The Netty Life

Round 8 saw many of the league's top players sidelined with injury or illness and the Firebirds and the Mavericks enjoyed unexpected wins; for the Mavs it was their first win in front of their home crowd.  The omission of Sam Wallace-Joseph from the Swifts game day 10 remains a hot discussion topic, and we try to unravel why she would have been dropped from their squad.  Mavericks shoote...

Part one of First Nations round happened over round seven in the lead up to National Reconciliation Week. We hear from Yarwuru woman Scarlet Jauncey about her selection in the inaugural Australian First Nations team and the West Coast Fever Reserves side.  The defender has been mentored by England Roses captain and Fever newbie Fran Williams during her WANL season with the Hamersley Comets.&n...

Round six threw up the league's first two-minute suspension of 2024 as Giant Jamie-Lee Price was sent to the sideline. Fever have now shot four points clear to sit at the top of the ladder, while the Lightning brought the Vixens winning streak to an end. In the lead up to the first of a two-part First Nations Round this season we talk to Sharon Finnan-White – one of only three Indigenous Diamonds...

In round five, the West Coast Fever and Melbourne Vixens continued their unbeaten streak to remain ladder leaders. The Fever hit their highest Super Netball score yet this season at 94 goals and the Vixens claimed the first instalment of the Sargeant-McKinnis Cup. But the biggest story was neither of these moments and actually revolved around a scoreboard drama between the Giants and Sunshine Coas...

Round three saw two matches where teams could only be separated by extra time. A Jamaican legend hit 8000 Super Netball goals and an English Rose became a centurion. The Giants and Mavericks are still without wins and Fever make it three wins from three rounds.  Plus we hear from sports journalist Bridget Tunnicliffe about Netball New Zealand’s desire to enter three of their teams in the Supe...

Fever announce themselves as true contenders for 2024 after just two rounds after two massive victories.  Diamonds goal keeper and new Lightning recruit Courtney Bruce drops by to discuss the importance of mental health, finding balance after switching clubs and her puppy, Oliver.  Before we discuss the possibility of New Zealand joining Super Netball and the new rules around dangerous p...

The 2024 Super Netball season is officially underway and we welcomed brand new club the Mavericks to the family. Round one saw attendance records broken, the West Coast Fever start their season with a 19-goal bang, and the Adelaide Thunderbirds cap a fantastic weekend for South Australian netball with a tight victory.  On this podcast we chat with Melbourne Vixens defender Rudi Ellis, who was...

A brand new Super Netball season is upon us and we’ve got you sorted with all you need to know in our season preview!  On top of discussing each of the eight team’s headline story to watch, we also cover some of the biggest talking points from the past week.  Such as Sam Wallace-Joseph’s brush with controversy relating to Easter and International Transgender Day of Visibility, Silver Fer...

Katie McCarthy has a passion for women in sport and … scrunchies!  Her business aims to make comfortable and colourful hair ties for girls to wear without it falling out as they play sport.  At the Team Girls Cup, McCarthy ventured into netball for the first real time, partnering with Amy Parmenter’s Tie-Dye Project to donate money to the Confident Girls Foundation. We hear more about th...

Another exciting instalment of the Team Girls Cup wrapped up last weekend at Sydney’s Ken Rosewell Arena. In front of their home crowd, the NSW Swifts were crowned champions after defeating the Melbourne Vixens by one goal in a thrilling grand final.  The three-day tournament was a chance to see all eight teams and their extended bench before the Super Netball season officially starts on Apri...

The Diamonds added to their trophy cabinet with another international win at the Netball Nations Cup, defeating the Roses in an emphatic win in the final by 20 goals. We discuss: - How good can the Sophie Dywer and Sophie Garbin combination be for the Diamonds? - Is Jess Thirlby the coach to take the Roses to the next level? - Should the Silver Ferns relax their import player rule, and should New...

The Aussie Diamonds are undefeated midway through the Nations Cup, as the teams now get a week off and the tournament heads from London to Leeds. The team have got one more game to come against Uganda before they reach the final, where they’ll to meet their old foes New Zealand or England. We caught up with Diamonds assistant coach Nicole Richardson to get her thoughts on how the Australian team h...

The Aussie Diamonds are in the UK, ready to battle New Zealand, England and Uganda for the Netball Nations Cup. It's a trophy they've never contested and coach Stacey Marincovich has assembled a World Cup winning squad to claim it. In what will be an historic moment in international netball, Australia and Uganda will meet for the first time in the sport’s history. We also share interviews with Dia...

After several months of an unbelievable shit show, Netball Australia and the Australian Netball Players’ Association finally agreed on a landmark Super Netball CPA deal that will see the players and administration enter a partnership in the sport’s very first revenue-share model. Was former CEO Kelly Ryan used as a scapegoat for the rest of the board? And should more heads roll as the governing bo...

After 11 years competing at the elite level of netball, Verity Simmons, West Coast Fever's talented mid-courter, has decided to retire from the sport. Her decision was partly influenced by the ongoing disputes between Netball Australia and the unresolved CPA, which has left netballers without pay for nine weeks. Throughout her career, Verity has faced injuries, grand final losses, two premiership...

The Diamonds have held onto the Constellation Cup by aggregate goals despite losing the final two matches of the series to the New Zealand Silver Ferns. Should the series be changed to a three or five match contest? Why did the Diamonds drop off in intensity on the New Zealand leg? And what sparked the resurgence in the Silver Ferns - was it all down to Grace Nweke? We also pay tribute to our Auss...

On a special bonus episode of The Netty Life, we catch up with Jillian Joyce, business owner of Pride Human Performance in Townsville and Head coach of the North Queensland Netball Academy. Jillian is one of the best netball brains in NQ. In this candid interview, we chat about the role she plays in uncovering netball talent up north, the growth of the men’s game, how her team are breaking down th...

The Aussie Diamonds have asserted their dominance early in the greatest trans-Tasman rivalry in sport. After taking a 2-0 lead on home soil, the Constellation Cup tour now heads to New Zealand for the final two matches. Meanwhile, in the men’s, the Aussie Kelpies have done the same in their Trans-Tasman Cup. Securing the trophy for another year with one game left to play in Auckland. We analyse al...

As the Diamonds gear up to face their fiercest rivals, the Silver Ferns, so do their Aussie and New Zealand male counterparts. For a second year running, the Trans-Tasman Cup will be played as a double header alongside the women’s Constellation Cup, with all matches to be televised. The Australian team will debut its new name – the Kelpies – when they hit the court Thursday for Game 1, after a lon...

It has been a while since our last podcast, and some tension is brewing in the Australian Netball scene. We discuss the growing unease between Netball Australia and the Australian Netball Players Association (ANPA) as Super Netball players are currently left without income due to the CPA that is yet to be finalised. We also discuss the upcoming Constellation Cup that starts in Melbourne on October...

After the old Super Netball collective player agreement lapsed on September 30 without the Australian Netball Players’ Association and Netball Australia reaching an agreement on a new one, all 80 athletes in the league have been off contract without pay now for 10 days. Despite negotiations starting way back in February, the two parties have not been able to see eye-to-eye and have now gone public...

Collingwood Super Netball head coach Nicole Richardson has been to hell and back this year. Her side were made defunct six weeks before the end of the Super Netball season, where they finished with their second-ever wooden spoon and won their last two home games in an emotional and bittersweet farewell. Then she won the Netball World Cup in South Africa with the Diamonds as an assistant coach, sta...

In an exclusive interview, the Netty Life catch up with Diamond #105 Sharon Finnan-White who is about to launch her new initiative, The Sharon Finnan-White First Nations Academy of Excellence (FNAE). We also hear from two athletes playing in the 2023 Indigenous Diamonds squad (coached by Finnan-White), Tenisha Solomon and Sonny Anne Ragget.

The Australian Diamonds win the Netball World Cup in Cape Town for the 12th time to take back the last elusive trophy missing from their cabinet. The England Roses had a historic tournament finishing with their first silver medal, the Jamaican Sunshine Girls left with bronze and the New Zealand Silver Ferns failed to medal for the first time in the 60-year history of the tournament, solidifying th...

The Adelaide Thunderbirds are the Super Netball champions for 2023 after defeating the Swifts in the grand final by just one goal in extra time in a match that will live on in Super Netball folklore. We discuss the impact Roses import and buy of the year, Eleanor Cardwell, has had in her first season with the Thunderbirds and the high penalty count for the usually disciplined Swifts that may have...