Toni, Jase & Sam took on ex-Silver Ferns in celebrity netball match

Toni Street, Jason Reeves & Sam Wallace took on a team of former Silver Ferns to raise funds for the Cancer Society.

Yesterday afternoon, Coast hosted a celebrity netball match ahead of Daffodil Day today, as the radio station’s owner NZME teams up with ANZ to raise funds for the charity.

Luckily for Coast's Feel Good Breakfast hosts, they have some professional athletes on their side, coached by Yvonne Willering. Former cricketer Martin Guptill joined the Coast Invitational side, with Olympic medallists Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and Dame Lisa Carrington.

Portia played netball for a decade before switching to rugby. “It’s amazing what your body remembers,” she said, but even for a Black Fern that doesn’t mean the netball game was easy. Watching a ball go over her head she thought, “12 years ago, I would have got that intercept”.

“The crew is really awesome,” she told Herald sports reporter Bonnie Jansen. “It’s cool playing alongside Lisa, Toni, David.”

How did it feel for Lisa to come back from Paris and head to the netball court? “I’m excited,” she said. I know that I will come away with sore legs, but hopefully no sprained ankles.”

In peak form after the Olympics, was she fighting fit for the on-court action? “My mom did warn me. She said no bullet passes.”

They were joined by Kirk Penney, Dave Liti – who confessed to being “a little bit nervous” ahead of the game – and Kelly Coe, owner of fashion house Augustine, which dresses the Silver Ferns and Northern Stars netball teams.

Dave said it was a great way to spend an afternoon. “It’s for a good cause and it’s getting a whole bunch of us together and having a fun game,” he told the Herald. “I don’t know how this game’s gonna go.”

The match was at the North Harbour Netball Centre in Northcote and you can rewatch the livestream here. (The game starts about 11 minutes in.)

Ahead of the match, Toni, Jase & Sam spent some time brushing up on their sporting skills, and though Toni has netball expertise, she wasn’t so sure about the boys.

“One’s a basketballer, one’s an expert on the elliptical,” she said ahead of the match, adding that while she’s played netball for years, “I’ve coached more than I’ve played recently... we’ll be relying heavily on Lisa Carrington, Portia Woodman and Martin Guptill, and hopefully I can just blend in.”

Sam said he was planning to play like a basketballer. “I’m not prepared to bend to the netball way ... I’m pretty much going to be doing lay-ups.”

The line-up of ex-Silver Ferns included Anna Stanley, Bernice Mene, Anna Scarlett (now Harrison), Adine Wilson, Kiri Wills, Paula Griffin, Sulu Fitzpatrick and Linda Vagana.

Text SUPPORT to 206 to make an instant $3 donation to the Cancer Society.

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.