Sometimes it’s easy to overlook just how accomplished Sara Francis-Bayman is. On the netball court, she played wing defence, perhaps the most underrated position in the game. Like most coaches, her teams won more credit for their victories than she did, and now as General Manager – Performance and Pathways – of West Coast Fever, her work is mostly done behind the scenes.
And yet Francis-Bayman played 84 tests for her country, showed her exceptional leadership skills in captaining domestic clubs and the Under 21 England side, and has head or assistant-coached clubs and nations including a memorable premiership with Loughborough Lightning.
With such wide-ranging experience, Francis-Bayman could’ve had her pick of many roles, but is now settled in Western Australia with her wife Stacey. Moving to the opposite side of the world came about in a series of sliding doors moments.
Fresh off leading Loughborough Lightning to their 2021 victory and working as Tamsin Greenway’s assistant with Scotland, most people expected Francis-Bayman to build a coaching dynasty in the UK. Instead, she opted for an 18 month sabbatical, moving to Perth to support Stacey while she was one of Fever’s imports and through her successful bid for a national comeback. It was an incredibly selfless act, and one with unforeseen benefits.
Francis-Bayman’s ability and experience was too good to lie dormant for long. After a short, ill-fated stint at the Firebirds, Fever snaffled her up, first as an assistant coach in 2024 and 25, then as their General Manager in late 2025. And while she still has an English accent, Francis-Bayman has firmly adopted her new club down under.
“For me, Fever is the best club in the world from a holistic perspective,” she said.
“On court, off court, our game day experience, the number of fans we have, the brand we’re building coupled with the level of performance we’ve put out on court in the last five or more years.
“It’s exciting to be part of, and also there’s so much more we can do. How big can this club be on a global scale? Can we be the most known netball brand ever?
“We want to win another premiership, but we also want to make this a great club for bringing through local talent.”
“So I look at all that, and there’s nowhere better to be right now than here.”
Sara Bayman tangles with Mo’onia Gerrard in her playing days for England. Image previously supplied by Sarah Francis-Bayman
While Francis-Bayman is never one to talk herself up, she acknowledges that her wide-ranging expertise will be helpful in what she describes as her ‘dream job’.
“It’s always good to have diverse experiences and to get as many different sources of information as possible, because then you can make more informed decisions.
“English netball isn’t on the same level as here in Super Netball, but the experiences I had over there helps me relate to what many of our imports are going through.
“Whether that’s in terms of moving over here, cultural differences, having come through different sorts of pathways and adapting playing styles, the intensity the load.
“So at Fever now we have people who see things slightly differently, and try and work our way through situations with some diversity of thought.”
Her role as General Manager is wide-ranging – as part of their ‘one club’ philosophy, Netball WA’s pathways right up to and including Fever are integrated, and Francis-Bayman oversees them all. She leads Fever’s off court management including recruitment, and while now being Dan Ryan’s boss instead of his subordinate has its funny moments, she also plays a vital role in supporting him through what she says is a very lonely job.
“As GM, you’re no longer directly influential on the playing group during the season, but where you have real impact is on your staff group.
“You do ask questions of your coaches and challenge them. But part of this role is making sure your head coach in particular is well supported especially during the stressful times, so they don’t feel alone, and they always have someone to talk to.”
While Francis-Bayman initially found it hard to step away from coaching – which she likened to a roller coaster that delivered some of her toughest and sweetest moments in sport – she’s enjoying her new niche.
“I do like to have a broad perspective on things, to look at the bigger picture, and see how everything fits together. I will miss the girls and the fun and the jokes, although I still will be around the group. So it’s bittersweet, but this allows me to do so much on a broader level so that I have the best of both worlds.”
One of England’s rising stars in the coaching world, Sara Francis-Bayman led Loughborough Lightning to the 2021 Vitality SuperLeague title but then moved to Australia. Image Ben Lumley
In a rare twist, Francis-Bayman and Sue Gaudion have almost swapped roles. The latter guided Fever through some difficult times when she was General Manager, and on departure stepped back into a specialist coaching position. During Gaudion’s time she built WA pathways, and understood the crossover between sport and entertainment like few others, establishing a brilliant game day experience.
Francis-Bayman plans to add to Gaudion’s legacy, rather than overhaul it, which fans of Fever’s cult hero – the elephant-sized inflatable pig which floats through the air at RAC Arena, will be overjoyed to hear. She said, “There’s no need to change very much, just small gains in some areas.
“It’s continuing the great work that Sue’s done. If there’s marginal improvements we can make we will always look to find them, but definitely no sweeping changes.”
And while Francis-Bayman acknowledges the shift in personnel dynamics, she also believes it doesn’t really matter. “You’re all going in the same direction. So Dan gets the final say on court things, I get the final say off court, but it should never get to the point of having such big differences.
“We’ve always had a good relationship and that will continue because we’re aligned on what we’re trying to do and where we’re taking the club.”
Operating in the most isolated city in the world, Perth’s sporting teams have their share of issues, particularly when it comes to attracting and keeping top level athletes and coaches. Already sold on Western Australia, Francis-Bayman believes that Fever’s days of being a club of last resort are gone.
“When you get here you realise how good it is.
“As a place to live, a lifestyle, everything else. The challenge is still getting people here in the first place, because when they do, they generally want to stay.
“So the club has had a real focus on making sure that the wrap around services around athletes and staff are fantastic. That those people are really well supported, and our players are getting the best possible experience, whether that’s how we travel or what our game day looks like. All of those things matter to players.
“I think we understand that pretty well. It’s not just about the quality of what’s happening on court, although that is a massive part of it. There’s other factors in why players want to move to a club or stay there, and we are trying to have a real focus on being a leader in all those aspects as well.”
One of Francis-Bayman’s priorities will be continuing to build on diversity and inclusion. Coming from a netballing background that is far more multi-faceted than Australia’s, she said the approach can’t be ‘tokenistic.’
“To make a difference, it has to be systemic, all the way from grassroots through to elite.
“It’s important to create safe and supportive environments, and part of that is understanding what that means for different groups.
“For Indigenous Australians for example, what are the barriers for them getting through a pathway with us, and how can we help to remove those? When they walk into a training session, what makes them feel comfortable as opposed to what our Jamaican players, or our English ones need?
“One size doesn’t fit everyone, so we need to have conversations which are difficult at times and that we might feel awkward about. But education helps us to understand what we’re doing well, and where we can do better to give everyone the greatest possible chance to be their best. It needs to be a targeted approach.”
Francis-Bayman points to Scarlet Jauncey, just the first Indigenous player in 20 years to make a World Youth Cup team, as telling its own story.
“Our partnership with the Shooting Stars, who do an amazing job, shows that we are on the right track. But then looking at Scarlet, there’s definitely more work to be done on helping minority groups through pathways. We have to build on that.”
The past few months have shown the wisdom of getting that approach right – Fever have had to lean heavily into their pathway products, including Jauncey, after an injury decimated start to the season.
Pathway product Scarlet Jauncey has played for the Black Swans and Australia’s World Youth Cup team, and is now a training partner with Fever. Image Danny Dalton/Tah Dah Sports
Like Sara, her wife Stacey now also works in sports administration – the other half of Perth’s power sporting couple is the General Manager of Rowing WA. So is there a sense of competition between the two, working similar roles in two team sports?
“Only in the sense of competition in how exhausted we both can be, and Stacey wins that hands down because rowing starts in the middle of the night. Well, 5am anyway.
“Some of the challenges and problems we face are pretty similar, so it’s nice coming home, having a quick debrief, and then telling each other to shut up about work and jog on.”
Sara and Stacey have embraced the local lifestyle, playing soccer and AFLW respectively in their limited spare time. And while they still visit family and friends in the UK and Canada during the off-season, Sara’s ‘dream job’ means they won’t be packing up and moving anytime soon.
For more about their playing and coaching careers, and work in the space of diversity and inclusion, read about Sara here and Stacey here.
Sara and Stacey Francis-Bayman have settled in Western Australia, and both moved into sports’ administration roles. Image supplied by Sara Francis-Bayman
