Carstens, 29 has been a mainstay of the Spirit over the past two years enjoyed an excellent year playing mainly in Goal Defence formed an excellent defensive pairing with Kirra Parsons (Cripps) and Cavaliers teammate Sandra Bennett. Carstens was a key player in Spirits season playing in 33 quarters out of a possible 36. Dannie finished fourth overall in the Australian Netball League MVP Award.
The MVP award is the latest in a long string of awards and achievements in one of the most distinguished careers in recent memory.
Carstens who suffered a serious Achilles injury in the State League finals of 2012 before responding with an excellent 2013 campaign where she player/coached the Premiership winning Cavaliers side being selected at Goal Defence in the All-Star team and collecting the Coach of the Year Award. Carstens was also selected as the 2014 All-Star Goal Defence after another excellent year at State League level finishing runner up in the ANZ State League Best and Fairest an award she won in 2009. This was her 6th selection in the All-Star team at Tasmanian State League level. She has also been awarded Coach of the Year on three occasions.
Sprit coach Jon Fletcher said of Carstens “Dannie had an outstanding tournament performing at a high level across all nine games. She was an inspiration to her team mates and finishing 4th in the ANL MVP Award was great recognition for her consistent quality of play.”
Fletcher was also fourth coming with praise for the rest of his squad.
“As a whole the Tassie Spirit had a very strong ANL campaign highlighted by 3 wins and the introduction of some new faces to the program. The ability of all players selected to stand up and compete confidently against some of the country’s best players was exciting and places Tasmania in good shape for the years ahead”
Tassie Spirit Goal Shooter Sophie Gunn also had another strong showing finishing fourth in the ANL for total goals scored 223 from 273 attempts at 81.7% with her average of 28 goals a match ranking her third in the competition.
The Tassie Spirit enjoyed their equal best ever Australian Netball Season finishing 7th on the ANL table after recording victories over Canberra Darters, NSW Blues and Territory Storm in a strong showing by the side. The achievement made more impressive by the Spirit side being made up entirely of athletes that have come through the Tasmanian Netball pathway and through the current
