Adelaide Thunderbirds dynamic midcourter Maisie Nankivell is a coach’s dream.
In SSN 2020, in her first year as a contracted player, the 20-year-old has proven her ability to swing between wing attack, centre and wing defence.
In Round Nine, she spent time in all three positions – a move not often seen on the SSN stage.
Although, despite spending a large amount of court time in wing defence, the speedy youngster says the WD bib was the newest addition to her positional resume.
When she signed on as a temporary replacement player in 2019, she was thrust into wing defence despite spending most of her junior years in centre and wing attack.
“Playing elite netball, you have to be flexible and adapt to changes the coach is wanting to do at the time,” Maisie said.
“All throughout my junior netball I’ve had to rotate between those positions a lot so it does come quite naturally to me.
“Wing defence is the one I played the least though, so I’ve done a lot of work since being with the Thunderbirds to become a more specialised wing defence.”
Clearly capable in all three spots, it begs the question of which is her favourite.
For Maisie, it was the centre position that held a special place in her heart.
“I do love centre and I’ve probably played most of my netball career in that position,” Maisie said.
“I’m loving it at the moment, I’ve been getting a fair bit of court time and rotating between all the three positions in the midcourt.
“I’m really grateful for any spot and to do my role for the team.”
The side played their first home game of 2020 at Priceline Stadium on Sunday and Maisie said the team was thrilled to be back in front of the Pink Army.
“Home court advance does go a really long way,” Maisie said.
“It did get quite lonely on the Sunny Coast knowing we didn’t have many fans there so to be back in Adelaide and have everyone behind us adds to the vibe."
The Thunderbirds will host the Queensland Firebirds on Wednesday night for its second of three-consecutive home games.
