Aitken the Jamaican wonder

By Amanda Lulham
March 09, 2008

STRONGER, higher, faster and in the case of one goal-shooter, significantly taller.

Welcome to the brave new world of netball.

At 196cm, high-flying Jamaican Romelda Aitken is being touted as a major crowd favourite of the new semi-professional ANZ Championship.

Players gave fans a sneak peek at the new trans-Tasman competition's uniforms, names and intensity when the pre-season tournament kicked off in Sydney.

Aitken, 19, is being hailed as a future star of the sport and in her first appearance on Australian soil she lived up to the hype.

Taking centre stage for the Queensland Firebirds she potted shots with ease.

Former Australian shooter and now Queensland Firebirds coach Vicky Wilson recruited the Jamaican sharp-shooter, snaring Aitken as one of her two imports.

She is a signing Wilson, once regarded as one of the best shooters in the game, believes will help her Queensland side be a force in the inaugural trans-Tasman competition.

"She's something special and unique," Wilson said of her young charge who arrived in Australia a month ago.

Australian and NSW Swifts shooter Cath Cox agreed.

"The first time we saw her was two years ago and she was really young and on the bench for Jamaica," she said.

"We then played her in two Tests late last year and she is unbelievable. Not only is she one of the tallest players in netball she is deadly accurate. She's going to be hard to stop."

Wilson said the new league - which will pit the best players from the world's two top netball nations against each other for 17 weeks - will lift netball to a higher level with Fox Sports and Sky New Zealand screening 69 games from April to July with most clashes on air live.

"We'd hope to see an improvement in the support base, public awareness, new fans and I think there will be a new intensity out there," Wilson said.

The ANZ Championship begins on April 5.

The NSW Swifts have secured seven home games including international blockbusters against three New Zealand sides. The Swifts will open their campaign against New Zealand's Southern Steel on April 7 at Acer Arena.