From the outside, Amelia Walmsley looks to have one of the busiest netball years of any netballer in 2025.
After a stellar season in the ANZ Premiership with the Central Pulse, improving her shooting statistics by 13.3% and anchoring their attacking end, Walmsley is on track to play for New Zealand at the Netball World Youth Cup in September before returning to the Silver Ferns squad for more national duties later in the year.
Despite only being 21 years old, Walmsley has been a player of significant potential in the New Zealand game for many years. Debuting in the ANZ Premiership as a 17-year-old replacement player, Walmsley’s height, natural athleticism and shooting accuracy saw her receive several offers from teams.
In 2022, Walmsley secured a full-time contract with the Central Pulse, a move that has enabled her to grow from strength to strength. Using every ounce of experience she has gained across four seasons and 46 domestic caps (including a premiership win), 2025 became the year that cemented Walmsley as THE most dominant goal shooter in the competition. This season, Walmsley averaged 45 goals per game at 96.1% accuracy, the highest accuracy in the competition and 96 more goals than second place.
And, come September, the 192cm tall shooter will not only captain New Zealand’s World Youth Cup team but will also be the only player at the tournament to have already represented her country on a world stage.
Walmsley sat down with our Tobey Keddy for an episode of the Sporting Scoop where they discussed how she intends to balance all of her netball and life commitments, the uncertainty around the 2026 ANZ Premiership season and the “healthy competition” between herself and Grace Nweke in the Silver Fern environment.
Listen to the full episode of the Sporting Scoop on Spotify or YouTube.
Here are just some of the takeaways:
Best Goal Shooter in the 2025 ANZ Premiership
After a successful season in 2024, Walmsley’s primary focus heading into the 2025 season with the Central Pulse was to transfer her international training form to the domestic season.
The Central Pulse shooters have the privilege of working closely with Australian legend Vicki Wilson as an attacking consultant throughout the season. Walmsley credits Wilson with perfecting her shooting technique.
“Being able to work with her, solidifying a strong and consistent shooting technique, was one of my main focuses.”
Walmsley recently posted a shooting technique training session between the Pulse shooters and Vicki Wilson, with the video emphasising repetitions, activations for the wrists and improving their footwork preparation before shooting.
@amelia_walmsley Shooting session w/ Vicki and @Amorangi Malesala! #shooting #CapCut ♬ Pon de Replay – s0ng4y0uu
The Wilson technique was effective, increasing Walmsley’s shooting accuracy from 83.8% in 2024 to 96.1% in 2025.
“(…) Putting in lots of time, myself, and having that support from Vicki, as well, definitely helped with getting that consistent routine so I could perform with some really good stats for my team.”
The “Frustrating Process” heading into the 2026 ANZ Premiership is resolving.
The inner (and outer) turmoil between Netball New Zealand and the players regarding the uncertainty around pay and broadcasting of the 2026 ANZ Premiership season has been frustrating for players and fans alike. But Walmsley is hopeful that the path is starting to clear.
“Next season, in all honesty, it’s starting to become a lot more clear, which is great. But it’s taken a very long time, and it’s been a very frustrating process as players.”
Netball New Zealand has finally announced that the 2026 ANZ Premiership will go ahead on free-to-air television, showing all games across TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+.
Walmsley takes a long, high ball over Tactix defence. Image: Graeme Laughton-Mutu
As one of the top stars in New Zealand who wants to continue representing her country, Walmsley has explained the difficulties of only being kept “kind of” in the loop.
“We are, kind of, just trusting our Players’ Association and how they are working with the Netball New Zealand office to, obviously, make the best possible outcome for next season.”
Despite the 2026 competition looking vastly different due to player movement and some big stars leaving to play in the SSN, Walmsley is confident that the competition will be exciting, thanks to the depth of talent in New Zealand netball and the existing new talent being given bigger responsibilities.
The opportunity to play at the Netball World Youth Cup
The word experience doesn’t usually get associated with a 21-year-old in netball, but Walmsley will enter the 2025 Netball World Youth Cup in Gibraltar as the most experienced player.
Her 46 domestic test caps and her six international test caps for the Silver Ferns make her the only player in the competition to have played an international test match (Jayda Perchova of England, who is a non-travelling reserve for the England Under-21s team, could be the second if she were elevated).
A lone Silver Fern in a Diamonds sandwich. Image: Aliesha Vicars
The Silver Ferns have a test series with South Africa that coincides with the Netball World Youth Cup. So, the decision to play in this tournament took a lot of care and thought.
“I went through a long process. I had so much support from the likes of Noels (Silver Ferns head cover, Dame Noeline Taurua), as well as speaking with Jules (Julie Seymour, the New Zealand under-21 coach). Reaching out to my parents, talking to players who are Silver Ferns now (…) and went to the World Youth Cup and people who missed out. I did so much research.”
She highlighted that the Silver Ferns coach and management team pushed her to take this opportunity, implying “how cool would it be, if you get the best of both worlds.”
The high-performance team of the Silver Ferns have created a unique player-loading calendar to see how it would work for Walmsley to participate at both the Netball World Youth Cup in September, the Constellation Cup in October, and the Northern Tour to England and Scotland in November to minimise injury risk after a busy ANZ Premiership season.
“It’s going to be really busy. If I’m selected (for the Constellation Cup), I will be coming straight back from the World Youth Cup and have about a few days, and then straight into a Constellation Cup camp.”
Weighing up the fact that missing three chances to play for the Silver Ferns was difficult, she explained that her conversations with former World Youth Cup participants swayed her decision, highlighting that the tournament was “a highlight of their career.”
At such a young age, Walmsley is also excited to be exposed to a World Championship-style tournament. One of her biggest goals is to represent New Zealand at a World Championship and win it.
Amelia Walmsley spoke in-depth about the topics above, as well as her aspirations outside of netball, the connection between Central Pulse teammates, and the “healthy competition” she has with Grace Nweke in the Silver Ferns environment.
To hear the full interview, check out her episode of the Sporting Scoop here.
And – stay in the conversation about all things World Netball Youth Cup with the Netball Scoop forum.
Anthem moments before the 2023 Constellation Cup. Image: Simon Leonard
The last huddle before a 2023 Constellation Cup battle. Image: Simon Leonard
Amelia Walmsley played her fourth full ANZP season in 2025. Image: Graeme Laughton-Mutu
