| West Coast Fever | ||
|---|---|---|
| ANZ Championship team | ||
| Franchise information | ||
| Years active | 1997–present | |
| Former name | Perth Orioles (1997–2007) | |
| Based in | Perth, Australia | |
| Region | Western Australia | |
| Main venue | Challenge Stadium | |
| ANZ Championship | ||
| Head coach | Jane Searle (2009–11) Norma Plummer (from 2012) |
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| Best finish | 7th (2009) | |
| 2011 finish | 9th | |
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| Official website | ||
The West Coast Fever are an Australian netball team based in Perth that currently compete in the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship. The franchise was one of the foundation teams of the Commonwealth Bank Trophy, formerly the premier domestic league in Australia. They contested every year of the tournament, from 1997–2007, as the Perth Orioles. When the Commonwealth Bank Trophy was retired after 2007, the Orioles were one of five Australian franchises included in the new ANZ Championship. The team was rebranded before the start of the new league's inaugural season, becoming the "West Coast Fever".
In 2012, the Fever will be coached by Australian Netball Diamonds coach Norma Plummer. All home games in the ANZ Championship are played at Challenge Stadium in Perth. The team uniform is primarily black with green and red. The Fever's alternate uniform has the black and green colours swapped around and is used when playing the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic in New Zealand and the Melbourne Vixens in Melbourne.
During their competitive history, the Fever have finished no higher than sixth place. In their four years playing in the ANZ Championship, much of their roster has included younger players, although a core group of players has been retained and developed.
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The Perth Orioles were one of the founding teams of the Commonwealth Bank Trophy, and Western Australia's only team in the national competition. The Orioles were coached by Sue Gaudion and captained by Stacey Rosman. The team colours were lime green, black and orange.
Despite being one of the Commonwealth Bank Trophy's founding clubs, the Orioles perennially struggled in the competition. They never finished higher than sixth in the competition's 11 seasons and finished last four times. The team was nearly axed in 2001 when the decision was made to add the AIS Canberra Darters, but survived after an outcry from the state netball community, with the Adelaide Ravens (then one of two teams from that city) being cut instead.
2006 was another middling year for the Perth girls. They had a great start to the season, unveiling new star shooter Caitlin Bassett to replace players that departed for the Australian Institute of Sport. Part way through the season a horrible injury to Jessica Shynn put her in the operating room, and Bassett lost her confidence and composure, seeing an important drop in accuracy. After looking like making the finals, they finished sixth.
The ANZ Championship was founded in 2007 as the new elite domestic netball competition in Australia and New Zealand. It replaced the Commonwealth Bank Trophy in Australia and the National Bank Cup in New Zealand, which both played their final season in 2007. When the new trans-Tasman competition was announced, the competition was reported to feature five teams from each country. For the new competition, five Australian franchises were formed from amalgamations of Commonwealth Bank Trophy teams, which would contest the inaugural competition in 2008.
The deadline for expressions of interests for Australian franchises was 10 April 2007.[1] In March 2007, Netball Australia chief executive Kate Palmer said that the preferred model was for one team each from New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia.[2] In April this was confirmed as the composition of the league's Australian teams, with the announcement of the franchises on 10 May.[3]
After conducting market research, Netball WA decided to rebrand the club, changing the team's name, logo and colours. On 8 November, Netball WA CEO Lisa Braddock announced information about the new club, which had been renamed as the "West Coast Fever", with a new logo and franchise colours. Sue Gaudion was retained as coach, and the squad for the inaugural season included two English players.[3] However, the 2008 season saw the Fever win only one game in the round-robin stage, with a draw against the Central Pulse. After the 2008 season, Sue Gaudion was replaced by Jane Searle as head coach.
During their three years in the ANZ Championship, the Fever have finished no higher than seventh. Much of their roster has included young up-and-coming players. Nevertheless, a core group of players has been consistently retained and developed, some of whom have been called into the Australian national team.
| Players | Coaching staff | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Manager: Genevieve Hunter
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| Player profiles: Team website • ANZC website | Last updated: 15 April 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The West Coast Fever are the rebranded Perth Orioles team from the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. The renaming of the club was an endeavour to become "truly a West Australian club, moving away from the 'Perth' designation". The Fever also have a new logo, comprising black, red and green. "The colour black represents the sharpness and strength of West Coast Fever, red denotes the fire and passion West Coast Fever embodies, and green reflects the dynamic youthfulness of our female athletes."[4]
The Fever also maintain the Orioles' partnership with the West Coast Eagles, which most other Australian teams have taken up with AFL clubs in their respective states.
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