Giants Super Netball captain Jo Harten opens up on brutal injury pain that forced a reset

Jo Harten had to retire from England duty in a World Cup year after two punishing decades of elite netball. With her health to have a massive bearing on the Giants’ SSN season, she shares an update with EMMA GREENWOOD.

Giants captain Jo Harten knew two decades of netball on a hard court would take a severe physical toll on her body - she just didn’t realise how much until she finally took time away from the game.

Harten felt the brunt of a lifetime of sport last year as “serious bone damage” in her knee left her playing in agonising pain and ultimately ruined her Super Netball season.

The physical demands of the world’s toughest league, combined with a burning desire to achieve the premiership success she’s still yet to taste, helped convince the England international that the only way she’d ever reach her peak again was to take time away from the sport.

It meant declaring herself unavailable for last year’s World Cup, but looking back now as she prepares to lead the Giants into a new Super Netball season the 35-year-old has come to the realisation that a long break was precisely what she needed.

“I basically had serious bone damage to my knee, which is probably not uncommon for someone that’s played on a hard court for 15-20 years, but I was in a lot of pain last year,” Harten said.

“Prior to the SSN season, I had surgery and did the best rehab I could but sometimes it just doesn’t work out.

“Sometimes you don’t have enough time to actually let your body fully recover and rest.

“It’s disappointing on an individual level because I felt like I was trying to give everything I had, but playing in pain you can never play 100 per cent.”

Giants captain Jo Harten is finally playing without pain again. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images for Netball Australia

But “revitalised” and finally playing free of pain, Harten is ready to rumble with a Giants attacking unit that boasts a supercharged Sophie Dwyer, following her recent efforts with the Diamonds, plus Matisse Letherbarrow, elevated by the experience she gained in Harten’s absence.

“It’s been fun again, I’m playing with freedom and I’m just one of the attacking unit that is contributing to some good performances,” she said.

One of the reasons for that is Harten’s retirement from international netball, something that has allowed her body time to properly recover.

“Just stepping away from the international scene has actually given my body, for the first time in 15 years, a six-month period not on a netball court,” she said.

“It’s a bit unheard of for me but it’s allowed me time to get my body right, give it the rest that it deserves after playing so long, and I’m feeling really good this pre-season and going into the season.”

Jo Harten takes on Mavericks defender Kim Jenner during the Team Girls Cup in Sydney. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images for Netball Australia

Harten has every reason to feel confident about the season given her side’s recruitment of internationals.

Former Collingwood defender Jodi-Ann Ward and ex-Silver Ferns midcourter Sam Winders have joined the squad, as well as international training partners Chelsea Pitman and Gina Crampton.

“It’s kind of crazy the amount of international talent we actually have within the team now,” Harten said.

“We’ve obviously got Gina as a training partner, which is insane. Chelsea Pitman is the 10th or 11th player, Sam Winders, Jodi-Ann Ward, myself, Jamie-Lee (Price), Sophie Dwyer, and then we’ve got the young ones who are all seeing this layer of experience above them and they’re trying to raise their game.

“So the training environment has been really positive. It’s been really competitive but it’s had a really nice vibe. Everyone’s getting around each other.”

A healthy Jo Harten (R) will be a massive plus for the Giants in SSN 2024. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images for Netball Australia

The Giants finished seventh at the recent Team Girls Cup while their cross-town rivals the Swifts lifted the trophy, yet neither team will be reading too much into their Super Netball season from those results.

What is for certain is that both NSW teams are determined to be there at the pointy end of the season; the Giants searching for their first Super Netball title, while the Swifts want to become the first team to lift the trophy on three occasions after an agonising extra-time grand final loss to Adelaide last July.

“I think coming that close last year, you realise how hard it is to even get into a final series let alone to the grand final and then win it,” Swifts co-captain Paige Hadley said.

“This group has been together for a while now and we’ve been in three grand finals together … so 100 per cent we want to be in that top two.

“We want to be there in Adelaide playing for the grand final and unashamedly, that’s why we’re here - anything less than that is probably not on our cards (and would) be a big disappointment.”