Super Netball draw 2025: How it affects your club
The Super Netball draw for next season has been released but which clubs’ fans will have to wait to see their superstar imports in action. EMMA GREENWOOD analyses every club’s wins and losses.
Thunderbirds
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Swifts fans will not be the first to see Grace Nweke in action on the Super Netball court, with the two-time premiers heading west in the opening round of a season that will also leave Queensland Firebirds supporters reaching for the remote control to watch their new imports.
Netball Australia revealed the 2025 Super Netball draw on Tuesday afternoon, with the teams again set for a 14-round fixture including seven home and seven away games, a split round to accommodate Easter and Anzac Day and First Nations rounds timed to coincide with National Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week.
Both the Swifts and Firebirds - the only teams in the competition to add imports to their rosters for next season in the form of Ugandan shooter Mary Cholhok and England midcourter Imogen Allison (both Firebirds) and New Zealand goaler Nweke - hit the road in the opening round of the 2025 season.
Instead, attention will be on the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, where the Thunderbirds will unfurl their premiership banner when they host the Melbourne Vixens in the opening match of the season on April 5 in a grand final rematch.
NA chief executive Stacey West said Nweke would have “incredible impact” for the Swifts regardless.
“We’re thrilled that she’s coming across to join the competition in 2025,” West said.
“What better place to pop her in round one than into the green army, full RAC Arena, it doesn’t get any better than that.
“And I know that the Swifts do enjoy that challenge of heading across to the west - but I reckon the Sydney crowd will welcome her home pretty strongly after that.
“But she brings excitement … and I do believe those sort of marquee players that really bring X-factor are so significant for this league. So it’s pretty exciting.”
West said it had taken months to build the fixture after significant consultation and engagement with clubs to fairly meet all needs.
The season starts a week earlier than last year to accommodate the split round, with the grand final set for the first weekend of August in Melbourne.
HOW HAS YOUR CLUB FARED IN THE DRAW?
Adelaide Thunderbirds
Pros: The Thunderbirds start the season with a grand final rematch against the Vixens at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre where they’ll unfurl their second consecutive Super Netball championship banner. The draw will be no impediment to their chase for Super Netball’s first “threepeat”, although they’ll want to hit the ground running in a tough opening three weeks. Following the Vixens clash, they face the Lightning and Swifts - two teams that underperformed by their own lofty standards last season.
Cons: Four home games in the back half of the season could be an advantage but they face a tough fortnight with visits to Perth and Melbourne in rounds 11 and 12 - the last of three back-to-back away stints - before rounding out the fixture season with a pair of home clashes including a round 14 match against the Lightning that could determine critical order in the top four.
Melbourne Vixens
Pros: They start the season with a grand final rematch against the Thunderbirds and end it with a tough trip to the west to face the Fever but the rest of the draw presents few road blocks for last season’s grand finalists. With only one change likely to their roster - for the pregnant Emily Mannix - the Vixens will hit the ground running next season and look to make the most of an early run of games at John Cain Arena before a trip north to face the Swifts.
Cons: Back-to-back home games twice in the second round sandwich what could be a critical trip north to face the Lightning, while the final-round clash against the Fever could determine their place in the top four.
Melbourne Mavericks
Pros: The Mavericks again have a season heavily front-loaded with home games, with five of their seven home games in the first seven rounds, including a round 1 clash against last season’s semi-finalists the Lightning, who will again be among the competition favourites. But with an “away” fixture against the Vixens in round 9, they’ll still be on court at John Cain Arena on plenty of occasions as they push for a maiden finals appearance.
Cons: A tough mid-season swing - in which they face all four of last season’s finalists from rounds 7-10 - the Thunderbirds at home, Lightning away, Vixens “away” and Fever at home - could determine their fate.
Sunshine Coast Lightning
Pros: Last season’s favourites after a stunning recruitment drive, the Lightning will again be among the title contenders but they can’t afford the stumbling start that almost cost them a place in the finals. With five of their seven home games in the opening eight rounds, followed by a short jaunt down the Bruce Highway to face the Firebirds, they need to make early ground.
Cons: A tough final month against the Vixens, Fever, Swifts and Thunderbirds - the last two of those on the road - will make or break their year.
Giants Netball
Pros: Last season’s wooden spooners start the new season under more pressure than any other outfit to show 2024 was an aberration. They’ll want to make ground early in the year given five of their seven home fixtures are in the opening eight rounds.
Cons: Face a challenging period on the road on the run home and while one of that treble of “away” matches is at Ken Rosewall Arena against the Swifts, have to then travel to Brisbane and Perth before returning to Sydney for their final fixture of the home-and-away season against the Mavericks.
Queensland Firebirds
Pros: Fans around the country will get to see the pair in action as well, with the Birdies heading to Tasmania in round 6 to take on the Mavericks - the long trip sandwiched by a period that will determine their season.
Challenge: From round 2, when they host the Fever, to round 10, against the defending champs in Adelaide, the Firebirds face seven matches against all of last season’s finalists, a trip to Tassie and a Swifts combo containing the world’s best shooter.
Cons: Queensland fans will have to wait until round two to see star signings Mary Cholhok and Imogen Allison in action, with the Firebirds heading to Sydney to open the season against the Giants.
West Coast Fever
Pros: The pay-off comes with their final two fixtures at home in front of a green army hoping to watch their team in another finals campaign, with a battle against great rivals the Vixens the highlight of the final round.
Cons: Travel is an issue for any team from the west competing in a national competition and it’s no different for the Fever, who are also competing for timeslots at Perth’s popular RAC Arena. A Friday night fixture in round 11 prevents a four-week period on the road and at least gives the team an eight-day turnaround ahead of their toughest trip of the season, to the Sunshine Coast.
NSW Swifts
Pros: Swifts fans are likely to pack out Ken Rosewall Arena for Nweke’s round 2 homecoming against the Mavericks. After dropping out of finals contention last season despite snaring the pre-season Team Girls Cup, the two-time Super Netball premiers are desperate to regain their place as competition contenders, something that could be determined in a mid-season run when they face each of the 2024 finalists between round 7-10.
Cons: Fever fans will be the first to see superstar Grace Nweke in action, with the Swifts heading across country for their opening-round match in a clash that will feature the world’s two top shooters.
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