During the registration process, the club requests information from the player regarding preferred playing positions and previous playing history. This information is used to assign playing positions for grading trial games.
For junior players, particularly in age groups where playing positions are still developing (for example 11, 12 and 13 years), players are generally considered for a team based on other areas of assessment such as ball handling, netball understanding and potential to improve.
While playing positions are still considered important, the Grading Committee uses other criteria to make a final assessment. A combination of squad training, skills and drills, and trial games are used for these age groups.
For senior players, playing position is considered more critical to the overall assessment.
When grading a player, the Grading Committee will generally look at all, or some, of the below criteria (this is not an exhaustive list and is not listed in any particular order but is provided as a general example):
- Ball handling
- Footwork
- Passing and catching technique
- Attacking skills
- Defensive skills
- Teamwork
- Agility
- Playing position
- Player utility (i.e. can the player play more than one position)
- Potential to improve
- Decision-making
- Netball understanding
- Speed and endurance
- Shooting accuracy
Preferred Playing Positions
It is important to nominate your preferred playing positions during the registration process. If you have not supplied this information, you may not be trialled in your preferred position.
Notwithstanding this, players will be rotated around into multiple positions during the grading process. There are a couple of reasons for this (see below). While we will strive to give players adequate time in each of their nominated positions, this may not always be possible. We urge players to not be disappointed if they feel they did not receive enough court time during the first week of grading as all playing time is reviewed for the following week.
Some examples of the reasons why players are moved around in different positions are provided below.
Filling in
When the Grading Committee is not aware of a player's absence, there may be a vacant position left in a trial game which needs to be filled so the game can be played. Sometimes players are asked to volunteer to fill-in for the game even though it may not be their preferred position.
Balance of the game
In some instances, the trial game may be unbalanced (for example, if one team is scoring more than the other team and other players do not have an opportunity with the ball) so other players may be introduced or positions swapped to increase the strength of the other team.
Player comparisons
During the trial games, some players are deliberately played in a position in order to gain a comparison between two or more players. This is useful where two players are of a similar skill level and a decision must be made between the two. It can also be used to put players under game pressure by matching them with an opposition player that is evenly matched for their skill level.
Player combinations
Sometimes before a final team selection is made, player combinations need to be reviewed in a game scenario. This is particularly important for goalers and defensive players. It is also important for goalers and the mid-court to be working well together. Therefore some players may be placed in certain positions so that the Grading Committee can see how well player combinations work. It also helps to uncover new player combinations if a player has not nominated in a certain position but performs well.