Melbourne Vixens and Diamonds goalers Kiera Austin and Sophie Garbin on their growing on-court partnership
Kiera Austin and Sophie Garbin jumped at the chance to play together for Melbourne Vixens. Now, they hold their side’s hopes of a Grand Final berth in their hands. This is how their partnership works.
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They describe each other as a “weapon” and “superstar” on the court, but Vixens’ dynamic goaling duo Kiera Austin and Sophie Garbin are confident their attacking partnership is yet to hit its peak as they target more Super Netball and Diamonds’ success together.
In their second season as a combination at the Melbourne club, the Australian shooting pair believe they are bringing out the best in each other as they both find match-winning form at the right time of the year in the Vixens’ chase for a second straight grand final appearance.
The duo enjoyed a standout season together at the Vixens last year with Garbin awarded the 2024 Liz Ellis Diamond, while Austin won the Sharelle McMahon Medal as the club’s best and fairest.
While it was a “rockier” start to the 2025 campaign for the Vixens’ goalers, the pair powered the team into the Super Netball preliminary final with their semi-final performances against the Adelaide Thunderbirds.
A super-composed Austin turned in an MVP performance nailing five from five super shots, while Garbin scored a game-high 39 goals alongside her in the goal circle.
Austin believed the pair’s partnership had flourished since joining forces at the Vixens and they continued to find ways to bring out the best in each other on court.
“We have grown heaps compared to last year for sure,” Austin said.
“I think we have learnt a lot about each other this season. Last year was kind of just ‘Let’s see how we go’ and we really enjoyed being on court together.
“But I think this year we have probably had individual highs and individual lows and we’ve had a bit of a rockier season compared to last, a little bit less stability, so I think it’s been quite nice to actually see what we can bring out of each other.
“It has probably been a bit more one firing then the other firing. But I would dare to say towards the back-end of the season it has been a bit more ‘OK, really locked in, really focused, how do we both get the best out of each other so it’s not just one person doing all the work?’.”
Garbin was fifth for goals scored behind a quartet of tall import goal shooters at the end of the regular season, while Austin was fourth for super shots after round 14.
While many of the teams in Super Netball have their attack focused on a tall, holding goal shooter, Garbin believed the “balance” between herself and goal attack Austin in the circle was a strength for the Vixens.
And she was confident the pair’s best as a combination was still ahead.
“I feel like we are both older players in the team now (Garbin, 28; Austin, 27), but I feel like we are still at the start of our careers because we have played so little time together,” Garbin said.
“We still have a long way to go and it’s building. Each game we are just wanting to improve and get better and (learn) how we can help each other and also do our own role on court.
“Compared to a lot of the other teams, I feel like a lot of the other teams rely heavily on their goal shooter because most of the goal shooters are two metres tall, so they can just yeek it in.
“But with us, I feel like there has to be more of a balance. I think probably what has been a strength of ours is if one of us is getting shut down or we are not able to get the ball as easy, the other one is able to open up, so I think that does compliment us a lot.”
DIAMONDS DRAWCARD
When Garbin was searching for a new club after the demise of Collingwood in 2023, the opportunity to play alongside Austin was a big selling point to join the Vixens.
Not only from a Super Netball stand-point, but also the flow-on effect it could have for their Diamonds’ combination.
“I had a lot of people give me advice around where I should go (after Collingwood) and who I might be playing with,” Garbin said.
“Obviously being able to play with another Diamond is a massive drawcard so that definitely fed into it. She is just a good person as well, so having that relationship with her off the court has definitely helped.
“Before coming to the Vixens, we obviously had a bit of time (together) at the Diamonds, but not a whole heap because both of us were still kind of sitting on the bench a bit.
“But I also played under-age Aussie stuff with ‘Kip’, with her and against her. So, I have had that relationship with her off the court for a while.
“I think everyone can see how much of a superstar she is, so it’s nice going out into games not thinking that the weight of the team is on my shoulders in the shooting circle, knowing that I get to share the load with her and she takes a large chunk of the load.
“I think it is definitely a strength for us when we go into the Diamonds environment and I think Stacey (Marinkovich) enjoys it with us both at the same club, which is nice.”
The Super Netball combination has helped their Diamonds’ partnership with the duo starting together in five of the seven Tests during last year’s internationals against England and the Silver Ferns.
Austin had been equally eager to lure Garbin to the Vixens with one-eye on the Diamonds.
“I was stoked to hear that she was coming over,” Austin said.
“At the time Collingwood had just folded so there were lots of rumours and I knew that she wanted to stay in Melbourne.
“But the day that I heard that she might be coming, I got a message from her and she was like, ‘Are you staying at Vixens? and I was like, ‘Yep, I am. I hope you’re coming’.
“I have always known what a weapon Sophie can be … we were both excited and I think that we knew that there would be potential to develop a relationship to help us with Diamonds as well.
“At the time in both of our careers, we had been through a lot. She had obviously had a hard time at Collingwood, I sat on the bench quite a bit at Giants and we wanted to achieve our own individual goals.
“I think we have been great at helping each other get to a point where we are playing some netball that we are really proud of.”
CIRCLE CONNECTION
The pair’s strong off-court relationship has helped their on-court connection blossom with both not afraid to be brutally honest with each other when needed.
“We definitely know what we want from each other and if there are little things that we want to work on in the week we will just say it to each other,” Austin said.
“I think that is the nice part about our relationship is that I can be really blunt with Soph and she might ask me something during the game, she’s like ‘Do you want me out?’ and I’m like, ‘No’. I can be really direct and blunt with her and it’s not taken the wrong way.
“Or one week, I might be like, ‘You’re shooting heaps, I need to put more shots up, can you let me have a penalty shot’. We will just bring it to the table and it is just acknowledged straight away.”
On court, they are always looking for each other – sometimes too much.
“I love Kip’s balls into me. She releases them the first second, sometimes I’m not even expecting them to come in, so I love that,” Garbin said.
“I feel like we always just want to give the ball to each other, probably much to the middies’ disgust, but I feel like I can find her quite easily and if I want to come out of the circle, I feel like she is always that option to give back to for me to then re-enter.
“We have got a great relationship. I feel like we have got a lot of respect for each other so we can be super honest and we are often thinking and feeling the same things in regards to games and training and what needs to happen and what not.
“We can kind of lean on each other for that support. I feel like there is games where she has shot a lot of goals and then others where I have taken the load a bit more, but I feel like for us that just keeps the other teams guessing and hopefully it can be something that we use in this finals series that can help get us to the grand final and hopefully win it.”
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