Diamonds midcourter Jamie-Lee Price named winner of the Liz Ellis Diamond
Jamie-Lee Price has picked up top honours at the Netball Australia awards and has opened up about the tough decision to depart the Giants.
Midcourt star Jamie-Lee Price joked she got “my first diamond” in the absence of her AFL playing partner Harry Perryman after taking out Australian netball’s top individual honour.
Price was honoured as Australia’s best netball for 2025 when she won the Liz Ellis Diamond at the Netball Australia awards in Melbourne on Friday night.
The 29-year-old beat fellow midcourters Liz Watson and Kate Moloney to the honour, which recognised her performances in Super Netball for the Giants and on the international stage for the Diamonds in the series against South Africa and New Zealand.
Price played her final season for the Giants this year after nine years at the Sydney club to sign with the Mavericks for 2026 after making the decision to leave to move to Melbourne to be with Perryman, who plays for Collingwood.
Away celebrating a mate’s buck’s night, Perryman was not in the room to see Price’s award win and she didn’t waste the opportunity to crack a few jokes about the jewel she finally got her hands on without him.
“Harry is not here tonight, he is actually on a bucks (night),” Price said.
“This is my first diamond.
“I do wish he was here, but he is a very popular man so he has to share himself around and he has got one of his best mate’s buck’s party in Adelaide, so I would never stop him from going there.
“I think he will be really proud of me, but I think he will probably roll his eyes at all the jokes that I made about the proposal thing.
“He just hasn’t stopped hearing (about) it. My sister actually got engaged today, so that’s really exciting and she was actually giving me a lot of crap for that.
“So now I have got a diamond so I am really excited as well.”
Price has established herself as the Diamonds’ first-choice wing defence and featured in every Test in this year’s series against the Proteas and Silver Ferns.
The high-energy midcourt enforcer is now focused on carrying her form through two major seasons on the international calendar with the Commonwealth Games and home Netball World Cup in the next two years.
“I feel like I don’t want to speak about age, but I’m 30 next year and I feel like the longer that you’re in the Diamonds’ environment the more you realise that your time probably comes to an end pretty quickly,” Price said.
“So I’m pretty keen to make the most of it and have the most fun and see what success that we can make and create history within the Diamonds like every other past player has because I feel like we’re such a successful team and we want to maintain that.”
Price hoped her move to Melbourne could help elevate her game again, saying being happy off would help her game flourish.
“Leaving the Giants was a very hard decision for me, being there from the get-go” Price said.
“I’m really excited for my next chapter in Melbourne to be with my partner and to be at the Mavericks and challenge myself and to be able to be there with Nicole Richardson, who is our Diamonds’ assistant coach and Amy Parmenter, who I played with at the Giants.
“I’m pretty keen to test myself at a new club and see what else I can do.
“The biggest thing for me is just to enjoy it and that’s why I moved to Melbourne is to be able to have the balance in life and netball and that’s really important to me.
“If I’m happy off-court, I’m happy on court.”
In the night’s other awards, fellow midcourter and Diamonds vice-captain Kate Moloney was named the international player of the year for her performances in the Test series against South Africa and in the Constellation Cup.
West Coast Fever spearhead Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard was named Super Netball player of the year, named the league’s best player for the sixth time.
Outgoing Vixens premiership coach Simone McKinnis was named coach of the year, while Adelaide Thunderbirds midcourter Sophie Casey was named the rookie of the year.
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Originally published as Diamonds midcourter Jamie-Lee Price named winner of the Liz Ellis Diamond
The self-confessed ‘netball nerd’ stepping into the Mavs’ hot seat
