General News
15 September, 2021
Bombers reappoint netball mentor for 2022
REAPPOINTED Cobden coach Sophie Hinkley admits there is plenty of unfinished business within her club after its 2021 campaign was cut short due to COVID.
REAPPOINTED Cobden coach Sophie Hinkley admits there is plenty of unfinished business within her club after its 2021 campaign was cut short due to COVID.
The Bombers announced Hinkley’s re-signing just hours after the Hampden Football Netball League had cancelled its 2021 season last Friday.
The decision will see Hinkley lead the Bombers for a third season in 2022, with the midcourter still considering herself as a first year coach despite leading the Bombers in the cancelled 2020 campaign.
Already she is planning to build on her side’s momentum in 2022 despite the 2021 season only just finishing.
“I’m sure there is lots of players and coaches that feel there is unfinished business from this year and last year,” Hinkley said.
“People called me a second year coach but really I did nothing last year, we had a couple of things at the start of the year but then we let people go their own way and come back at the start of this year.
“Certainly there is unfinished business and I will intend to take on that momentum from this year and look at what else we might need to do to build our playing group.”
Having lost back-to-back grand finals in 2018 and 2019, Cobden’s response for redemption was strong in 2021.
The side was undefeated in 12 games and considered a warm favourite for the flag, having built momentum as the year progressed.
While it was unable to see if ultimately capitalised on that momentum, Hinkley is hoping her club’s juniors will continue to aid the Bombers cause as it seeks that elusive flag.
“Obviously there are always changes each year with people coming and going and different unavailabilities and things but our juniors are all going to be another year older so it’s exciting for me to look at how our undefeated under 17s will also contribute to our senior playing group,” she said.
“I guess I’m really just continuing on the work people like Nadine (McNamara) have done in the past and working at developing all those things we’ve done really well and looking at those mindsets and getting the job done hopefully in winning a premiership.”
Hinkley said her reappointment would also add layers of stability across the club following a tumultuous two year period.
“We’ve been trying to keep consistency across the club in our messaging to players across all of our playing groups,” she said.
“We try to work with similar structures and messaging with our juniors from the top down so I think it creates stability for all of our players and all of our coaches in knowing those things are going to be consistent and that we aren’t going to be reinventing things again next year with different coaches.
“Hopefully having such a successful year this season people are keen to hit the ground running next year and finish it off.”