Trials, Grading and Team Placement

At FFNC, we run a series of grading sessions to help us place players in teams that are well-balanced (in terms of positions) and have players who are of similar ability.

FFNC teams play in the Perth Netball Association (PNA) competition and PNA ask us to grade all players from year 5 and up. All teams in year 5 and up in the PNA competition are placed in divisions that match the teams ability against the other opponents as best they can.

PNA will 're-grade' after the first few rounds of the season if there are teams that look like they are in a division too high or too low for their combined ability.

For this reason, taking into account friendship groups when placing players in teams becomes harder and harder to manage as the player gets older and their skills develop. Friendship groups for years 5 and 6 are not a priority (but are considered) when we do our team selections.

Grading Dates for 2027 (Proposed)

All players in Years 5 - 12 are required to attend grading sessions in February.

Location: Matthews Netball Centre, corner Selby and Salvado Road Wembley

Time: Training session times depend on the year group

	Early session	Late sesion
Week 1: 9th February 2027	Year 5/6 (Session 1)	Year 9-12 (Session 1)
Week 2: 16th February 2027	Year 5/6 (Session 2)	Year 9-12 (Session 2)
Week 3: 23rd February 2027	Year 5/6 (Session 3)	Year 7/8 (Session 1)
Week 4: 2nd March 2027	Year 7/8 (Session 2)	Year 9-12 (Session 3)
Week 5: 9th March 2027	Year 7/8 (Session 3)

Trials (Year 7/8 New Players)

We usually get a big intake of new players from this age group, as players from surrounding primary schools look for a club to play for through their high school years. This cohort in the club is already large and we anticipate that the club will not be able to register all players who wish to join in 2027, as our priority is to register returning players first. The sessions, to be held in October 2026 (when the players are still in year 6/7), will allow the club to select some players who will be invited to register with the club.

New players are expected to attend ALL scheduled Trials sessions.

Not all players who attend trials will be selected to register with FFNC.

Selected players will be formally invited to play for FFNC in November. FFNC will require a non-refundable deposit to confirm your commitment to register with the club at that time. The deposit will be applied to your season registration fees.

SIBLINGS of current members who will be a New Player in year 7/8 must attend trials. They should be registered at the same time as their siblings in order to receive the sibling discount. They will be given priority for selection.

Players that missed out on an invitation to register for the season following the trials, will stay on our waitlist and be invited to register if a place becomes available.

An Expression of Interest form must be submitted to attend Year 7/8 trials for 2027.

Grading (ALL Players Year 5-12)

All players in Year 5 and above are required to attend the Grading sessions held in February, including Year 7 and 8 players who attended the Pre-Grading sessions in November.

Only players who have been invited to register, completed their Season Registration and paid their club fees in full are eligible to attend Grading.

Players must attend Grading to be considered for team placement.
Players who do not attend Grading will not be placed into a team.

Players who submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) after Grading has taken place will only be invited to register if a suitable place becomes available.

Players are expected to attend all scheduled Grading sessions to ensure they can be fairly assessed for team placement.

Grading and Trials Sessions - What to Expect

For both Trials and Grading, a very similar process is followed:

The player must be registered (either via EOI for Pre-Grading or Season Registration for Grading)
Arrive at the designated time
Register player attendance at the desk (for EVERY session)
The player will be given a Leg Number which will be drawn on both legs using a black marker pen
Players will be directed to a court number for warm up and short games

What to Wear and Bring

Players are required to wear plain white T Shirts (a print on the front or back is OK, as it will be covered by the bib) and dark shorts
Bring a water bottle to stay hydrated
Parents are not required to stay for grading, but are most welcome to

What do the Graders do?

We use a mix of club and independent graders to observe the players and make notes of ability and skills
Players are asked to play in their 2 preferred positions and assessed on these
Players may be asked to play a different position if we need to fill the court - this is noted on the grading sheet
Graders will mark the player for each game they play - these marks help us determine who is of similar ability

Team Placement

Each netball team must have a minimum of 7 players and a maximum of 10 players. The ideal number of players to have on a team is 9 players, which is what we aim for.

For more detail, FFNC have policies covering Team Selection and Division/Category Placement.

NetSetGO (Years 2, 3 and 4)

When we put the NSG teams together, we always try and place the player with at least one friend (nominated on the registration form).

NSG players are typically new to netball, so ability and positions are not considered when doing team placements.
All year 5 players at FFNC will be placed in a Junior Year 5 team rather than an NSG Year 4/5 team.

Junior Year 5

This will be the first year that the player will experience being 'graded'. Friendship groups are not a high consideration when putting the year 5 teams together, although we will consider where appropriate.

In this age group, we need to be grouping the players together with similar abilities based on the grading process, but still considering a well-balanced team based on the preferred playing positions of those players who have been playing through NSG, but still allowing for players who have little to no netball experience.

Junior Year 6

By this stage, the Year 6's should be starting to gravitate towards specific playing positions that they are comfortable in and feel like they perform well in. Players are developing their skills and at this age there can be quite a disparity in ability, as there will be players with 3-4 years of experience and others with only 1 year of experience.

Team placements in this age group will reflect the following:

Grading notes
Feedback from last years coach
Maintaining a well-balanced team (positions)

Junior Year 7/8

In this age group, PNA combine year 7 and 8 players, so it is possible that a player may be placed in a team with all year 7's, all year 8's or both year 7's and 8's.

As this year group tends to have a big intake of New Players to the club of all abilities, current members may find themselves placed in a team with New Players and Current Members. We do not separate New Players from Current Members.

Team placements in this age group will reflect the following:

Grading notes
Feedback from last years coach
Maintaining a well-balanced team (positions)

Junior Year 9-12

In this age group, PNA combine year 9, 10, 11 and 12 players, so it is possible that a player may be placed in any combination of these.

Quite often, teams have 'played together' for a number of years, and if the team is a successful and well-balanced unit, we will try and keep them together if it suits the players. However, players come and go, and their abilities change too, so we will place them in a team that is best suited to them.

Team placements in this age group will reflect the following:

Grading notes
Feedback from last years coach
Maintaining a well-balanced team (positions)
Possibly keeping a team together
Consultation with the player and family if the players abilities are a much higher level than the team they usually play in

Upcoming

October 2026

November 2026

Trials, Grading and Team Placement

Grading Dates for 2027 (Proposed)

Trials (Year 7/8 New Players)

Grading (ALL Players Year 5-12)

Grading and Trials Sessions - What to Expect

Team Placement

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