In it's second year since inception, the Southern Dragons Squad Management Group brings together four key areas for the Southern Dragons to help prepare for and compete at AMMNA Nationals; Coaching, Fitness, Physiotherapy and Planning. We are lucky to be represented by four highly motivated team members who bring a depth of experience in their fields.

Tour Manager

In 2017, SAMMNA created a new role to oversee the Southern Dragons Squad: Tour Manager. The Tour Manager's role is to focus on the organisation, logistics, communication and support surrounding the entire squad, to allow the players and coaching/management group to focus on what they need to do. Janine Hook (aka Nino, Dragon Lady) was the inaugural Southern Dragons Tour Manager and we are fortunate that she is continuing on in this role for 2020 for her 3rd AMMNA Tournament.

Nino brings to the Squad Management Group, 30+ years of experience in Netball as a player, umpire and committee member and has a passion for providing opportunities for athletes to perform at their best. 

With a sound knowledge of sports administration, having worked and volunteered in Indoor Sports with ISSA and SA Crowns as a National Umpire, Umpire Co-ordinator, Australasian and Australian Masters Games Sports Convenor and Tournament Director, Nino works best under pressure. Having a strong background in events, Nino has worked on the World Police and Fire Games, Tour Down Under, Adelaide Fringe and has a great deal of experience in fundraising.

Joining SAMMNA in 2015, Nino hit the ground running (despite a knee injury) as a regular M-League Umpire, later Umpire Director and now Competitions Manager. Having made significant contributions to governance and strategic planning, Nino believes that transparency, succession planning and clarity in communication are keys to the success and longevity of any Association. As a SAMMNA Board member, she is driven to ensuring fairness and equity is upheld, whilst striving to ensure due process is followed and opportunities are provided for all.

In her third tour as Tour Manager, Nino is looking forward to seeing SA field a strong squad for the home tournament in 2020. 

Head of Coaching

Another role created by SAMMNA for the Southern Dragons Squad Management Group is the Head of Coaching. We are happy to announce Andy Plenty will be continuing on with the Southern Dragons in this role for the second year.

Andy is an experienced coach having coached numerous Indoor Netball State teams from 2001 - 2009. He has represented SA in both Indoor and Outdoor Netball as a player and represented Australia in 2004. From 2010 - 2015, Andy coached Premier League Reserves, before advancing to Premier League Coach at Woods from 2016 - 2017. Andy is currently the Premier League Coach at Metro Jets Netball Club. He also gained his Advanced Coaching Accreditation in 2018. 

Andy brings a wealth of coaching knowledge to the Squad Management group after also coaching our Open Men's team in 2018. His knowledge and experience will help mentor and guide the Southern Dragons Coaching team for the 2020 tour.

Head of Fitness

The Head of Fitness role is being overseen by Shane Cooke for the second year running. Shane has been a fitness coach and a strength and conditioning coach for 13 years; working with a wide verity of athletes from different sports. After joining Southern Dragons in 2018, Shane has been an active participant in the Southern Dragons community, helping Assistant Coach at the 2019 tournament.

Shane has officially been involved with men’s netball for 3 years, where he has also worked with the Australian Sonix Men's side, Australian U20's and Australian Over 35's. Unofficially, Shane has been around men's and mixed netball since a young age and has a solid understanding of the fitness levels required to compete at the AMMNA Championships.

Shane has already begun his preparations for the 2020 playing squad and is excited about applying his expertise to all of the athletes and assisting the coaches get the most out of their players both physically and mentally.

Head of Physiotherapy

A vital role SAMMNA has identified for the playing squad is the Head of Physiotheraphy role. The Head of Physiotherapy not only oversees injured players, but also works in close contact with the Head of Fitness - to identify areas the playing squad or individual players may need to focus on, as well as the coaching team - to keep an open comminucation regarding player well being and injury status. We are happy to announce Nicholas Brown (Nic) will be continuing in this role for 2020!

Nic is an experienced physiotherapist, graduating in 2014 with a Bachelor of Physiotherapy. He worked in the USA for 2 years and since returning to Australia has been working at Leading Edge Physical Therapy. In his role, Nic gets to work with people on multiple levels, from local football and netball teams, to national level athletes in beach volleyball, water polo, rowing and kayaking. His interests include screening and injury prevention, lower limb injury rehabilitation and hydrotherapy. Nic brings a lot of knowledge to the Southern Dragons playing squad and plays an important role in the Squad Management Group.

We look forward to seeing the Southern Dragons Squad Managment Group work together for the second year running to ensure we can be a competitive state at the AMMNA Championships.