The National Netball team, the PNG Pepes team is on the road to attend the 3rd Pacific Netball Series (PNS) in Gold Coast, Australia. The Board of PNG Netball endorsed a team comprising of youth and experience. All these girls, both in Port Moresby and Brisbane have been consistently playing good competitions and featured netballers in their domestic clubs. Inclusion of more Brisbane based players instills confidence for a promising campaign in the series. The original long list of players went through a very stringent selection process. They were assessed on their Technical Skill, Tactical and Game Sense including Fitness and were rated accordingly. Going through this diligent process identified their strengths and weaknesses. So far, our Pepes recorded its first win against Singapore in Sydney, Australia in 2022 when this Series was first introduced. The second series was held in Sunshine Coast in October 2022, unfortunately, Pepes didn’t record a win. This time, Pepes is ready to take on the challenge to record some win/s. The Board of PNG Netball would like to thank all stakeholders mainly, Netball Australia for partnering with Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to build capacity and help deliver sports-based programs that achieve social development objectives for netball federations in the Pacific. The Board of Netball PNG is pleased to announce the final team for the series. SHOOTERS • Goloa Ovoa - ABAU • Lesieli Taviri – POMNA • Nancy Alu – Brisbane • Rayleen Andrew - POMNA DEFENDERS • Natalie Onno – Brisbane • Shannaz Apelis – POMNA • Jade Pitt – Brisbane Alu Irau - POMNA MIDCOURTS • Michaela Kadlecek – Cairns • Yves Chee – Brisbane • Waisame Andrew – POMNA • Tikimai Vele – Brisbane • Milly Chee – Brisbane • Jacklyn Lahari – POMNA • Neritha Adula - POMNA This team will travel under the leadership of Head Coach, Gimanama Crowdy, Assistant Coach, Margaret Opina and Team Manager, Dianne Lahari. Crowdy said, "I am looking forward to taking this team to compete in the PacificAusSports series from the 24th-29th April. We have a good mix of young and experienced players. We are taking a 15- member squad with 12 to be named on match day so there will be considerable internal competition amongst the players for a spot. Our round matches will be vs Samoa (ranked 18th), Malawi (6th) and Fiji (19th)”. “For the players, this exposure will be excellent for their own growth and learning. We also have our internal goals that we want to achieve and this will be a great opportunity to test our abilities against these teams”. Pepes depart 19th April 2023 for lead up matches in Brisbane before heading into Gold Coast for the series.