Vixens finalise list for next season with the re-signing of a key defender and two young guns
Less than two weeks after their heartbreaking Super Netball grand final loss to the Thunderbirds, the Vixens have re-signed a key defender and two young guns to complete their list for 2025.
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Melbourne Vixens will aim to fight back from their Super Netball premiership heartache with the same squad which took them to the grand final after re-signing a key defender and two young guns to complete their 2025 line-up.
Itching to “give it to the league next year” after their two-goal loss to the Adelaide Thunderbirds in the 2024 premiership decider, the Vixens have swiftly finalised their contracted 10 for next season with fresh deals for goal keeper Rudi Ellis, young midcourter Zara Walters and rookie goaler Lily Graham.
The trio join contracted captain Kate Moloney, goalers Kiera Austin and Sophie Garbin, defenders Jo Weston and Kate Eddy and midcourter Hannah Mundy on the Vixens’ list for next season.
Goal keeper Emily Mannix, who revealed last week that she was expecting her first child in early 2025, remains contracted for next year, but a decision on whether or not she makes a bid to return to the court has not yet been made.
The Vixens this week confirmed Malawi goal shooter Mwai Kumwenda would continue her break from the game after welcoming her first child last month, but she will remain involved with the club in an off-court capacity.
The signings means the Vixens retain the same squad which took them to a third grand final appearance in five years this season.
The contract news for Ellis and Walters comes just days after the pair was named in the Australian team for the Fast5 Netball World Series in Christchurch in November.
Ellis returned to the Vixens, where she was a former training partner in 2018 and 2019, after two years at West Coast Fever for season 2024 and the 190cm defender quickly established herself as a key member of the team’s backline in a breakout season.
The 27-year-old said she was hungry to hit back with the team next season after its grand final loss.
“I absolutely love the Vixens and don’t see myself going anywhere,” Ellis said.
“It’s going to be so good for us, having been a new group this season, being able to build upon the season that we have had and hopefully stay as a group for years to come.
“Everyone has got the fire in the belly and we are all itching to get back to training together and really give it to the league next year.
“It really hurt (the grand final loss). It’s so disappointing, you put so much work in during the year and we had lots of injuries as a team as well, so to actually make it to that point and lose by those two points, it definitely hurt.”
Ellis remained unsure if Mannix would play an on-court role next year, but said she was ready to take on a greater role in goal keeper if required.
“I’ll take any opportunity I can with two hands,” Ellis said.
“I think it has been pretty awesome this year being able to all play lots of different positions and combinations, so anyone who steps up will be ready.
“(Mannix) is just going to wait and see how she goes across the next couple of months and make a decision closer to the time, but she is very much still part of the team and we’ll just see how she goes once she has her bub and we’ll go from there.”
Walters, 20, made an instant impression in her debut campaign when she was called on at wing attack in a season which was hampered by a lower back injury.
Graham, 18, proved a sharpshooter off the bench in her six Super Netball appearances after being elevated to the Vixens’ squad following Kumwenda’s pregnancy announcement in February.
Vixens coach Simone McKinnis was excited to retain the trio and said the group still had a lot “more to achieve together”.
“We’re thrilled to have re-signed Rudi, Zara and Lily. We’ve started to build something special with this group, we can all feel that we have more to achieve together and I’m super pleased to be taking this team into next season,” McKinnis said.
“We were shattered to come so close to the ultimate success this year, but that’s already fuelling the group to work together as a unit and go one better in 2025.”
MELBOURNE VIXENS 2025 SQUAD
Kiera Austin, Kate Eddy, Rudi Ellis, Sophie Garbin, Lily Graham, Emily Mannix *, Kate Moloney, Hannah Mundy,
Zara Walters, Jo Weston.
*No decision has been made regarding Mannix’s participation in the 2025 Super Netball season at this stage after her pregnancy announcement.
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Originally published as Vixens finalise list for next season with the re-signing of a key defender and two young guns
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