Melbourne Vixens goaler Sophie Garbin claims two major honours at Netball Australia awards
Last year, goaler Sophie Garbin wasn’t sure what would come next after Collingwood pulled the pin on Super Netball. Now, she’s celebrating the top individual prize in Australian netball.
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Star goal shooter Sophie Garbin has reflected on a “crazy” 18 months in which she went from the uncertainty of losing her job at the now defunct Collingwood Super Netball team to winning Australian netball’s highest individual honour – the Liz Ellis Diamond.
A shell-shocked Garbin was left “embarrassed” after she became the first goaler in five years to win the top honour at the Netball Australia awards in Melbourne on Saturday night when she was also crowned international player of the year.
“It’s a little bit embarrassing that I am standing here with the Liz Ellis Diamond,” Garbin said.
“It’s just a bit surreal walking up on stage and seeing Liz Ellis there to present (it to) me, I feel like there are so many players deserving of this. (I’m) just incredibly honoured.”
Garbin’s wins capped an eye-catching first season with the Melbourne Vixens in Super Netball and a dominant international campaign with the Australian Diamonds.
Beating midcourter Jamie-Lee Price and Diamonds captain Liz Watson to the top honour, Garbin was the seventh Diamond in the past decade to claim the Liz Ellis and international player of the year double.
The 27-year-old West Australian was a rock in the goal circle for the Diamonds, shooting 306 goals at 95 per cent accuracy across 11 Test matches in 2024.
Garbin iced an impressive international campaign when she shot at 100 per cent accuracy in the Diamonds’ final test match of the year against New Zealand – the first time she had achieved a perfect record in a top-flight national game.
Snapped up by the Vixens after the Magpies – where she had spent the past two seasons pulled out of Super Netball – Garbin formed an instantly formidable combination with goal attack Kiera Austin and scored 517 goals for the season.
Garbin’s individual honours came just 18 months after she was left wondering what was to come next when Collingwood pulled the pin.
“It’s been crazy to think that 12 or so months ago I was here at Collingwood (and they were) telling (us) that we didn’t have a position here,” said Garbin after being presented with her awards in the function centre at Collingwood’s headquarters.
“Then to find myself at the Vixens … I am so grateful for that opportunity and for (coaches) Simone (McKinnis) and Di (Honey) and all the rest of the team for taking me in and really enabling me to be the best player I can be.
“To then go and put that into the Diamonds’ environment and with ‘Kip’ (Austin) and a lot of other players to probably bring the best out in me, I am just super grateful.
“A day in the Diamonds’ dress or the Vixens dress never goes by without being grateful for the position that I’m in.
“I like to see myself as a pretty optimistic person. Even when I got told that Collingwood was no longer, I was still pretty optimistic and excited about the potential of what could be.
“I stayed really positive about it and I know how good I have it now being at the Vixens …. it has worked out really well for me.
“I know other girls who were in my position 12 months ago aren’t in the same position right now, so I’m just super grateful for the position that I’m in.”
Garbin was one of three Vixens named in the Super Netball team of the year – alongside captain Kate Moloney and Austin – as the attacking interchange with the goal shooter nod going to West Coast Fever spearhead Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard.
She broke two Vixens Super Netball-era records during the 2024 campaign, including most points in a game (54 in round eight) and the most offensive rebounds in a season with 54.
One dampener to an otherwise faultless year was the Vixens’ two-goal Super Netball grand final loss to the Adelaide Thunderbirds, which Garbin said was already driving her “so much” for 2025.
“It’s hard to bring up during pre-season because I think that it is something that drives you a lot,” Garbin said.
“We have got such a strong group at Vixens and, looking forward to hopefully many years to come for myself, we have such a strong group coming through and I think we were so close this year and Vixens have been so close for so long so hopefully in the next couple of years we can really build to that final finish.
“Early on in my career having won two premierships (with NSW Swifts), I am so grateful for those and being on court for both of those games was amazing, but now in my career when I am spending a lot more time on court …. I am even more hungry for another one.”
The younger sister of Australian basketballer Darcee Garbin, who has represented the Opals, Garbin juggled playing both basketball and netball as a junior before deciding to focus on netball as a teenager.
Initially wanting to go the “opposite way” to her sister, Garbin said her sibling had been a huge support in her career.
“I grew up in the country (in WA) playing netball, basketball, we did swimming, AFL, a bit of everything,” Garbin said.
“My sister started to pursue her basketball career and then we moved to Perth when I was about 13 and basketball training and netball training were at the same time.
“I would train for netball for one hour and then run across to the other court at the same venue and train for basketball for an hour. It just got to the point where I had to choose, it was just getting too hard.
“At the time I had more friends in netball and liked it a bit better and I kind of wanted to go the opposite way of my sister and started to pursue (netball), which I am so grateful for.
“Having her as a mentor in my life, in the last couple of years I have been really grateful for. Before that, I just kind of saw her as a big sister.
“But in the last couple of years through selection and non-selection, good games and bad games, I have really been able to lean on her and I think she has really helped me.”
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