The race is on to 9000 premiership goals with nothing between Fowler-Nembhard and Aiken-George
They are the two most prolific goalscorers across the ANZ Premiership and Super Netball era. And now they are locked in a head-to-head battle to become the first player to sink 9000 national league goals.
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They’re already in rare air, hitting heights no other players in the history of the ANZ Premiership and Super Netball can match.
But Jamaican shooting stars Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard and Romelda Aiken-George are now locked in a private race to become the first player to sink 9000 national league goals.
And the race could come down to a head-to-head duel between the pair when Fowler-Nembhard’s West Coast Fever host Aiken-George’s Adelaide Thunderbirds in round 6 next weekend.
Aiken-George, who forged a path for Jamaican players to follow, joined the Queensland Firebirds in the then-ANZ Championship’s inaugural season in 2008, immediately winning league MVP honours.
Fowler-Nembhard joined the New Zealand-based Southern Steel in 2013, also scooping league MVP honours in her first season.
Since then the pair has dominated the league, winning individual awards, premierships and each earning reputations as being among the most influential players of their generation.
Thanks to her headstart in the league - and Fowler-Nembhard playing in New Zealand’s stand-alone ANZ Premiership in 2017, the first Super Netball season - Aiken-George held a handy lead over her Sunshine Girls teammate in overall scoring records until sitting out the 2022 season while pregnant with daughter Gianna.
Fowler-Nembhard, who holds the records for most points scored in a Super Netball season (979) and single game (70) - both set in the opening super shot season in 2020 - scores at a greater clip then Aiken-George and overhauled her countrywoman last season.
But with Fowler-Nembhard sitting out the opening two games of the season while still on leave, Aiken-George made up some ground and the pair head toward 9000 career goals neck and neck.
Fowler-Nembhard is 125 goals short of the mark on 8875 goals, while Aiken-George heads into this weekend’s round 5 clash with 8858 goals to her name, 142 short of the milestone.
The pair is well ahead of their nearest rivals in the league.
Shimona Jok, another Jamaican import shooter now playing for the Melbourne Mavericks, recently passed 4000 career goals and is the second-most prolific scorer in the Super Netball era behind Fowler-Nembhard, who has 6292 Super Netball goals, while Aiken-George has 3797 Super Netball goals.
Can Mavs keep Cardwell?
Eleanor Cardwell says she sees herself ending her career in England but exactly when she returns to the Netball Super League is up in the air as the goaler chases a second Super Netball premiership.
Cardwell was a revelation in her first season in Australia, helping the Adelaide Thunderbirds break a decade-long premiership drought before she followed former England Roses and T-Birds assistant coach Tracey Neville to the Melbourne Mavericks.
But Cardwell has struggled to find her best form since, with knee injuries and a pair of surgeries restricting her time on court.
The canny shooter is out of contract at the end of this season and is yet to decide whether she’ll return.
“With Mavericks, I’m only contracted for this year. So obviously those discussions need to be had,” Cardwell told Engand’s Sky Sports’ Off the Court podcast.
“I can see myself going home at some point. I just don’t know when that will be, whether it be next year, the year after, in three year’s time.”
The Mavericks had just one player - defender Kim Brown - contracted for next year, with Neville also off contract at the end of the season.
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Originally published as The race is on to 9000 premiership goals with nothing between Fowler-Nembhard and Aiken-George
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