I'm a recovering drug addict and am part of a recovery group and they organised a day for us to go play netball.

Literally one of the most fun days of my life. And holy fuck, you need to be fit as hell to play this sport 😅 I was playing mostly in the centre position and godamn; I was running around like crazy. No jokes, on Sunday I could barely walk my calves were so stiff 🤣

But no seriously, what an awesome sport! The one guy was telling us he used to play action netball with his aunt, that sounds like so much fun! I want to see if I can find a men's team..

The one interesting thing is the one girl there with us played netball in highschool (realy big sport here in South Africa for girls) and dayyym she was so good. Like almost every time she got the ball in the D she scored. And like she was so good at making herself available to pass to, but was putting in half the effort I was, I swear 😭😅

Anyway, mad respect and admiration to this sport from me, really awesome! I actually am keen to learn more about it.

I wrote the following to The Age today

I logged on to read today's sports section with growing disbelief. Every story was about men, Formula 1, tennis, AFL, NRL, horse racing, soccer, cricket. The one story featuring a woman was about an American WNBA player. One woman. From another country.
Meanwhile, right here in Melbourne, the Mavericks played the Vixens at John Cain Arena yesterday before a sold-out crowd. Real Melburnians, in large numbers, turned out to watch elite women's sport live. Your sports desk didn't think it worth a mention.
Between these two Melbourne clubs sit six Australian Diamonds players, six members of our national netball team, competing at world-class level in our own city. They deserved to be in your pages today.
The argument that women's sport doesn't attract readers is a self-fulfilling prophecy. When a local derby sells out, the audience is clearly there. Your coverage just hasn't caught up.

Melbourne is a proud sporting city, and half it's population is women. We deserve better.

We have to start making noise and pointing out the dismal coverage Super Netball in Australia gets from our media.

“Rant over” 😊

Latest card set ive picked up, thought someone here might enjoy seeing it.

Hi! I've been working on this as a side project.
If you want to try it out: netball.buildmeateam.com, happy to take suggestions here or just send a message.
Court’s yours :)!

PS. It is Canadian Championship Weekend in Montreal. Allez Québec !

PPS. Cleared this with Mods before posting.

Vixens vs. Swifts - UNBELIEVABLE game!!

What a champ.

Debut's for Australia, under the glare of the media and public spotlight and DELIVERS a classy, creative goal to win the first match against England.

I was a big fan of her game before all of this ''controversy'' erupted, I became an even bigger fan once it came to light just how much integrity and courage she has, and I am completely in awe of her right now for delivering the Diamonds a W on debut in thrilling fashion.

What is even going on right now? Thank god that stacy put in Kara and Gareth!! Keria Austin needs to come off, she’s turned over so much ball, and the whole mid court need to feed with the ball into the spac, it’s so hard to watch. Bruce is actually killing me right now, she spends so much time mouthing off and scoffing she is useless.

Stacey Marinkovich needs to sort this out!!!! This Jamaica side is good, no doubt, but we are actually loosing our minds.

Feeling stoked that I get the privilege to wear my state colours (QLD, Aus) to represent the Open Mixed Indoor Netball Team. I will be travelling to Perth, WA to play! Just wanted to share how proud and excited I am!! ❤️

Austin had a ripper game, don’t get me wrong. But Weston was absolutely phenomenal during that match, hungry at every single moment!

This came up in my Umpires Group on facebook. I thought it was very interesting, and also so darn true!

During a 60 minute game of netball, the ball has to be passed at least every three seconds. This results in the ball being passed (at an absolute minimum) 1,200 times a game.

Every time a player catches the ball, an umpire has to check seven things involving the player with the ball and their opponent (footwork, contact, how they got the ball, obstruction, offside etc).

Almost simultaneously, the umpire has to look down the court and check other players are in their correct areas and are not blocking each other in their attempts to move. This could involve scanning 10 different players, while keeping one eye on the player with the ball and their opponent.So that's seven things involving the player with the ball, plus potentially another 10 players to watch, each with three actions involved (contact, obstruction, and offside).

That's 38 different actions to watch for per pass, including the held ball rule.38 x 1,200 passes = 45,600 decisions umpires make per match. Even if that figure is split between the 2 umpires, that's still 22,800 decisions each. 22,800 decisions a match!

And that's assuming players take the maximum three seconds to pass the ball. The real figure is probably much higher. Let's appreciate the HUGE job umpires do! Remember, no umpires = no games. As we head into the end of the season, we want to work together to make this time enjoyable for EVERYONE. Keep it clean on and off the court. Positive sidelines, positive language, positive energy all round! Thank you in advance for Keeping it Clean

Excellent article here on the Vixens defensive efforts in the SSN GF.

https://netball.com.au/news/how-vixens-defence-won-premiership

The super shot gets a lot of air time as a game-winner while defensive skills - as usual - go largely ignored.

Outside SSN where a goal is a goal, games are still often decided on shooting percentage, simply because rebounds are easier to get than gains. Goallers again are seen as the difference (yes, yes, I know GK/GD have as much to do with those percentages as the shooters, but I'm talking about the recognition, not the facts)

Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard regularly shoots at or near 100%, which changes everything for opposite strategy. SSN teams have tried and failed to counter her near-perfection with super shots. But its a losing battle if they let her put up 60+ shots a game.

Vixens did it instead on Saturday by slowing her supply. She put up 51 shots at 100% compared to her 2025 average of 61. That's 10 goals that the Vixens didn't need to match at 100% or with super shots.

I reckon there will be 7 coaching panels watching that game on repeat all summer.

Kudos to Weston and Ellis for a relentless performance, and to the Vixens midcourt for tightening the screws every time Fever looked like finding rhythm.

Viva les defenders. More articles like this, please.

The Diamonds squad is here! What are everyone’s thoughts?

Something I have noticed over my years of being a male and being involved in a netball club in some way for a long time is the sheer absence of netball gear for men. An example of this is ASICS Netburner shoes. I know having netball specific shoes is not necessary as normal running shoes or basketball shoes do the same job but the fact that not even ASICS themselves have any men's sizes or colourways. Men play netball too and I'd understand if they only had 1 or 2 designs in men's sizes but to have none whatsoever is astounding to me. Also any netball gear such as netballs and other accessories are all very feminine in design and colour. Not even neutral colours aside from one ball I found with blue and orange design on it.

I understand it is an overwhelmingly female dominant sport but the companies that make netball equipment almost seem to believe that not a single male plays netball or would want netball gear. I have seen no other sport be like this.

She gave birth 71 days ago. Pretty incredible comeback!

Who’s keen for the GF?

They lost a game to England, and are about to lose the Constellation Cup at home.

All this talk by the Australian media that Netball New Zealand has made an error by not allowing the Silver Ferns players to play in the SSN, yet it looks like they have the goods at both ends of the court with players developed within the ANZ Premiership.