For a player who trails only Jhaniele Fowler on the shooting ladder after 10 Super Netball rounds, it seems apt that Magpie import Shimona Nelson’s knowledge of that other game Collingwood plays is pretty much limited to “the six that you score between the two middle poles’’.

Nelson’s smaller target is a ring with a net, which she has found an average of 43 times per game. That the 20-year-old is the focus of the Pies’ inconsistent attack is undeniable, and not always healthy, but for a second-year player with much still to learn, she is standing up commendably well.

Keen to learn: Magpie Shimona Nelson.Credit:AAP

Indeed, the gamble taken by the Adelaide Thunderbirds last season in signing a teenager who had played just one – short – inter-collegiate season back home in Kingston is now paying off for the Magpies, who swooped during the recruiting free-for-all at the end of the 2018 season, and jettisoned spearhead Caitlin Thwaites as a result.

Nelson had not even played sport – any sport – until, aged about 15, she was persuaded to try basketball by a teacher who noticed her height and convinced the self-declared study “nerd” who was keen to excel academically that the two things need not be mutually exclusive.

Netball came a little later, but when it did, everything happened remarkably fast.

“I mean, I’d seen the sport; I never actually thought that I would be involved in it. I was just like, ‘Oh, it’s a nice sport, a nice girlie sport, a lot of short dresses and stuff’,’’ Nelson says laughing, admitting her personal uniform vision involved more baggy shorts and Nike Air Jordans.

Instead, the rookie was scouted by former T-birds coach Dan Ryan during her surprise call-up for a Test debut against Barbados in 2017. After competing at the World Youth Cup, she was lured to Adelaide as an injury replacement; following 418 goals in her 14 games for the Thunderbirds and multiple offers from rival clubs, next stop was Collingwood.

Nelson has no regrets about the path she has chosen, or which sport, despite struggling at times with the challenges of combining her ongoing game education – including her footwork, positioning and stronger two-handed takes – with playing, in the best netball league in the world.

The circle aerialist is also continuing to manage the right knee inflammation that has stalked her since the pre-season, and forced the heir apparent to veteran shooters Fowler and Romelda Aiken to withdraw from the Sunshine Girls’ squad for the recent Netball World Cup. It was an emotional time, which Nelson still gets upset to recall.

“It was really disappointing. The first thing in my mind was, ‘Yes, I’ll be able to see my teammates and speak Jamaican and have Jamaican conversations!' And it’s really hard to talk about it now …" she trails off. “It was really hard for me to take and also to tell them that I had to pull out because of my knee.

“There was a lot of frustration. Sometimes I’d be like ‘How am I gonna get through [Magpies] training because I’m thinking about not going to World Cup and what’s gonna happen after’. But the girls spoke to me and I tried to remain positive and regain my calmness and keep working, because I know it’s not the end.’’

Far from it, and today’s game against the Thunderbirds will be the first time Nelson has returned Adelaide since joining the Pies. She acknowledges the trust her former team showed in her potential saying, “I could never ask for anyone else to believe in me that much to go out and perform for them.”

“I’m so excited. Just to go back to my pink court with the pink circles, I’ll be like, ‘Yes, I’m back home’. My first home. My home away from home,’’ says the Deakin psychological science student.

The fifth-placed Magpies can draw some confidence from the 18-goal win in round four in Melbourne that produced their highest score (65) of the season, with Nelson (who shot 52 of them) opposed to her star Jamaican teammate Shamera Sterling (a phenomenal eight intercepts but still a slightly surprising match MVP).

“I was like, ‘I hope I don’t mess up!’,’’ she says, admitting to some early nerves. “I overcame that during the game, and yeah, it was quite good.’’

It was significantly better than that, as a giggling Nelson eventually concedes. “I mean, words can’t describe how I felt that night. It was unbelievable. That’s the only word I can think of for now.’’

Magpies Netball players will be part of the Collingwood Cares Giving Day on Tuesday which aims to raise $1 million for the club’s homelessness program, Magpies Nest. For pre-event pledges and donations on the day, visit Collingwood’s community website.

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