Rocca lends hand to netball's Magpies
Sharni Layton (left) and Anthony Rocca (right). AAP
Anthony Rocca could emerge as a secret weapon for the Collingwood Magpies next season but it won’t be in the code you think.
Recently-crowned ANZ Championship Player of the Year Sharni Layton revealed that the former Collingwood forward now turned defensive coach, has also been helping another team of Magpies prepare for the Super Netball competition next year.
“The coaching staff (at AFL club Collingwood) have been exchanging notes in regards to what can the footballers take out of us netty girls in terms of a lot of our footwork and even how we train at times,’’ Layton, a member of one of Super Netball’s newest teams Collingwood Magpies, said.
“On the other end we had Anthony Rocca in the other day who was giving our goals a hand, and being the big forward and ruck that he was, to give those handy hints could come in handy.
“I think it’s great to get an outside perspective, even if it is in a completely different sport, there’s always little tricks of the trade that can cross over.”
Layton, an unabashed Collinwood fan in the AFL, is one of six of high profile recruits that has been lured to one of Super Netball’s three new franchises – the others are GWS Giants and Sunshine Coast Lightning - in a revamped eight-team domestic competition that starts in February next year.
Before then she will captain the Diamonds in a Quad Series to be held in January and February in South Africa which will feature the national teams of those countries plus New Zealand.
The defender, who was part of the NSW Swifts side that lost a thrilling final by two points against the Queensland Firebirds in this year’s ANZ Championship, is confident the Magpies can have an immediate impact.
She also wouldn’t be surprised if they polarise fans in Super Netball just as their counterparts do in the AFL.
“Absolutely we will,’’ Layton said.
“Polarise away. You can either love us or hate us. That’s what we’re all about.
“But we want those rivalries, we think that’s exciting, and hopefully they’ll be more wanting to jump on board than not.”
