Strathclyde Sirens star Emma Barrie admits last season in the Vitality Netball Superleague was ‘annoying’ for her side, and hopes they can hit the ground running next term.
Sirens finished eighth in the 11-team league, meaning they qualify for the Fast5 Championships – the top eight teams compete in a pre-season tournament featuring 12-minute five-a-side games, all played in a single day via double elimination.
The season before that, Sirens narrowly missed out on a play-off place and had “shocked” teams, according to Stonehouse star Barrie, who says losing that underdogs status might have counted against them.
“I think it was pretty annoying last season,” said Barrie, who is in the Team Scotland squad for this month’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
“Our season last year was our best yet, so for it to not quite be the same was quite frustrating as a team.
“But there are still some positives; we finished in the top eight, which means we qualify for the Fast5 Championship.
“It was quite a tough season, especially compared to how well we had done, but there are always positives amongst it, like how hard we had to work.
“In the season before, we had been kind of the underdogs, so we didn’t have much pressure on us.
“When we were winning games it was really rewarding for us, and we were almost shocking people.
“Last season, coming into it, we did have more pressure on us to win, so that could have been a factor.”
Barrie is looking to next season and hopes for a strong team that can hit the ground running.
She said: “We had been winning some games last season, so we were doing some things right, but it was trying to get that consistency, which we’ll be looking for next season.
“We’re in the signing window just now, so once we’ve got that sorted it’s about coming together as a team, and working on that consistency, which I think was an issue last season.
“But we just want to keep putting out performances that were really working hard for, and proud of.”
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