Shore shooter delighted to don red for World Cup

North Habour netballer

Marie Hansen is set to compete on the sport’s biggest stage. She tells Janetta Mackay about her netball journey.

Milford local Marie Hansen is off to play at the Netball World Cup in South Africa, turning out for surprise-package Tonga, which has qualified for the first time.

The 25-year-old Netball North Harbour representative, who was named as the Harbour competition’s club player of the year in 2022, said it felt surreal to be going to the cup, which begins on 28 July.

“It’s such a huge honour and privilege to get to play a part in putting our little country out there on the world stage, while being able to represent my family and give a little something back to them also,” she says.

The reliable shooter’s talent was first identified at Westlake Girls High School, where she was in the top team.

She says her sports-minded family have always been big supporters of her netball, with her parents first enrolling her to play when she was an eight-year-old at Milford Primary School.

Hansen, who flew out to Cape Town on Wednesday, is excited to rejoin her Tongan Tala teammates, including former Silver Ferns goal shoot Cathrine Tuivaiti and former Australian Diamonds goal defender Mo’onia Gerrard.

The older stars bring invaluable top-level international experience, but even without them the playing group drawn from New Zealand, Australia and Tonga has shown it is capable of causing some upsets.

Playing alongside Tuivaiti is a career highlight to date, she says.

“I can’t believe it. These are women I always admired growing up... so I’m stoked to be in the same environment as them. There’s so much knowledge and experience I can learn from them.”

Tonga now sits at number seven in the world rankings, just behind Malawi – who they beat in the final of the Pacific Aus Series in Queensland in April – with South Africa and the big four nations of Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica and England ranked ahead.

To qualify for the World Cup a year ago, Tonga finished ahead of Pacific rivals Fiji, who are also in the cup line-up of the world’s top 16 nations. Former participants Samoa missed out.

Hansen has been in the team since 2019. Its New Zealand-based coach, Jaqua PoriMakea-Simpson, who is general manager of Netball Taranaki, says she has been a constant on the court since.

“Marie has an impressive ability to connect with her unit on the court, is uncompromising in her role and her experience in our attacking unit will be very valuable under pressure.”

It has been a challenge bringing together players from nine cities, but the coach says Tonga’s ranking means they enter the competition with confidence to compete with the best.

Support is strong from the Tongan community near and far.

“There is a sea of red wherever we go, and they aren’t necessarily netball lovers, but they love Tonga and the people that represent it.”

Hansen is equally upbeat, saying the team has gelled well. A training camp was held last month, and she has been working on strength and conditioning programmes alone, while also fitting in club games and her work as a coordinator for her supportive employer, Intellihub, a smart-meter provider.

She debuted for Tonga at a South Pacific Games. Older brother Onelani Pongi was also there, playing for Tonga’s Sevens team.

One of seven siblings to Tonga-born parents, Hansen says her two sisters also play netball and her three younger brothers all grew up playing rugby for Takapuna Rugby Club.

For six years from her late teens, Hansen played for Shore Rovers, the biggest club at Netball North Harbour, before switching for two years to Harbour Force, coached by former Silver Ferns player and coach Yvonne

Shore shot... Milford-raised Marie Hansen (left and above) is off to the Netball World Cup. Here she is seen in action for Tonga at the PacificAus Series in Australia in April, which the team won for a third time.

PHOTOS: BARRY ALSOP

Willering, where team-mates included Silver Fern Sulu Fitzpatrick.

Hansen helped North Harbour win the national open title last year.

This year she is playing in the Auckland competition with Huskies, a new club of old hands, including former Silver Fern defender Temalisi Fakahokotau.

Hansen was also a training partner for the Comets, in the Synergy League national competition below ANZ level, which she would love to progress to. She has previously played a season in Synergy’s predecessor, the Beko League.

She puts the appeal of being a shooter down to enjoying the physicality of being in the goal circle. “The most challenging thing is the pressure that can come with finishing the job and scoring the goals.”

Her family will be watching the cup games from home, while her partner will be in Cape Town.

Asked about wearing red instead of aspiring to the black dress, New Zealand-born Hansen modestly says she never thought she would realistically make it, so the Ferns did not factor in her dreams.

“There’s a huge sense of pride and joy that comes with putting on that red dress and seeing how much it means to my loved ones,” she says. Cup qualification was an absolute bonus.

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