The player your Super Netball finals team can’t do without

It’s down to the pointy end of the Super Netball season, with four teams set to fight for the premiership over the next three weeks. Here are the players your club can’t do without if they’re to win the title.

They’re the game-changing wizards who can turn a match off their own bats and whose teams ride their form fluctuations and contributions their teams ride like roller coasters.

Opposition coaches scrutinise them like no others, players attempt to nullify their contributions and their teammates attempt to get the ball into their hands in clutch moments.

As their teams head into the finals, the performances of these four players could determine whether their teams are able to lift the Super Netball trophy on the first Saturday in August.

The ultimate team game considering no single player can be in every area on the court, teams still need a contribution from every player on court but these athletes influence the game in a way matched by no others.

WEST COAST FEVER - JHANIELE FOWLER-NEMBHARD

Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard is the key to the minor premiers winning a second Super Netball title. Photo: Getty Images

It might seem like the obvious choice here, but, quite simply, she is the difference-maker for this West Coast Fever team.

It’s no coincidence the Fever lost their opening two games of the season before Fowler-Nembhard made her return to the court in round three against the Melbourne Vixens and have been undefeated since.

Her impact was underlined when she shot 71 from 72 goals in the Fever’s round nine victory in their top-of-the-table clash against NSW Swifts - who had been undefeated to that point.

And despite playing two fewer games than import Grace Nweke, she scored with such metronomic precision and regularity that she overtook the Silver Ferns shooter to finish as leading goalscorer this season.

The towering Jamaican boasts a strength and presence in the goal circle that gives the Fever an enviable target under the post.

As former Diamonds’ goal attack Nat Medhurst wrote in her recent Code Sports column: “There is no doubt about it. They play differently with her. There is more confidence across the whole court with her in the shooting circle,” Medhurst wrote.

“It is not only what she has done … but the confidence it instils in the players around her.”

There is a reason Fowler-Nembhard is a five-time Super Netball player of the year.

Given the herculean task of trying to stop her under the post, battles against the Fever become an exercise in trying to shut down supply outside the circle.

NSW SWIFTS - HELEN HOUSBY

Helen Housby’s form is a barometer for the NSW Swifts. Photo: Getty Images

Why have we chosen Housby over Grace Nweke we hear you say?

The Silver Ferns star might be the obvious choice as the Swifts’ most important player leading into finals as one of the league’s leading goal scorers across the regular season with her impact since joining the team this season undeniable.

But Housby’s influence on the Swifts’ performances can’t just be measured in the goal circle, or on stats alone.

The amount of work the star England goal attack does outside the circle bringing the ball down the court and feeding her shooter is critical to the team’s success.

That’s gone missing at times too during the Swifts’ wobbly back end to the season, showing how important her contributions are to the team’s results.

That’s not to mention her fiery competitive spirit, which lifts all her teammates on court.

Then there’s her outstanding super shot conversion rate.

Housby led the league for super shots in the regular season, finishing with 60 from 98 attempts at 61 per cent, and has the ability to turn a game for the Swifts with her two-point shooting during the power play period, making her a crucial player in clutch situations.

THUNDERBIRDS - LATANYA WILSON

Latanya Wilson has been a matchwinner for the Adelaide Thunderbirds. Photo: Getty Images

If we had to nominate a Thunderbirds player at the start of the year, it would have been outstanding defender Shamera Sterling-Humphrey, whose efforts have been key to the Thunderbirds winning back-to-back Super Netball titles.

When the Jamaican great’s pregnancy was confirmed, ending her 2025 season after three rounds, and the T-Birds lost their following match, most thought their chances of a title three-peat were over.

Enter Wilson - no slouch at any rate, with many rating her the best player in the competition last season - but thought to be a goal defence specialist who could move out to wing defence.

This season though, Wilson has played across all three defensive positions, with her efforts at goalkeeper outstanding, including a 12 gain, nine intercept effort against towering Mavericks goal shooter Shimona Jok.

Her ability to read the play and then get herself in a position to win ball is better than any other player in the league, leading to her taking almost twice as many intercepts (40) than any other player in the competition this season.

She also leads the pack for gains and deflections, with daylight second.

With shrewd defensive coach Cathy Fellows devising plans that Wilson is carrying out to the letter, opponents are left shaking in their boots at the prospect of coming up against the Jamaican whiz.

MELBOURNE VIXENS - KIERA AUSTIN

The Melbourne Vixens’ resurgence has come on the back of Kiera Austin rediscovering her form. Photo: Getty Images

There’s a few choices we could make here for the Vixens - vocal leader Kate Moloney in the midcourt; defensive marshal Jo Weston or Diamonds’ spearhead Sophie Garbin under the post. But, more recently, it has become clear that Austin has been a major barometer for the Vixens’ form at goal attack.

It has been no coincidence the Vixens’ form turnaround since mid-season has coincided with Austin really hitting her straps after a slow start to the year by her standards.

She has produced multiple player of the match performances to help thrust the Vixens into a serious finals’ threat.

When Austin is on song, she can make the game look effortless.

Similarly, like the nursery rhyme favourite the girl with the curl, when she’s bad, she’s … well not quite horrid but the Vixens miss the usual input of the league’s turnover leader (97) so much it can be enough to derail a match.

It’s her critical connection with the midcourt and in the goal circle with Garbin that sets up so much for the Vixens though.

Like Housby, her long-range shooting (45/77 58%) is superb and she becomes a major threat when the two-point shot comes into play, with the Vixens unable to be counted out until the final whistle.

Originally published as The player your Super Netball finals team can’t do without