Netball’s ugly pay war contributed to Adelaide losing grand final MVP to new club Melbourne Mavericks

There has been plenty happening across the Super Netball off-season, and as the new season is upon us hear from all eight coaches about what we can expect from their sides.

Adelaide coach Tania Obst believes netball’s ugly pay stoush last year played a pivotal role in the Thunderbirds losing grand final MVP Eleanor Cardwell to Super Netball start-up Melbourne Mavericks.

Obst’s claim is one of several telling insights during Lisa Alexander’s CODE Sports exclusive coaching series video chats where the former Diamonds mentor sat down for detailed 30-minute interviews with every Super Netball coach in the league.

Obst said the long delay between the end of the season and the signing of a new pay deal between the players and Netball Australia afforded the Mavericks time to sign Thunderbirds assistant coach Tracey Neville to head up the new franchise and ultimately convince Cardwell to leave the premiers.

Obst revealed she has no hard feelings with former England mentor Neville for recruiting the star shooter.

“Tracey was very open with her communication and kept me in the loop once the Mavericks had reached out to her,” Obst said.

“We’d entered into a bit of an agreement where we were going to look to continue on for 2024 but nothing stays the same and the longer it went, I thought, nup, we’ve lost her.

“The Eleanor one, I suppose maybe if there wasn’t such a long period of time (before contracting began) we may have got Eleanor over the line but obviously the longer that went, I think the strength and connection there (between her and Neville) was pretty strong.”

Neville now has one of the toughest jobs in the league bedding in a new club that has already lost two key players to major injuries.

“There’s obviously been some challenges, we’ve had two season-ending injuries to two of our players which is never great when you … base a style of how you’re going to play around (your recruitment) but in every sporting occasion there’s always huge challenges,” Neville said.

Eleanor Cardwell soaks up the Super Netball title win. Picture: Getty

“I didn’t think I’d be facing them in my first year and obviously I’ve never faced two huge injuries like I’ve seen over the last five weeks in the whole of my netball career. That’s something that’s new and exciting.”

In sessions that gave Code Sports unprecedented access to some of netball’s greatest minds, the coaches provided intimate insight into the methods and challenges, career highs and professional struggles involved in working in the best league in the world.

In extensive video chats with each of the mentors, Alexander has been able to use her own experience and insight to extract incredible detail and fascinating anecdotes from the sport’s leaders.

Every coach is facing challenges though, whether they’re premiership winner Obst, Neville, the youngest head coach in the league in Dan Ryan or veteran Julie Fitzgerald, who will rack up her 400th game this year.

There’s been lots of change out West this off-season. Picture: Netball Australia

Ryan - who led that club to a maiden premiership in 2022 in his first season in the west - has overseen huge change in the off-season after turning over half his roster but he is excited by the opportunities the change has presented, having added internationals Fran Williams (England) and Jamaican Shanice Beckford to the group.

“Being notified that … a Courtney (Bruce) or a Sasha (Glasgow) were on the move, that had to change our philosophy slightly and shift us in different directions,” he said.

“And we embraced that, and the 10 that we’ve ended up with is so exciting.”

Foundation Giants coach Fitzgerald will rack up an incredible 400th game coaching at national league level this year but showing that she can learn new tricks, will take on an assistant role with the Australian men’s team, the Kelpies, this year.

“I’m really looking forward to it, it’ll be entirely different. And I don’t think you can go into anything like that without learning something,” Fitzgerald said.

“The quality of netball that the men produce now is so good … it’s an area of netball that really is growing and will be quite exciting to see it develop.”

Simone McKinnis is facing a season without stalwart Liz Watson. Picture: Getty Images

Vixens great Simone McKinnis hasn’t been at the helm quite as long as Fitzgerald but she too is learning new things having lost one of her roster stalwarts in Diamonds captain Liz Watson, who has headed north to the Sunshine Coast.

“Lizzy was a very good leader and that’s something that we will miss,” McKinnis said.

“It’s her evenness, her calmness, her composure. We will certainly miss that.”

She retains an outstanding skipper in Diamond Kate Moloney though, Watson’s former co-captain.

“Consistency and calmness is something everyone wants in a leader,” she said.

“I’m fortunate we do have senior athletes but even some of the newer athletes to the group have great knowledge and experience.”

One of the most challenging periods in the professional era in the game in Australia and an off-season of unprecedented player movement threw up challenges for each of the coaches.

For Firebirds mentor Bec Bulley, who heads into just her second season as a head coach, frustrating delays in getting on court allowed her to work on her own preparation and set the cultural tone needed after a lacklustre first year.

Will there be any second season blues for Bec Bulley? Picture: Getty Images

“I think culture is key, it eats strategy for breakfast,” Bulley said.

“I think if you can develop a great culture that creates more success than any strategy or talent could.

“The culture I want to create is one where players feel confident, feel valued, feel trusted but also you care about them and they can feel that as well.”

Up the road at the Sunshine Coast, Reynolds is also in her second season but already planning for long-term success at the Lightning.

The Lightning are title favourites after signing Diamonds duo Liz Watson and Courtney Bruce in a major recruitment spree.

“Our big recruitment drive this year wasn’t just about success this year but that sustained success and we want to be a dynasty club and we have put that out there,” she said.

Liz Watson is poised to have an immediate impact up north. Picture: Getty Images

Gaining players the calibre of Watson and Bruce was exciting but they had to be offered something in return - and it’s how they can improve themselves and others that was part of the lure.

“They’ve both got to a point in their career where they want to be challenged,” Reynolds said.

Ahead of one of the most anticipated seasons on record though, all the coaches will ultimately be judged on their on-court record and none was shy in aiming for the main prize.

“I’m going to aim for that top spot,” Swifts coach Briony Akle said just months on from an agonising extra-time grand final defeat.

“I can say I want to make the finals, but I want to be brave about it. If I don’t be brave about where we want to succeed then I think we fall into that ‘oh I can’t say what I really want to say.’

“I do want to be at that top spot and I’ve got the group to do it.

“You’ve got to aim for the top or why we do it. We are all here to win.”

Originally published as Netball’s ugly pay war contributed to Adelaide losing grand final MVP to new club Melbourne Mavericks