Junior Levi and Kruze Tangira headline the New Zealand men's team named for next month's Cadbury Netball Series against the Silver Ferns and development squads.
NZ Men's Junior Levi on defence against Silver Ferns Jane Watson last year. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The New Zealand Men's and Mixed Netball Association has named a 14-strong squad for the series which will see them also go up against a NZ A side and the NZ Under 21s in Palmerston North from 21-24 October.
Tangira, who is one of just five players named who took part in last year's inaugural event, will captain the side.
The unmissable 2.14m tall shooter Junior Levi is based in Australia but will still make the series, while Matt Wetere, who captained the side during last year's series and is based in Sydney, won't.
Levi, Cameron Powell, Daniel Jefferies and Joseph Tukaki are also returning for their second Cadbury Series.
New Zealand Men's and Mixed Netball Association President David Pala'amo said it was exciting to see the unique series confirmed, after the 2020 Men's Netball World Cup was cancelled due to COVID-19.
Pala'amo said the series gave the country's top male players an opportunity to show their skills at the elite level.
"The thought of being able to take our already selected Men's World Cup open team into a 2020 series was exhilarating. This is a great opportunity for our men's players to shine," Pala'amo said.
"We also had to cancel two major national tournaments this year so it's a huge benefit for us to be playing in this series. It means we can regroup, we can bring in some new players, just get them into that netball mode again."
Four Australian based players have made a huge undertaking to cross the Tasman for the series - Levi, Deepak Patu, Cameron Powell and Jake Schuster.
The quartet were all named in the NZ Men's Squad selected at the end of last year for the World Cup.
The players will have to go into quarantine and cough up thousands of dollars in the process.
"The players that are based in Melbourne that are coming here they've taken the big jump to commit themselves to this series. It is a big ask but it's the commitment that they have to this sport ...we're going to help them as much as we can.
"It's a huge commitment and the goal post change all the time in these situations so we just hope for the best that everything goes smoothly."
Pala'amo said while there were a lot of new faces in the side, they were looking towards the Men's World Cup, which is hoped will go ahead in Perth next year.
"We have to start building for the future so it was important that we had a mixture of both. Plus some of those people from the first series weren't available. So it offered the opportunity for us to bring through some new players, getting them ready for World Cup next year and there's a couple of new young ones in this new squad too so that's exciting for them."
New Zealand Men - 2020 Cadbury Netball Series
Quintin Gerber
Nick Grimmer
Daniel Jefferies
Junior Levi
Deepak Patu
Cameron Powell
Jake Schuster
Ben Smith
Eddie Solia
Jaryn Tainui
Kruze Tangira (captain)
Joseph Tukaki
Timmy Apisai
Sheridan Wills
Tania Anderson and Natalie Milicich (Co-Coaches)