black, White, Teal and Silver.[1] The Thunderbirds have also recruited former Melbourne Phoenix coach Lisa Alexander to their coaching staff, and also Australian and former Sydney Swifts player Mo’onia Gerrard, and English International representative Geva Mentor to their squad.[2]. The Thunderbirds play all home games at ETSA Park, in Adelaide.
[edit] Current Players
(Pos. = Playing Position. Alt. = Alternate Playing Position. See Netball: Positions)
[edit] Commonwealth Bank Trophy Era
The Thunderbirds were South Australia's only team in the competition after the axing of the Adelaide Ravens in 2003, and were based out of ETSA Park in the Adelaide suburb of Mile End. The Thunderbirds were until 2006 coached by Margaret Angove and captained by Peta Scholz and Laura von Bertouch - the coach for 2007 was Tanya Obst with a leadership group of comprising captain Laura von Bertouch, Natalie von Bertouch, Fiona Pointon and Kristen Hughes Their team colours in the CBT were silver, pink and blue.
The Thunderbirds were among the strongest teams in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy ever since its inception. The club was possibly the strongest in the league in its early years, and twice won the competition in that period. While it had slipped to a degree in the later years due to increased competition from the Melbourne Phoenix and Sydney Swifts, the team has still never finished lower than third overall.
2006 saw some sizzling performances from the girls from Adelaide, as their whole forward line of Hughes, Medhurst, and both von Bertouch sisters were developing in the Australian squad. The end of the season was disappointing, perhaps partly explained by the sidelining of Scholz (who was in top form) due to pregnancy, when they first dropped a game to the seventh placed Hunter Jaegers, and then were decimated by the Sydney Swifts in the major semifinal and the grand final.
[edit] Final placings in the CBT
- 1997: 2nd
- 1998: 1st
- 1999: 1st
- 2000: 2nd
- 2001: 2nd
- 2002: 2nd
- 2003: 3rd
- 2004: 3rd
- 2005: 3rd
- 2006: 2nd
- 2007: 3rd
[edit] List of References
