Mavericks name midcourt ace Parmenter as captain

Melbourne Mavericks coach Tracey Neville has named Diamonds wing defence Amy Parmenter as the inaugural captain of the new Super Netball club.

TRACEY NEVILLE.
TRACEY NEVILLE. Picture: Kerry Marshall/Getty Images

After settling on their inaugural skipper, Melbourne Mavericks coach Tracey Neville is still to finalise their Super Netball squad after a horrific injury to star goal shooter Sasha Glasgow.

The Mavericks have named star wing defence Amy Parmenter to lead the side into their first season, with the start-up club replacing defunct Collingwood in the competition.

Parmenter, who played her entire Super Netball career with the Giants before joining the Mavericks, won a landslide vote from her teammates before being rubber-stamped by Neville.

England shooter Eleanor Cardwell is her deputy, while Olivia Lewis completes the leadership team, in charge of defence.

"It feels really special - I was excited to be a part of this Mavericks group from the get-go, and I think it's a really incredible group of girls," said 26-year-old Parmenter, who was part of the Diamonds squad last year.

"There are leaders in all different spaces, so it's a real privilege to lead all of them."

The Mavericks have been building into their first competition game against the Melbourne Vixens on April 14, having played two trials.

Last month the team and staff were rocked in the second quarter when Glasgow fractured her leg,

Neville, a former Test player before turning to coaching, described the injury as the worst she had seen on a netball court.

Australia-raised Glasgow, who also plays for England, is recovering at home in Perth after a 60-minute wait for an ambulance and then surgery to insert a pin in her leg.

"Having seen that break, the worst injury I've seen in netball, I never thought that she would be walking within two weeks," Neville said.

"She's a fighter, and seeing her laying on that court for 60 minutes was pretty distressing for all of us, and we've all been going through a little bit of grief ... but it's an injury that you can be back from in five to six months.

"From what I saw I thought she'd probably never play netball again, but she's going to be back bigger and better."

While Jamaican shooter and ex-Magpie Shimona Jok (nee Nelson) is in the frame as an official training partner, Neville said she wasn't rushing a decision on a replacement.

She said she was also looking outside the club at other Super players.

"We've got five great training partners, and they definitely have been training hard, and I want to make sure that it's the right decision,' Neville said.

"I took a long time and was really clear with the 10 that they were the right players for the group, and now obviously we've got this little bit of a hiccup.

"I'm not willing to rush what that next person looks like ... anything that we do now will change the style that we play, so I need to make sure that the person that comes in is the right fit for the style, and also the right person for the group."