AS the Jamaica Sunshine Girls prepare to take on minnows Sri Lanka in their opening match of the Netball World Cup (NWC) tournament next Friday in Cape Town, South Africa, experienced defender Kadie-Ann Dehaney says it is important that coaches manage the workload properly in order to keep players fit and fresh for the for competition.

The Sunshine Girls, who are drawn in Pool C, will also play alongside Wales and host South Africa in the group stages of the competition.

The Jamaicans will enter the championships as one of the favourites to win the gold medal, hoping to follow their historic silver medal-winning performance at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, last August.

They will also be looking to break a 12-year medal drought during this year’s championships, having finished a disappointing fifth at the last tournament which was held in 2019 in Liverpool, England.

Dehaney, who plies her trade in the Suncorp Super Netball League in Australia with the Sunshine Coast Lightning, said it is very important that each player’s minutes are managed carefully in the preliminary rounds of the competition so as to minimise burnout before they get into the semi-finals.

“I think load management is very important for us because we can’t run one or seven players for the whole games leading in the semi-finals or the final,” said Dehaney. “I think we need to learn some things from Australia and New Zealand and take some time from the players so that they can be fresh for the semi-finals and final when we get there,” she reasoned.

Dehaney shared that the Sunshine Girls have a very good team heading into the championships, and she is confident they can end their 12-year medal drought this year.

“I think that this is the team to do it [break the drought]; and if this is not the team then I don’t know which team will, and so we are definitely going to break that drought in South Africa,” she said.

“I am feeling pretty confident because I think we do have the team to deliver the goods at this World Championships in South Africa,” Dehaney went on.

The 26-year-old Dehaney, who plays goal defence/goalkeeper, has described this season as the best she has ever had in the Suncorp Super League since she began playing in the competition in 2017.

“I am also feeling pretty excited because this is first World Cup that I am excited to go, because my first World Cup I was inexperienced and don’t know what to expect and the second World Cup I wasn’t in the shape that I am in now,” she said.

“I think that I am in pretty good shape, because for the last seven years playing in Australia I think this is best shape that I have ever been in physically and mentally and so I think that I will definitely perform well this year,” said the lanky player who will be making her third appearance for the Sunshine Girls at the NWC.