Paving the way for a new generation: life as an elite male in the Super Netball ranks

He’s one of Australia’s best in his field. But Jordon Webb is probably best known for a viral dance and a controversial junior competition. Welcome to life as a men’s netball player.

He pays tens of thousands from his own pocket to represent his country, takes time off from work to play and structures his professional and personal life around his sport.

Welcome to Jordon Webb’s life as a male netball player.

A member of the extended training group for Super Netball Club Sunshine Coast Lightning, Webb trains alongside some of the best players on the planet, including Diamonds captain Liz Watson and Courtney Bruce, the woman named the world’s best defender at the last World Cup.

Sunshine Coast Lightning training partner Jordon Webb. Photo: Sunshine Coast Lightning

The Australian U23 captain lives and breathes the sport and in a road paved by many of the country’s top sportswomen over the past decade as their codes have pushed towards professionalism, is making big sacrifices to gain traction in the sport he loves.

But if public awareness is any indication, the two biggest moments in Webb’s netball career are a pre-match dance that went viral and a state age group tournament which his state boys team won playing against girls.

Both created media storms that were outside Webb’s control or that of any of his teammates - some of whom were so badly scarred they dropped out of the sport.

“I’ve already joked with people after Fast5 that I’m sort of a curse for the men’s (program) and the stories that follow,” Webb said.

Webb’s Australian Fast5 team made headlines when their pre-final dance to NSYNC’s Bye Bye Bye went viral, attracting millions of views online as well as vitriol and homophobic slurs from keyboard warriors.

Before that, he was part of the Queensland Suns U17 men’s team whose state championship win in a women’s competition in 2021 created national headlines.

“I would say frustrating might be a word for it. Whenever men’s netball is heavily in the spotlight … those big stories were maybe negative reflections on stuff.”

Frustrating too, because it masks the real reason Webb and his teammates are there - to play a game they love at the highest level possible despite the obstacles that are routinely in their way playing a sport that is still perceived by so many as for women only.

While the dance grabbed most attention, it was Webb’s last-second four-point goal in the final that secured Fast5 gold for the Aussies, his long-range buzzer-beater stealing victory from New Zealand.

Australia’s male netball team, the Kelpies, beat the Net Blacks in Wellington last year. Picture: Getty Images

Taking the “any publicity is good publicity” approach, Webb hopes a silver lining from both controversies may be the attention drawn to the sport and the chance for a new generation of men and boys to fall in love with netball just as he did as a youngster.

A Code Sports investigation found while three Super Netball clubs - Webb’s Sunshine Coast Lightning, West Coast Fever and Adelaide Thunderbirds - have formally signed male training partners this season, all clubs will either invite individual players in or practise against men’s teams to lift the intensity and ferocity of competition.

Webb started playing at 10 on the Gold Coast and a decade on is pushing for his own place in the Australian Kelpies men’s side.

It’s a costly business though and the 20-year old last year quit his university studies in paramedicine to work full-time to help fund his netball and become one of three male training partners for the Lightning.

While it is an unpaid position, Webb sees it as a privilege and one he is prepared to make major sacrifices for.

“One thing I really respect about the girls is … they treat me like a genuine player, not just an extra body,” Webb said.

But while the contracted Lightning players finish training and head off for a gym session or formal recovery, Brisbane-based Webb is straight back in his car headed for Nissan Arena 100km away to get to work.

“I try to find ways in my life to balance stuff around it and I’ve been quite lucky to find jobs that are flexible, and coaching opportunities in the morning or afternoon around Lightning,” he said.

“Working at the State Netball Centre (at Nissan Arena) I get access to the Firebirds’ gym and access to courts and stuff that assist my training - and just being around that netball environment, to get to see the state teams, or (be where) I train for the Queensland Suns, it’s a good envionment to be around and probably a very close way to be integrated in that high performance space.”

The ultimate dream for Webb would be for men’s netball to become a professional sport in its own right. A close second though would be sponsorship or subsidy of the men’s game to ensure players are not entirely out of pocket.

“I know it’s such a burden for so many young people and a lot of people can’t commit to it because of the time off work and the financial commitments,” he said.

Don’t feel sorry for him though.

“We might complain about it sometimes but we will never second guess putting that money down or having that time off work or time away from other stuff in my life because it’s so good,” he said.

“Although I make the sacrifices and it’s a lot of money and a lot of time, I wouldn’t change it. It just shows mine and everyone else’s in this space, commitment and love for the sport.”

Originally published as Paving the way for a new generation: life as an elite male in the Super Netball ranks