Super Netball 2023: Paige Hadley reflects on a rollercoaster journey to 150 national league netball games
Paige Hadley says seven-year-old Paige would be pinching herself as she prepares to play her 150th national league in the iconic yellow dress that her idols wore every week.
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“Seven-year-old Paige” would be pinching herself.
That’s Paige Hadley’s assessment of what her younger self would think of reaching 150 national league netball games, let alone captaining the Diamonds, winning Commonwealth Games gold and lifting two Super Netball premierships as leader of her beloved NSW Swifts.
As a kid, Hadley used to watch the Swifts running around in their yellow dresses and while she was inspired by their stars, playing at the elite level was not something she felt was open to her.
“To be honest, I just loved playing netball. I always watched the ‘yellow Swifts’ with my mum but I never, ever thought that I would be out there one day playing.
“It never really crossed my mind. I guess I never saw it as a pathway, I just loved the game.”
Hadley will become just the seventh active player to notch 150 national league games when the Swifts host the Collingwood Magpies at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena.
And in Heritage Round, she’ll do it in the yellow dress she grew up watching so closely.
“It’s pretty incredible, I’m going to be able to play my 150th in the yellow, which was the dress that I always used to go out watching and supporting the likes of Liz (Ellis) and Cath (Cox) and Kim (Green) and Bri (now Swifts coach Briony Akle), so it’s obviously very special,” Hadley said.
“We’re obviously very proud of our legacy that all those heroes before us created and now we’re a small part of that, so it’s pretty cool to be able to play the milestone in that dress.
“But I never really thought that it would be something that I’d be able to achieve.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remember that there’s 10 contracts with the Swifts and I’m lucky enough to be one of them, which is incredible.”
It hasn’t all been roses for Hadley though, who was forced out of the sport early in her national league journey with an ACL injury and was sidelined for much of the Commonwealth Games last year with a calf injury.
“It’s been an absolute rollercoaster journey,” she said.
“I think everything (good) that’s come has been on the back of a really big setback or heartbreak or selection or not playing or injury.
“So I’m grateful for every opportunity. Obviously the highlights were the premierships – being able to captain the club to the first one in 11 years was really special – and then the heartbreak of doing a calf at the Comm Games but being a part of that gold medal was unreal.
“So there’s so many highlights and I’m really grateful because I feel like every one has come from a setback or a little bump in the road but it’s made it all worth it.”
With the Swifts currently sitting in second place on the Super Netball ladder and Hadley set to be a key member of the Diamonds’ World Cup campaign in South Africa later this year, she’s hoping that pattern doesn’t repeat and another milestone moment can be made without a setback.
The Swifts have surprised many with their performances this year, although Hadley is not among them.
But she knows they face one of their sternest tests on Sunday when they come up against the Magpies, who will defy their position at the foot of the ladder given what has been an overwhelmingly emotional week with the future of the club unknown.
“It’s going to be an absolute battle. We’re obviously devastated to hear the news coming out of Collingwood and no doubt, they’re going to step up and want to have an absolute cracking game and it’s going to be against us.
“We know they’re going to come out fighting. They’re going to battle hard and it’s going to be a really a really hard contest for us on Sunday.”
Hadley said it was tough as a playing group to hear the news a franchise could fold.
“We’ve got obviously amazing friends and staff and in that group that you know you really feel for going through that situation,” Hadley said.
“And netball as a whole, we obviously want the sport to be in a great place, thriving and opportunities for people to play.
“It obviously is devastating to hear that Collingwood could potentially pull out. We’re not sure where that’s at yet but that’s what you hear in the headlines, so it is devastating for the sport because if anything, we want to have the ability to have more teams in this league to give more opportunities to kids coming through.
“Netball is the third-highest participation sport in Australia, so we want more opportunity and to hear that potentially there may not be a Collingwood (team), it is hard because you we want more opportunities, more girls playing and that would stifle that opportunity.”
Swifts goaler ruled out for season, veteran to play on
If the NSW Swifts are to power to a record-breaking third Super Netball title this season, they will have to do it without talismanic shooter Sam Wallace, who has officially been ruled out for the season as she continues to recover from a complicated knee reconstruction.
Wallace ruptured the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments and tore the meniscus in her right knee in the opening game of the 2022 Super Netball season, with swelling so severe she had to wait almost six weeks until she was able to undergo surgery to start what was always going to be a long and intensive rehabilitation.
That process has suffered setbacks though, with Wallace now ruled out for the remainder of the 2023 season, with complications in the rehab process ruling out her return.
Coach Briony Akle said while the news was shattering, the club’s priority would always be the long-term wellbeing and duty of care to the athlete, ahead of everything else.
“Sammy still has so much to give the game and we would never put that at risk for a quick sugar hit,” Akle said.
The Swifts will retain training partner Romelda Aiken George, extending what has already been a fruitful stint as a temporary replacement player.
The Jamaican may have played the first 197 games of her national league career with the Queensland Firebirds, who decided not to renew her contract at the end of last season after 15 years in Brisbane, but she has fit in seamlessly at the Swifts.
Akle said the group was “devastated” for Wallace.
“But the most important thing is that she absolutely 100 per cent right before hitting the court,” she said.
“Sam’s positive attitude and work ethic in her recovery has been top notch and despite the setbacks, she remains a true champion in what she brings to our group.”
Akle said while the club was initially confident Wallace would be able to play this year, Wallace’s injury was so complex, her recovery slowed and it became obvious that rushing her back would only be detrimental.
“Both Sam and the medical team have been absolutely outstanding in their dedication and approach. The delay is just an unfortunate by-product of a very severe knee injury,” Akle said.
“Our priority will always be long-term athlete wellbeing and duty of care ahead of everything else.”
While disappointed, Wallace said was thankful for the support she’d received from the club and Swifts fans.
“It’s hard knowing that I won’t get the chance to play with the girls this year, and also miss out on the World Cup in South Africa,” Wallace said.
“I was so excited about getting back on court quicker and when my knee didn’t feel right again it was very hard to take.
“It’s like one step forward, two steps back, but at least I know it is going in the right direction.
“I have done so much recovery work that some more won’t break me because I know I have more to give at the highest level.”
While they will be without Wallace, the Swifts’ decision to recruit Aiken George essentially as an insurance policy late last year can now be seen as a masterstroke.
It’s not just the way in which she offers a similar role to Wallace as a dominant holding shooter, but how Aiken George has emerged herself in the Swifts culture with daughter Gianna, 9 months, and fully engaged with the players and coach Briony Akle.
It’s showing in the Swifts’ results on court and their continually improving connection with Aiken George.
“Romelda’s been incredible in the way that she’s just growing every single week,” co-captain Maddy Proud said.
“You sort of have to catch yourself sometimes and remember that she did have a child not too long ago.
“We often joke about it, and say: ‘what baby?’ because she’s just getting better and better. I think the best thing about Romelda is she still at her experience level and her age is still so keen to get better and to grow and to learn and to add different elements to her game.
“I think we’ve seen a few little baseline dodges in her footwork, and obviously the way that she takes the ball (is strong).
“But the more that we train with her, the more that we play with her, the more that connection builds and I think she’s just going from strength to strength so it’s so exciting having her down there in the goal circle.”
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Originally published as Super Netball 2023: Paige Hadley reflects on a rollercoaster journey to 150 national league netball games
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