Blue debut: Tongala netball mother and daughter coaching team, Jenn and Jazmin Clark, before their first game for the 2024 season with the Murray league club. Later in the day 19-year-old Jazmin played her first game with Tongala’s reigning A-grade premiership team.
Jazmin Clark had more than one incentive to perform in her debut for Tongala’s A-grade netball team in the Murray league season opener at Tongala Recreation Reserve on Good Friday.
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While no doubt keen to impress her new teammates, who had last year taken home the premiership trophy, she had another set of eyes cast in her direction as she donned the goal attack bib for the Blues.
Coaching the Nathalia team that was Tongala’s opposition for the traditional clash was Bendigo Strikers championship coach Tracey Brereton.
Clark is a member of the Strikers’ development squad, having crossed over to the Victorian Netball League team after spending recent seasons in the midweek competition with Casey Demons.
Kyabram-educated Clark is now studying in Bendigo and decided to join the Strikers franchise to cut significantly on travel requirements.
Brereton couldn’t really lose when the two A-grade netball sides took to the court for the first game of the season, her Strikers vice-captain Milly Brock was playing for Tongala and the captain of the Strikers’ under-23 team was also involved in the match.
Grace Hammond, the livewire Tongala centre, was given the honour of captaining the Strikers’ underage team.
There has been a big shake up in the state netball league , with the under-19 format no longer and replaced by the under-23 competition
On Saturday 19-year-old Clark was working in tandem with Brock in the goaling circle.
After leading by six at half-time Tongala expanded the margin to 15 by the final siren for a 44-29 victory.
Clark was the only newcomer to the grand final-winning team, replacing defender Alicia White in the line-up.
She has decided to divide her energies this year, focusing heavily on the second year of her Exercise Science degree, along with her netball commitments.
Clark was approached by several clubs in the off-season, but chose Tongala and has now accepted the co-coaching role — with her mother Jenn — of the C-reserve team.
That team was dominant in the opening round with a 58-25 win.
Title defence: Tongala’s A-grade netball team started its title defence in fantastic fashion on Saturday with a 15-goal win against Nathalia. The flag unfurling ceremony was conducted prior to the first whistle being blown.
The Clarks live at Kyabram and have spent the past two years travelling to Mooroopna, where Jaz has become a part of the Di Hanslow-coached Mooroopna A-grade team.
Last year she was named the team’s Rising Star, having won the B-grade best-and-fairest award the year before.
Hanslow, who lives at Girgarre, was a major contributor to her development and her mother explained it was a hard decision to leave the Cats.
For Jenn Clark the return to Tongala is a homecoming of sorts, she played with the Blues between 1992-96 and has strong family ties
Her three brothers, Brian, David and Robert Allen, played for the Blues and father Peter coached at junior level. Her husband, Lynden, also played at Tongala.
She is an experienced coach, but the Tongala coaching appointment is a first in senior ranks for her daughter.
“The girls are loving having Jaz as their coach. She coached an under-9 team back in the day, but this is different,” Jenn said.
On the court Jaz will play in goals and switch occasionally to wing defence, with her form in the Murray league having the potential to earn her a call up with the Strikers’ underage team.
“Jaz is really excited about working with Milly in the goaling circle,’’ Jenn said.
In the meantime, her mother will be keeping one eye on the Murray and the Kyabram District league, with Jaz’s brothers Tom and Charlie playing with Lancaster.
· There were two pre-match ceremonies at Tongala on Saturday, the first was the unfurling of the A-grade premiership flag at the netball courts and the other was a more sombre affair on the opposite side of the recreation reserve.
Family and friends of Tom Souter, who lost his battle with illness in the off-season, gathered before the first bounce for the unveiling of a caricature of the popular life member.
The famous tin shed, which itself was named in honour of a former player who lost his life well before his time Mark “Lacka” Seaton, now has the addition of Tom Souter’s barbecue corner.
His son, Riley, who had just finished the reserve grade match with the Blues completed an emotional unveiling of the sign.
Blue to the bone: Tongala’s Souter family is as connected to the football and netball club as any ever has been. During a pre-match ceremony on Good Friday Tom Souter, who lost his battle with illness in the off-season, was honoured with a sign in the famous tin shed on the outer wing of the recreation reserve. His son, Riley, unveiled the sign before the senior match started.
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