Super Netball captains Kim Ravaillion (Queensland Firebirds), Hannah Petty (Adelaide Thunderbirds), Kate Moloney (Melbourne Vixens), Jo Harten (Giants), Paige Hadley (NSW Swifts), Amy Parmenter (Melbourne Mavericks), Jess Anstiss (West Coast Fever) and Steph Fretwell (Sunshine Coast Lightning).Credit: Getty
New season, new team and new players: 2024 shapes as a new dawn for Australian netball.
After a year clouded by a long and bitter pay war between Netball Australia and the players’ union, it would seem the only way is up for a competition that has had its fair share of controversies in the past couple of years.
Round one of the Super Netball competition gets under way on Saturday when the Giants take on the Fever. Here’s the news you need to know before the first centre pass.
Giants captain Jo Harten and Swifts captain Paige Hadley.Credit: Getty
The news
The netball world hasn’t stopped during the eight-month off-season.
Former Netball Australia boss Kelly Ryan resigned in December following a tumultuous two-year tenure that included the loss of $17 million in federal funding, a nasty pay war with players and the Hancock Prospecting logo saga. And to top it all off, chair Wendy Archer also left the organisation last month.
It all followed a difficult year for Super Netball after the Collingwood Magpies announced they’d be withdrawing their team from the competition.
Collingwood were replaced by new franchise the Melbourne Mavericks - owned by Sports Entertainment Network (SEN) - and players inked a new deal with Netball Australia that resulted in an immediate 11 per cent pay rise over three years.
Amy Parmenter will captain the new Melbourne Mavericks team.Credit: Getty
The Swifts
Last year’s runners-up are hunting their third title in six years in 2024.
After finishing on top of the table in 2023, the Swifts suffered a one-point grand final defeat to the Adelaide Thunderbirds in extra time.
They play their first match of the season against the Lightning on the Sunshine Coast on Sunday afternoon - a team they beat twice in 2023.
However, co-captain Maddy Proud said they’re expecting a new-look Lighting come Sunday.
“The Lightning are absolutely stacked, they’ve done a great job in the off-season in recruiting some really big names, and I think when you look at that front end it’s pretty hard to fault and to pick any sort of weaknesses in there,” she said.
“But for us, I guess we just take the confidence in knowing that we’ve got a team that’s been together for a really long time, and we’ve added some new, exciting flavour, and we’ve got Sammy Wallace-Joseph back who is just rearing to go as well.
“It’s going to be a great way to start the season, and I think taking on a team that has had a lot of hype around them in the off-season, round one is going to be really exciting for us.”
The Swifts get Samantha Wallace-Joseph back for 2024, with the Trinidad and Tobago international missing all of 2023, and most of 2022, after she injured her ACL, MCL and meniscus
Wallace-Joseph was caught up in an unfortunate “misunderstanding” on social media during the off-season, but will be a massive asset for the team in 2024 - during her last full season with the Swifts in 2021, she was shooting with a 93 per cent accuracy.
Giants
There was a clear difference between the top and bottom teams in 2023. The Giants won just five of their 14 games last year - only one win more than the Firebirds and Magpies at the bottom of the table.
But 2024 marks a change for the Orange army. Co-captain Jo Harten has completed her first full pre-season in years, and the team have recruited Jodi-Ann Ward, Sam Winders and Chelsea Pitman for the new season.
The Giants open the season at home against the West Coast Fever on Saturday night.
Co-captain Jamie-Lee Price said it will be a fresh-faced Giants side that takes to the court.
“We’ve had a really strong pre-season, we’ve had 10 pre-season games, so we’ve played lots of matches, and we’ve got our combinations going really strongly, and I think we’re just ready to go,” Price said.
“I think last year was a really hard year in regards to trying to find our rhythm ... but I think this year has been really refreshing. I think the new faces that we have, we’ve brought in some experience, we’ve brought in some youngies, so we’ve got such a great, diverse group of players.”
The Fever have had the upper-hand in the past three encounters with the Giants, the last of which was in round 13 last year when they beat them 72-61.
“Anyone can beat anyone on any given day really, because every team is so strong.”
Giants co-captain Jamie-Lee Price
However, the difference was just one point when the teams went head-to-head earlier in the year.
“I think we’ve had a strong rivalry for the last couple of years [against the Fever] so I’m excited to see what we can do against them,” Price said.
“I think they’re a new-look team as well - I think every team is a new-look team- and I think anyone can beat anyone on any given day really, because every team is so strong. I’m just so keen to play in front of our home crowd, I think there are 3000 people coming or expected on the weekend, so see what we can do.”