The unmissable New Zealand men's shooter Junior Levi says he's looking forward to resuming his on court battle with Silver Ferns' goal keep Jane Watson during next week's Cadbury series.
Jane Watson and Junior Levi will test each other to the limits. Photo: Photosport
One of the highlights of last year's inaugural tournament was the match up between Levi and Watson, with neither giving an inch.
Levi said he was looking forward to picking up where they left off.
"She's a world class defender and probably one of the best GKs in the world," he said.
Levi, who stands at 2.14m, said he didn't want to just rely on his height advantage.
"For me it's refining a game that moves away from just being seven foot and I think Jane presents that because she's such a good athlete on the ground and also in the air. So I think my ability to showcase a different side of just being able to stand there and hold and wait for the ball she's such a good defender to really come up against."
Levi and three of his Australian based team-mates are in quarantine in Christchurch.
Levi said he was struggling a little with the food portions in isolation, but otherwise they were in good spirits while they completed their two weeks in quarantine.
Last year the New Zealand men's team set a couple of parameters on how they would play - one was not bombing the ball from halfway down the court.
Co-coach Tania Anderson said they were likely to play under the same boundaries this year because they wanted to showcase the skills of male netballers.
And scarily for the Silver Ferns, Levi is not the only seven foot shooter.
"We also have Quintin Gerber who is 7 foot (a smidge shorter than Levi) and the other two shooters are no shorties either, they sit at 6.3 and 6.6," Anderson said.
"We know that that's an asset for us but that's not who we are and what we want to display in our game. We want to show that we can bring the ball to the circle edge, we want to make sure that our skill and that the game is played in good spirits as well.
"If we just keep popping it up to Junior, what kind of game would that be for our spectators and for us."
A 14-strong squad was named for the series which will also see the men go up against a NZ A side and the NZ Under 21s in Palmerston North from 21-24 October.
Captain Kruze Tangira is one of just five players named who took part in last year's inaugural event.
NZ Men's Junior Levi on defence against Silver Ferns Jane Watson. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Tangira said despite losing some of their more experienced players, it was a good opportunity for the junior players coming through.
"You'll see the likes of Jaryn Tainui taking the court this year and I think he's a very exciting player, he brings a lot of flair to that wing defence/goal defence position ...I'm really excited for these players to have this opportunity," Tangira said.
Anderson said with so many men's events canned due to Covid-19, it had been difficult for the side to get any momentum.
"We were in our final training camp would you believe, players were about to board planes when we went into Alert Level Four and we were in lockdown. It was that week, the week of just days away from having our final training camp as well as naming our 12 strong players to head to the World Cup, so it has been disruptive."
Anderson said as much as the Silver Ferns needed preparation for their series against England, the men's team also needed opportunities to play against quality opposition.
Last year Tangira went directly up against the recently retired legend Laura Langman. This year he would like to test his skills and fitness against midcourter Kimiora Poi.
He also highly rates defensive midcourter Karin Burger.
"She's so physical on the player. I got to sort of experience her game last year when I was playing centre and they would do like a switch in that defensive midcourt but to be up against her for a full 60 minute game I think would push me to my limits and I'm excited about that too."
The four players who have come over from Australia will take a financial hit from having to go into quarantine but Levi said it was worth it.
"I always wondered what it would be like to play for New Zealand. And now that I'm here it kind of seems surreal, just how special the opportunity is and for it to happen again, yeah it's quite exciting.
"If you play netball and you're a man it's already ingrained in you that a lot of it's self-funded. What ends up happening is you get a pool of players that are really quite in love with the sport ...I thought last year might be a one off, given it's come again you just want to keep taking them as they come."
