Super Netball decider: West Coast Fever sisters Jordan and Zoe Cransberg share their twin connection

From mistaken identities to junior basketball pranks, West Coast Fever twins Jordan and Zoe Cransberg reveal their unique connection as they chase Super Netball premiership glory.

There is no doubting the twin instinct between West Coast Fever midcourt sisters Jordan and Zoe Cransberg.

Asked for their funniest twin story about one another and - unprompted and in separate interviews - both offered up the same tale about a junior basketball match when Zoe fell foul of her “younger” sister’s more aggressive game-style on court.

Wearing similar numbers, Zoe had copped the raw-end of the scorers struggling to pick the look-a-like sisters from one another.

“There was one basketball game where we were both playing and Jords had lots and lots of fouls and they were actually all going onto my name,” Zoe recalled.

“Then I got a foul myself and I got sent off because I got fouled out, but I only had one and she had about four!”

Jordan later added about the same match:

“I fouled a lot in basketball and she was more of a clean player,” Jordan said.

West Coast Fever twins Jordan and Zoe Cransberg. Picture: West Coast Fever

“Our numbers were (similar) - she was number 22 and I was number 23. I think I fouled like three or four times and she probably did one or two and she ended up getting fouled out in the second or third quarter.

“She kicked up a bit of a fuss because obviously she hadn’t done anything wrong. It took us about five minutes to realise what had happened. It was quite funny.”

The twin connection is definitely real for the Cransberg sisters, 25, who will this weekend be aiming to share in Super Netball premiership glory with the West Coast Fever.

The pair both subscribe to the theory of sharing a twin sense, a unique bond that has only strengthened with the similar journey they’ve taken from one side of the country to the other to chase their netball dreams.

Born in Victoria, both sisters grew up playing basketball before switching their attention to netball; both ruptured their ACLs within a year of each other in their late teens and both made the move to Western Australia for opportunities with the Fever.

Zoe was the first to make the move west at the end of 2021 for a training partner role before Jordan followed her sister at the end of the next year.

Jordan is now in her second year as a contracted Fever player and the regular starting centre, while Zoe was signed as the 11th player and brought into the team after the season-ending injury to Ruth Aryang.

Jordan followed sister Zoe to West Coast. Picture: James Worsfold/Getty Images

The twins are the daughters of footballer Peter Cransberg (top).

Sport is in their genes - dad, Peter, played 79 AFL games for Essendon, while their mum, Emma, was a state-level netballer for Tasmania. Their parents followed the twins back to WA - where their dad grew up and started playing football for East Perth - in 2023.

Zoe is the older of the two siblings by 17 minutes, but it’s not something she holds over her younger twin.

“She is very nice. She is probably too nice,” Jordan said.

“She doesn’t make fun of me that much about it. She makes more fun of me because she is one centimetre taller. I hear that a lot.”

They’re hard to tell apart, but they make life easier on their coaches and teammates by wearing different hairstyles.

“We have definitely been called the wrong names a few times,” Zoe said.

“We are very kind to them, we wear different hairstyles and that helps them a lot I think.

“I go the plait and Jords mostly goes the bun.”

But that doesn’t mean that they don’t occasionally like to have a bit of fun.

“Once I wore my hair the way Zoe does and I got called Zoe a lot at training,” Jordan said.

“And I will respond to either name just to check.”

There have been few occasions this season where the twins have shared the court together with Zoe more likely to be relieving her sister at centre.

“We normally just swap positions, which I am more than happy to do,” Jordan said.

“But it does make it extra special when we’re on the court together.

“We have grown up playing sports and netball together for so many years …. so I think we just know each other’s games so well that you sort of just know what she is going to do.

“If I don’t go, I know she is going to go and we know where to pass to each other and that sort of thing. I feel like we can call it a twin thing, but I think it just comes from knowing each other so well and knowing each other’s netball styles and games so well.”

Jordan is also pursuing a career in health. Picture: James Worsfold/Getty Images

To no surprise, so is Zoe. Picture: James Worsfold/Getty Images

Of the court, both Jordan and Zoe are both pursuing careers in the health sphere with Zoe studying physiotherapy, while Jordan is studying medicine.

Zoe said her move west was the “best decision” she had made, not just for her netball, and getting the chance to play Super Netball with Jordan had been a dream.

“When you’re younger, you dream about playing at this level and playing together was kind of something we obviously always wanted, but you don’t really think it will actually happen,” Zoe said.

“It is a bit of a dream come true to be playing on the same team together. It has been really, really special.”

So, what would it mean for the twins if they were able to win a premiership together?

“It would be pretty amazing, not just for us but for mum and dad as well, they would absolutely love it,” Jordan said.

“I think it would probably be a dream come true of theirs as well and pretty surreal.

“To do it with Zoe and to do it with my sister would be so special and a little bit of extra motivation to succeed.”