Paula Griffin signs with Steel

Press Release
(For immediate release)
August 24, 2010

Paula Griffin signs with Steel

Paula Griffin will join the shooting ranks of the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel for the 2011 ANZ Championship.

“I’m really excited – I feel like it’s a new chapter in my life,” she said.

The former Silver Fern opted to take a short break from international duties this year and believes the highly-rated Steel environment would prove the ideal platform to reclaim her spot in the national team as she eyes next year’s World Championships in Singapore.

“I’ve taken a really good look at myself and realised I’ve been playing top level netball for a few years but never really reached my true potential,” she said.

“I’m looking to really mature as a player and make a mark for myself … with the guidance of (Steel coach) Robyn Broughton and playing with a great bunch of very talented girls, I believe the Steel is the right environment to really develop my game.”

The decision to leave the Haier Pulse was difficult despite the team notching up just one win in the trans-Tasman league this season.

“It was a tough environment but it was also a fantastic learning curve because losing does force you to take a really good look at yourself,” Griffin said.

“It’s time to move on from there but I really can take a whole lot from the Pulse and add even more learning to that at the Steel.”

Increased competition for the Silver Ferns goal attack bib did not faze Griffin.

“It’s really good now that there are a lot of girls fighting for it – that will push me even more.”

Griffin and her partner Joe McCormack will move to Southland later this year.

Southern Steel chief executive Julie Paterson said Griffin was a great signing for the franchise.

“She is a talented young player with a lot of potential and it will be exciting to watch her develop further,” she said.

The Steel were in the process of finalising the make-up of its 2011 team and remained in negotiations with a number of players, Paterson said.

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