NS Scoreboard: SSN Round 13 2025

Cover Image: Clinton Bradbury | Bradbury Photography

Writers: Katrina Nissen, Ian Harkin, Andrew Kennedy, Jenny Sinclair, Ariane Virgona, Georgia Doyle

Photographers: May Bailey, Hannah Howard, Clinton Bradbury

RESULTS

Sunshine Coast Lightning 71 def NSW Swifts 70

Tarntanya Karntu 60 def Melbourne Mavericks 49

Melbourne Vixens 64 def Queensland Firebirds 62 

West Coast Fever 73 def GIANTS Netball 56

MILESTONES

Kadie-Ann Dehaney (Fever) – 100 national league matches

Macy Gardner (Firebirds) – 50 national league matches

Lauren Parkinson made her long awaited debut for the Mavericks. Despite being on their roster since the start of 2024, an injury has kept Parkinson out of the game for the best part of two seasons. Jessie Greinvold was omitted. 

Frederika Schneideman made her SSN debut for the Swifts. 

Caitlyn Brown (Fever) made her SSN debut. 

Fever won their 11th consecutive game, setting a new Suncorp Super Netball record. 

INJURIES & OMISSIONS 

Courtney Bruce (Lightning) – sustained a lower leg/knee injury during the Captain’s Run, and will be assessed on her return to the Sunshine Coast. Elena Damianopolous was brought into the game day ten.

Courtney Bruce’s injury will be assessed back on the Sunshine Coast. Image: May Bailey-Ireland | Clusterpix

Teigan O’Shannassy (Swifts) was omitted with a lower back injury and replaced by Frederika Schneideman

San Marie Visser (Thunderbirds) sustained a back injury and was replaced by Molly Watson. 

Georgie Horjus (Thunderbirds)  left the court with a thumb injury, but was cleared to return later in the game. 

One of the goal post microphones suffered an injury in the Thunderbirds match, but it luckily wasn’t serious. After some medical attention from the umpire, players and Fox camera crew, play was able to resume. 

After being spotted in a boot last week, Paige Hadley was on load management during the Swifts game and only played the first half. 

Jordan Cransberg (Fever) was a late omission with an illness. Jill McIntosh medalist, Caitlyn Brown was brought into the squad. 

Zoe Cransberg (Fever) had a big collision during the third quarter, and received a neck injury. She left the court to be checked under concussion protocols. 

LET’S TALK ABOUT:

News of the Week

Race to the finals

Round 13 was the second part of First Nations Round for 2025, to coincide with NAIDOC Week. It provided some interesting results as the race for finals heats up. 

Fever had a regular season record attendance of 11,899 at RAC Arena, which was part of an overall record attendance of 39,394 for a single round of Super Netball. Fever’s win saw them lock in the minor premiership and the right to host a home major semi-final. And while Swifts lost, they can’t be tipped out of second place on the ladder, and so will travel to Perth in the first week of the finals. 

With their win over the Firebirds, the Vixens are currently sitting in third place on the ladder, which throws up an exciting, winner-takes-all finish to the season. Vixens will stay in the top four no matter what the outcome of their match is, but a victory against Fever will see them stay in third and host a minor semi-final, while a loss will see them drop to fourth on percentage. 

The Round 14 match between Lightning and Thunderbirds will determine which of those two sides will finish in the top four, with the other missing out on finals all together. With a superior percentage, whether they finish third or fourth will depend on the results of the very last game. The winner will finish third and host the minor semi if the Vixens lose, or finish fourth if the Vixens win. 

The Lightning bench were elated with their win, which keeps them in final’s contention. Image: May Bailey-Ireland | Clusterpix

Suncorp Super Netball smashed it’s former round attendance record by 13% in Round 13, with heavily attended home games by the Swifts, Vixens, Thunderbirds and Fever. 39 394 fans rolled through the turnstiles, compared to the league’s former best of 34 726.

With the Diamonds 2025/26 squad soon to be named, Netball Australia have announced a home three test series against South Africa. The opening match will be played in Bendigo on the 4th of October.

The Australian Netball Players Association conducted its first Wellbeing Survey for Super Netball players, which will become an annual event. According to ANPA, it’s ‘designed to support player health performance and satisfaction’, and ‘captured insights across mental, emotional, cultural and professional wellbeing.’ Most players completed the survey, with some of the results published, including

• Over half the players accessed mental health support services
• 81% would seek help if needed
• 67% of players felt mentally or emotionally drained due to the demands of elite netball
• 69% shared concerns about salary equity, job stability, cost of living pressure and the need to supplement their income, (biggest concern). 
• 56% of players said balancing  training, travel, games, work, study and personal life was difficult (2nd biggest concern)
• Career transition support after netball (47%) and mental health and wellbeing (25%) were the 3rd and 4th biggest concerns
• Just 12% felt comfortable raising concerns with Netball Australia, and 32% who had done so said no action had been taken or they felt dismissed.  
• 28% of players reported anxiety about their reproductive health, and 89% would participate in free fertility checks. 

ANPA CEO Kath Harby-Williams said, “Everyone is very conscious of making sure the relationship continues to build. We’ve got to remember the Diamonds are the ones that deal with Netball Australia, the others deal more directly with their clubs, so that has some impact but we can’t dismiss the fact that we had a difficult period with Netball Australia 18 months ago.

“It takes a while to build that trust back up again.”

A review into Suncorp Super Netball is conducted, with results being published later in the year. 

In the Netball Super League grand final, London Pulse played off against Loughborough Lightning in front of 10,000 fans. Finishing the season in first and second place, both sides won through the final series, with Pulse taking out their first ever premiership 53-45. Funmi Fadoju was awarded MVP for a spectacular defensive performance as she created mayhem in the circle, while Liv Tchine and Nichole Breedt shone under the post. Tchine was a shooting machine, ably supported by Breedt who also picked off three gains. Australian Tyler Orr was a part of the winning Pulse team. She was replaced in the second half at centre by Gracie Smith, a 16-year-old who shows incredible promise. Lightning chased hard the whole game and managed to narrow the gap at times with supershots, although their long range accuracy deserted them in the last quarter. Shadine van der Merwe and Beth Cobden were two of Lightning’s best as they put up a strong defensive wall.

2026 Signings

The 2026 signing window is almost upon us. Traditionally, the signing window opens the day after the grand final and runs for four to six weeks. Until it opens, clubs can only sign their existing athletes, or athletes from other leagues (overseas or up-and-comers not signed as training partners). Just this week, we saw the contract renewal of Amy Parmenter for the Mavericks. We expect to see a lot more over the next five weeks, but here is who is confirmed for 2026, as far as we know:

Thunderbirds: Matilda Garrett, Georgie Horjus, Shamera Sterling-Humphrey, Tayla Williams , Latanya Wilson

Giants: Sophie Dwyer, Erin O’Brien, Jamie-Lee Price, Jodi-Ann Ward

Mavericks: Kim Brown, Amy Parmenter

Swifts: Paige Hadley, Helen Housby, Sarah Klau, Maddy Proud, Maddy Turner

Firebirds: Imogen Allison, Ruby Bakewell-Doran, Mary Cholhok, Macy Gardner

Lightning: Courtney Bruce, Cara Koenen, Liz Watson

Fever: Jess Anstiss, Sunday Aryang, Jordan Cransberg, Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard, Alice Teague-Neeld, Olivia Wilkinson

Vixens: Unknown

Stay in the conversation with the Netball Scoop Forum.

 

Catch up with The Sporting Scoop podcast on Spotify and Youtube.

This week’s guests were Nichole Breedt and Halimat Adio

STATS OF THE WEEK

There couldn’t have been a much greater contrast than the two matches on Saturday. In the Swifts v Lightning clash in Sydney, attack was on top to such a degree that we saw the lowest number of possession changes in a match this year (25). Then in the Thunderbirds v Mavericks match in Adelaide which followed, we went to the other extreme and saw the highest number of possession changes for the year. There were a massive 66 changes of possession in that match, or more than one a minute. 

One of the reasons for all those possession changes in Adelaide, was the outstanding performance of Latanya Wilson. She had 12 gains. Included in that were nine intercepts which equals the record for an SSN match, set by Emily Mannix in 2019. Wilson must really enjoy playing the Mavericks. In her two games against them this year, she has amassed 23 gains, 16 intercepts, and 17 deflections. Wow!

Latty Wilson took a lazy nine intercepts – equalling the all time Suncorp Super Netball record. Image: Hannah Howard/On the Ball Media

Round two seems like a long time ago now. On April 12th, Firebirds hosted Fever in Brisbane. Fever was without their champion shooter, Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard and struggled for cohesion in attack, while Firebirds played well as a team and won comfortably, 67-54. For the Firebirds, that was their second straight win to start the year under new coach Kiri Wills. They were in third place, and there was a sense of optimism in the team. For the Fever, it was their second loss to start the year and they were at the very bottom of the ladder. 

It was at this point that Fever welcomed Fowler-Nembhard back into the team. And what a difference she has made. Fever has strung together 11 wins in a row, which is a record for Super Netball. They have gone from last to first and will host the major semi-final. That story is the complete opposite of the Firebirds who have gone in the other direction. Since that round two win, they’ve lost their next 11 matches straight, which is the second-longest losing streak in SSN history. They went close against Vixens in round 13, but it was still another loss, and they will finish the year on the bottom of the ladder.

Statistically speaking, the performance of these two teams has flipped. After round two, Fever was in the bottom two for centre pass to goal, gain to goal, and turnover to goal rates. At the same stage, Firebirds were in the top three in the league for each of those categories. But this is the situation now after 13 rounds. 

Fever’s centre pass to goal rate is the best in the league after Round 13. Image: Clinton Bradbury

Centre pass to goal:
1 Fever – 79.3% 
2 Swifts – 77.7%
3 Thunderbirds – 73.4%
4 Lightning – 73.0%
5 Vixens – 71.1%
6 Mavericks – 69.6%
7 Firebirds – 69.1%
8 Giants – 68.6%

Gain to goal:
1 Swifts – 72.6%
2 Vixens – 71.7%
3 Fever – 71.6%
4 Thunderbirds – 67.8%
5 Mavericks – 66.9%
6 Lightning – 64.9%
7 Giants – 64.7%
8 Firebirds – 62.5%

Turnover to goal:
1 Fever – 75.7%
2 Swifts – 72.8%
3 Vixens – 68.9%
4 Firebirds – 68.7%
5 Thunderbirds – 68.5%
6 Mavericks – 67.9%
7 Lightning – 67.2%
8 Giants – 65.1%

MATCH WRAPS:

Swifts v Lightning

Sunshine Coast Lightning kept their finals hopes alive in a high-scoring, edge-of-the-seat clash, with little separating the two premiership-winning clubs throughout. Injury concerns meant both teams lacked customary defensive depth, seeing a hard 60-min slog with no substitutions for Lightning, and only two changes on the wings for Swifts. 

The Swifts had a confident start, while the option of Liz Watson at centre appeared to yield mixed results for the visitors. The Sunshine Coast front line faltered early, handing over two intercepts and six turnovers in the first quarter. However, the veteran Lightning shooters Cara Koenen and Steph Fretwell were able to steady the ship, using extra space in and out of the circle, and earning a brilliant 95% conversion of possession in the second term to draw them to 34-all.

It was a frustrating outing for Helen Housby who only nailed one shot after half time, and Sarah Klau who amassed 22 penalties in trying to cut off the baseline dodges and rotation of two crafty shooters. Verity Simmons had a consistently strong match, committing no turnovers, and stepping up when Paige Hadley was forced to the bench at half time for load management. Indeed, the absence of captain Hadley was noticeable in the final minute when the Swifts perhaps scored too quickly, opening the door for Lightning. The result came down to a sequence of desperate and lucky rebounds by Koenen and two late supershots by Fretwell to take the win with four seconds on the clock.

Helen Housby started strongly, but only put up one shot in the second half of the game. Image: May Bailey-Ireland | Clusterpix

Steph Fretwell said her team needed to be brave – and they were. Image: May Bailey-Ireland | Clusterpix

Ash Ervin takes on Grace Nweke during the game. Image: May Bailey-Ireland | Clusterpix

Karntu v Mavericks

It was the strong start from Karntu that set them up for the win that keeps them in the finals race. Latanya Wilson continued her defensive domination, finishing with 12 gains which included nine intercepts all while wreaking havoc for the Mavericks feeders. After spending more time than usual on the bench this year, Tayla Williams saw significant minutes but was causing headaches for coach Tania Obst. While she was finding her shooters with ease, finishing with 20 goal assists she had some expensive turnovers with five that left Obst visibly frustrated on the coaches cam. 

Tayla Fraser continues her strong form at wing attack for the Mavericks, being one of the few mid courters with the patience to work to circle edge before feeding into Shimona Jok. She finished with 10 goal assists and one gain, and made the attack end flow a lot better when she was on court. Olivia Lewis also had a strong outing, contending with the tall timber that is Romelda Aiken-George she nabbed three rebounds and two intercepts, with only six penalties to her name. Unfortunately, the sides gain to goal rate sat at a lowly 47% meaning they couldn’t capitalise on her hard work. 

Hannah Petty following Tarntanya Karntu’s Welcome to Country. Image: Hannah Howard/On the Ball Media

Romelda Aiken-George gets some close attention from Kim Brown and Olivia Lewis. Image: Hannah Howard/On the Ball Media

Sasha Glasgow passes on the run. Image: Hannah Howard/On the Ball Media

Lauren Parkinson made a return to court after more than 700 days absence. Image: Hannah Howard/On the Ball Media

Vixens v Firebirds

In Simone Mckinnis’ last home game for the regular season as head coach of the Vixens, her side took the game by two goals to leapfrog to third spot on the ladder. Despite the Vixens winning the first and third quarters, the Firebirds remained in the game with a dominant second quarter and won the final quarter by two goals. They were able to service Mary Cholhok (43/55) with ample ball supply and utilise Emily Moore (3/5) in the supershot period for scoreboard pressure. 

In her 50th national league game, Macy Gardner led the Net Points for her team and totalled 16 feeds with an attempt, two gains, with one intercept to combine well with Lara Dunkley at wing attack. It was the Firebirds’ unforced turnovers (17) and their inability to convert from their gained ball that let the Firebirds concede to the Vixens, combined with 89 penalties (vs. 49) that took them out of the contest. Ruby Bakewell-Doran was also formidable for the Firebirds with four intercepts, one deflection, and two rebounds, wearing down Kiera Austin and causing hesitation on the feed. Abigail Latu-Meafou (8/9, 2/3) continues to showcase her championship qualities with her ball smarts and accuracy in the dying minutes of the game to bring the score within 2. 

At the other end of the court, Rudi Ellis had a solid performance, racking up five gains (out of six total for the Vixens) made up of two intercepts with four deflections that helped change the momentum for her side. Austin was a standout with 19 feeds with an attempt (equal to Kate Moloney), 22 centre pass receives, and two gains / deflections. Zara Walters was able to navigate the smothering pressure of English international Imogen Allison in her second 60 min performance of the season with strong drives to the circle and 18 feeds with an attempt. Sophie Garbin was also steady under the post (42/47) to reward the hard work of her teammates. Despite this vital victory for the Vixens in their quest for a home semi final, they will need to reflect on how to improve their consistency if they intend to be the last team standing. 

Fever v Giants

With Giants the third best performed team over the last four rounds, this match was always going to be tighter than ladder position would suggest. With Jordan Cransberg out with illness, her sister Zoe took the centre bib and performed well until a big collision with Jamie-Lee Price saw her leave the court with a neck injury. 

Alice Teague-Neeld (47 feeds, 22 centre pass receives) had another exceptional outing, with Amy Sligar finding it difficult to apply as much pressure to the wing attack as she’s been able to do in recent weeks. The defensive duo of Casey Kopua and Erin O’Brien also had their work cut out against the dominance of Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard who absorbed the pressure to finish with 63/66. 

With just a four point lead at half time thanks in part to the Giants’ long range shooting prowess, Fever upped their defensive pressure in third quarter, keeping their opponents to a lowly 11 points for the term, and kept the accelerator down for the rest of the match. Sunday Aryang finished with MVP honours and 7 gains, Kadie-Ann Dehaney played limited minutes due to illness in her milestone match, and debutante Caitlyn Brown pulled off 2 gains in her 8 minute cameo.  Maddie Hay was the Giants’ best with a strong 35 feeds, 14 centre pass receives and an intercept.  

Zoe Cransberg was assessed (and cleared) for a concussion after a heavy collision with Jamie-Lee Price. Image: Clinton Bradbury

Caitlyn Brown made her SSN debut against Jo Harten and finished with two rebounds. Image: Clinton Bradbury

The battle between Diamonds teammates Sophie Dwyer and Sunday Aryang was fierce. Image: Clinton Bradbury

Unfortunately, Kadie-Ann Dehaney was recovering from an illness and was only able to play 6 minutes in her 100th national league match. Image: Clinton Bradbury

PLAYERS OF THE ROUND

Cara Koenen (Lightning)

The Sunshine Coast and Diamonds must have been very excited to see their favourite Townsville girl back to her scintillating best after two weeks off with a foot injury. Koenen’s variety of cunning dodges and baseline drives kept her experienced opposition dizzy and several steps off the pace. Although only shooting at 84%, she once again got more rebounds than missed shots, effectively shooting at more than 100%. More than this, she contributed greatly to the second phase from the centre pass, had only two turnovers, and took several monster hits with a smile, before calmly hitting the next shot.

Latanya Wilson (Karntu)

What more needs to be said at this point? With countrywoman Shamera Sterling-Humphrey off the scene due to pregnancy, there’s a fair case to be made that Wilson is perhaps the best player in the world in three different positions right now. This season, she has dominated at goal keeper, goal defence, and wing defence. Against the Mavericks, she was at goal keeper and really turned the game on its head. Her speed and athleticism is incredible, but more than that, her ability to read the play is second to none. She always seems to be in exactly the right position to make a defensive play. She never gave the Mavericks attack end a moment’s peace and finished with a career best 12 gains, and a record-equalling nine intercepts.  

Latty Wilson’s 12 gains earned her MVP honours. Image: Hannah Howard

Rudi Ellis (Vixens) 

In the closely contested match against the Firebirds, the spark of the Diamond’s Rudi Ellis returned. Providing the majority of the gained ball for her side (see above), she helped her team withstand the fightback of the Firebirds. With an improved 14 penalties from previous weeks, she was able to contest the ball out the front and under the post by staying in play. 

Sunday Aryang (Fever)

Aryang has gone from strength to strength as the season’s gone on, and was at her best today for Fever. She finished with 7 gains, which included 3 intercepts, 4 deflections and 4 rebounds. She worked smoothly in tandem with three different goal keepers and two wing defences, shutting down space and providing a strong jump or lean over the shot. Her ability to play off the body puts doubt into the minds of feeders, slowing up the opposition in attack. 

QUOTES CORNER

Steph Fretwell on taking the supershot in the final minute of the match (despite teammates screaming for a one). 

“The biggest thing for us is that we want to be brave and we want to have courage and that is something that this season we have shied away from. But that was a do-or-die moment for us and if it didn’t come off and we had a one goal loss, at least we didn’t walk off court and wonder what would’ve been.”

Helen Housby on not playing the ball around in the final 30 seconds of the match. 

“Swifts of old used to hold the ball for longer [than 30 seconds] at times. We will have to go back and have a look at it. But I think we just weren’t on the same page and we were thinking more about getting the goal in and then applying pressure on defence.”

Lauren Parkinson on making her long-awaited return to SSN after 700 days on the sideline.

“I feel elated. I have been on cloud nine all day. It is a very surreal moment to be here. I think I just really want to enjoy my netball. I am here for a reason and that’s because I love it. And if I only have one more for this season I am going to take it with two hands and play for everyone that has got me here today.”

Julie Fitzgerald on today’s game.

“There were patches in the match where we played really well but I think we were beaten today by a far better team who is beautifully drilled and credit to Fever the crowd is amazing, the presentation is amazing…I think they are head and shoulders above the opposition at the moment.”

Amy Sligar on the big crowds in Perth. 

I love coming to Perth, I love netball and to see so many people – I think it was 11 000 – loving netball as much as I do was pretty special. And then they always sing the song at the end and the game is still going and it does break your heart a little bit, but it’s so special to see everyone getting around the sport.

LADDER

Team / Pts / %
Fever . 44 . 110%
Swifts . 36 . 107%
Vixens . 32 . 102%
Thunderbirds . 28 . 105%
—
Lightning . 28 . 102%
Mavericks . 16 . 95%
Giants . 16 . 91%
Firebirds . 8 . 90% 

NEXT WEEK

(Round 14)

Sat, Jul 12
5pm – GIANTS v MAVERICKS
7pm – THUNDERBIRDS v LIGHTNING (6:30pm local time)

Sun, Jul 13
2pm – FIREBIRDS v SWIFTS
4pm – FEVER v VIXENS (2pm local time)

11,899 fans experienced another touching Welcome to Country at RAC Arena. Image: Clinton Bradbury