JOINING a new team is never easy, however Gina Crampton has found the adjustment from the Southern Steel to the Northern Stars a relatively easy jump with the talented wing attack highlighting her enjoyment of being surrounded by a new environment both on and off the court.

“Yeah, it’s actually been really, really cool, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the move so far. It’s just been nice to, I guess, sort of get out of my comfort zone a wee bit and move cities and I guess connect with a whole different group of people. It’s nice to be doing different things at trainings and different coaching and things so it’s been a good challenge.”

A stalwart for the Southern Steel in the past, Crampton is now looking to ply her trade with the Stars for the 2021 ANZ Premiership season, with the move prompted by her desire to shake things up and develop her craft out on court.

“I have been with the Steel for so long, if I was to stay there it would’ve been my 10th season. Just knowing that, I think deep down I knew I needed a change and lots of people always tell me that change is good, so I think that they were right.

“I think I needed a bit of a shake-up because I was very comfortable down there and I knew what it was all about. I mean, I don’t have many years left playing so it was time to kind of get something new in.”

While for the most part Crampton has adapted to life as a Northern Stars player, she says she is still familiarising herself with the different styles of training and game preparation given her lengthy stint with the Steel.

“I quite like it at the Stars because we can fit more netball in than we did at the Steel, just because at the Steel we had to travel to train with each other. So that always, I guess, was quite a difficult part of the people down there.

“But we have quite a few netball trainings, three times a week and often we either train morning or night each day, so there’s actually a lot of time left to be able to do whatever else is going on in your life, a lot of the girls study and work and have been able to do a lot of other things outside of netball which I quite like.

“Yeah, just getting used to different trainers and the different gym programs and the content of training has been a good change.”

The increased training sessions have provided an opportunity for Crampton to really solidify her standings not only in the team but so too with newly appointed captain Maia Wilson under the post. Having established somewhat of a connection at an international level with the New Zealand Silver Ferns, the duo are now working on honing in their skills and reading the play to create consistent attacking forays for the Stars week in, week out.

“We have our moments, we have a few miscomms [sic] I guess, but they are getting less and less frequent which is obviously what we want, but she’s an amazing player. She’s so awesome. She’s so strong and her shooting at the moment is just – I have complete confidence in her, actually in all four of our shooters, to be honest.”

“But that was definitely a bit of a drawcard I guess as well, to move to the Stars, was to really try and solidify a connection with Maia. She makes my job really easy to deal with and she’s a great leader, she’s stepped into the captaincy role at the Stars really well so far.”

Crampton will not only have to get used to feeding the ball into the likes of Wilson in the goal circle but so too the likes of Monica Falkner who is returning to the fold after missing last season with injury, along with Jamie Hume and Amorangi Malesala.

“Yeah so we have actually lots of combinations that we can play with the four of them, and all of them are amazing shooters and they all bring something a little bit different. Jamie and Monica are definitely going to be fighting pretty hard for that goal attack spot. But I think that’s only healthy for the team, you know, to have that in-house competition,” Crampton explained.

“I think we can bring a lot of movement with the ball and hopefully some really exciting play and the ability to change up from, you know, those long plays to working it down circle edge. So I’m excited to see how we go and it’s a really good spot for us to be in that if we need to change that, whoever comes on is going to be able to do the job as well.”

There is no denying that the Stars are renowned for their attacking mindset and ability to treasure possession in attack, with Crampton highlighting her side’s ability ‘score a high percentage of their centre passes’. However, the fancy footed midcourter made it clear that the Stars have been putting in the hard yards over the off-season to up the ante in defence to become more of a complete and rounded squad in order to elevate their game this season.

“An area of weakness from earlier years is getting any gains, so getting turnovers, and that’s what we really want to try and lift this year,” Crampton said. “You know, it’s not just down to the defensive end, it’s up to the whole team to be able to get ball so I think with the likes of Anna Harrison, you know, she provides so much experience. She actually is such a good ball winner as well. She and Elle Temu as well are just playing such good netball. I’m excited for them that they get some court time this year, and making the most of it, so that’s been cool and hopefully, you know, we can be winning at both ends of the court.”

The preseason tournament was a good opportunity for the Stars to test this new style of defensive pressure against the other five squads, while also providing an opportunity for the side to ‘try out combinations and get people some game time’. But one of the key learnings that Crampton and the Stars as a whole took away from the tournament was the necessity to make changes on the fly.

“I think one of the things that we learned was that we need to be able to change up our game in real time, in the quarters, we can’t wait till the quarter break to have to change something up if something’s not working, then we know that we can play a shorter style, or maybe play down one side – all these things that we’re trying to practice, we need to actually put into game play, and I think we’re getting better and better at it, and hopefully by the end we can do it, just without even thinking be able to switch up and change our game, in the game.”

Crampton is not the only change to the side with the likes of Harrison, Temu and Malesala all fresh to the club meaning it could take some time for the side to really gel across the court. But with change comes opportunity, and that element of unpredictability could be exactly what the Stars need to go all the way this season, despite Crampton not believing the hype in relation to being premiership favourites.

“I think we’ve had one of the most changes to our roster that any of the teams that we just need to be able to get those connections going really and learn how to play with each other’s brand of netball that we want to play is really exciting. I think if we focus on that, hopefully we’ll get some good results.”

“I think the Tactix and Pulse are probably still favourites, I think that sort of suits us. So I mean, obviously, building a team I think we’re going to be a good group to just sort of go about our business and hopefully, you know, hang in there to be in those top three positions to make the final rounds. I think any pressure that we get, we will be able to handle it.”

But in the scheme of things, one thing is for sure and that is that the Northern Stars are determined to compete hard for that elusive premiership trophy.

“You know, every team really want to be making that grand final and to be able to fight for the trophy so that’s definitely what we want.”

Round 1 kicks off on Sunday with the Northern Stars heading to Palmerston to play the reigning champions, Central Pulse.