Giants upgrade former Silver Ferns captain Gina Crampton to full-time Super Netball contract
Former Silver Ferns captain Gina Crampton had all but quit netball. She’d moved hemispheres and is still working two other jobs. Only a series of unlikely events led her to a first full-time SSN deal, writes TODD BALYM.
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Gina Crampton was meant to be living her best life in New York City this year but a twist of fate led the former Silver Ferns captain to Sydney and now she’s secured a full-time Super Netball contract with the Giants for 2025.
It’s a long way from the city that never sleeps to Homebush in Sydney’s west but the World Cup-winning midcourt who never thought she was good enough to play in Australia is now ready to attack the toughest netball league in the world after being upgraded from last-minute training partner to a full-time gig for next season.
“I had always thought it would be really cool (to play in Australia) but I didn’t think it would ever happen,” Crampton said.
“I just didn’t think I would be able to get into a team.
“I’ve watched Suncorp Super netball for years and years from afar. I have loved watching it but I didn’t think I’d ever play in it.”
Crampton played only one game for the Giants last season, round 8 against the Vixens, because as a training partner she was limited in her involvement and could only play as an injury replacement.
However, her experience and obvious skills convinced coach Julie Fitzgerald to upgrade her to the team’s top roster next season as the Giants aim to climb off the bottom of the table.
The contract caps a whirlwind eight months for Crampton, who up until last Christmas was planning to spend all of 2024 living in New York with partner, Rugby Sevens star Fa’asiu Fuatai.
“We came to Sydney really late,” said the 32-year-old, who will have added another year by next season. “It was a last-moment decision.
“We were supposed to be in New York for the year. My partner has been playing rugby there the last three or four years.
“I was going to spend the year in New York (but) their major investor pulled the pin on them so the team folded.
“We were thinking what should we do, should we park up in New Zealand or give somewhere else a crack and then we landed on Sydney.”
Crampton had no intention to play netball in Australia. Even now she juggles netball with an office job and some school netball coaching.
She hadn’t officially retired but shortly after arriving in the country on January 29 she accepted an offer to join friends playing club netty with Mounties in Sydney.
Before she knew it, the coach had put her in contact with Fitzgerald at the Giants and she was on-board as a training partner.
“I had one phone call with Julie who was like ‘why don’t you come on board as a training partner’ and I was like ‘sure why not’,” she said.
“It wasn’t in the plans when I left New Zealand.
“I had to really sit on it for a while. I’m at the back end of my career and I had some doubts creep in but it was an opportunity to be a part of the best netball league in the world and I had to do it.
“I just want to be a part of the team, be accountable for the girls and be a part of the ins and outs of how we perform.”
Part of that accountability for Crampton now will be turning up on day one of pre-season.
Being a late arrival meant she missed out on last summer’s pre-season slog but it was quickly put on her agenda after signing the new contract.
“It is actually a bit worrying,” she said. “I had a meeting with our trainer yesterday and he was outlining it all for me and I was like ‘oh my gosh, that’s right’. I had forgotten it was like months and months of preparation.
But at the Giants she knows she is surrounded by the best elite program in world netball. The club is backed and heavily aligned with the GWS Giants AFL department.
The step up in professionalism in Australia compared to New Zealand is also why she fully endorses the controversial decision of star shooter Grace Nweke to move to Sydney to play for the NSW Swifts in 2025.
Nweke’s move to leave New Zealand to play in Australia means she is ineligible for the Silver Ferns next year but Crampton believes it will be the greatest move in the young star’s career.
“It is a good move for her,” Crampton said. “If she is thinking she needs it then she does and she is a player for the future so for her to get this experience still early on in her career is only going to make her a better player.
“I think it is a really exciting move for her. She is going to be challenged a lot and probably differently to how she is challenged in ANZ premiership netball.
“I guess being exposed to all of these international defenders over her is just going to be so good for her and we know she is going to be a kingpin for New Zealand for a long time to come so I am stoked for her and it will be really great.
“It is tough with all the imports or international players that come to play here in SSN but I guess that is what makes it the best league in the world.”
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