Netball
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After picking up a swag of state and national honours throughout her junior career, Thirroul netball star Taylah Davies’ rise to the ANZ Championship seemed a natural progression - though nobody expected it to last just four minutes.
That was the cruel fate that befell the 20-year-old who ruptured the ACL in her right knee just moments into her first appearance for the NSW Swifts in round three last year. Ironically it was the same injury to Swifts rising star Paige Hadley two weeks prior that opened the door for Davies to debut. It was a steep fall so soon after realising a lifelong dream.
‘‘It was a bit of a blur, I just remember going up for a ball and then going down and hitting the floorboards,’’ she said.
‘‘The pain in my knee was excruciating, straight away I knew something was up.
‘‘I didn’t really know the full extent of the injury and I was quite keen to get back out there and make my stand a little bit more. Unfortunately I only got to debut for about four minutes there so it was pretty quick.’’
Faced with a long recovery, Davies was left wondering if her shot at the bigtime had come and gone.
‘‘I thought ‘I’ve made a four-minute debut is that going to be it?’,’’ she said.
‘‘I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen or what I was going to do.
‘‘I’d never had a major injury like this but I just got stuck into my rehab and did everything I could to give myself every opportunity to get that call from [coach] Rob Wright to give me another chance with the Swifts.’’
The call came in December with Wright granting the former junior star her first fulltime contract with the Swifts for the 2015 season where she will be part of a strong midcourt arsenal alongside Hadley, Diamonds veteran Kimberlee Green and English national captain Jade Clarke.
‘‘It’s great just knowing that they do have that faith in me to come back from that injury,’’ Davies said.
‘‘I got really stuck into my rehab and they’ve obviously seen that I’ll do anything to get back up there and do the right thing for the coach and the team. It’s been a long 10 months getting my confidence back but I know now that my knee is 100 per cent.’’
One of the competition’s flagship franchises, the Swifts have endured mixed fortunes since winning the inaugural competition in 2008 six seasons without a finals victory. Davies said the squad is determined to return the club to it’s rightful place at the top of the league.
‘‘The girls and Rob made it to the finals last year which was awesome but this year we’re definitely in it to win it and nothing less,’’ she said.
‘‘We’re so focused and motivated to get the NSW Swifts back up there and we’re really excited for our first game on March 1.’’