Super Netball Player Moves: Queensland Firebirds Finalise Roster While Adelaide Thunderbirds Consider New Zealand Swoop
The Firebirds will deploy the circle defense with the least amount of experience in the SSN, while the T-Birds are reportedly considering New Zealand as an option.
Isabelle Shearer, a young defender for the Queensland Firebirds, is on the verge of signing her first professional contract once the drawn-out discussions about the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) are eventually brought to a successful conclusion. The Firebirds are the most recent Super Netball side to finish filling out their roster.
Shearer, who is only 20, is one of three Firebirds' training partners from 2023 to gain a promotion. The other two are Hulita Veve, who is a mature-aged midcourter, and Leesa Mi Mi, who was recruited by the Sunshine Coast Lightning and plays for Sippy Downs, which is located up the Bruce Highway.
After a successful first season under the direction of new coach Belinda Reynolds, the Brisbane-based team was among the organisations interested in signing the promising young goalkeeper Ash Ervin. However, Ervin ultimately decided to recommit to the Lightning rather than the Diamonds, and the Lightning will be bolstered by superstars Liz Watson and Courtney Bruce.
Bec Bulley's club instead searched within to replace Ashlee Unie, who was not handed a new agreement after playing five games in her debut year because Ervin decided to reject a lucrative offer to return to the Firebirds, where she was a training partner in 2022. This meant that Ervin's choice meant that the team had to replace Ashlee Unie from within.
Shearer is a product of the Rockhampton and Queensland pipelines and was born in New South Wales. She has competed in the last two Australian National Championships, was a part of the national 17/U squad, and has also competed for her adopted state of Queensland at the 19/U level.
Shearer will be a part of the competition's circle defense with the least amount of experience alongside recently capped Diamond Ruby Bakewell-Doran and 14-gamer Remi Kamo. Long-term wing defense and former Firebirds' captain Gabi Simpson was also let go after her team finished in seventh place in 2023, which was a dismal result.
Tippah Dwan, an Adelaide Premiership player who spent the last two seasons in the pink of the Thunderbirds, is coming home and might form a lethal shooting combination with Donnell Wallam. Dwan returns to replace Mia Stower, as champion Gretel Bueta continues her indefinite maternity leave.
Given the team's lack of goal attackers and concerns about whether or not South Australian ex-Magpie Nyah Allen is ready for a full SSN role, the T-birds are rumored to be looking across the Tasman for Dwan's replacement.
Jamie Hume, a former shooter for the Northern Stars, is reportedly in the running to round up the shooting circle for the 2023 team, which has signed Eleanor Cardwell and kept only teenager Lucy Austin from its 2022 squad.
The 183-centimeter Hume, a former Silver Ferns' team member and New Zealand 21/U and FAST5 representative, left the Stars in June after four seasons due to a left shoulder repair and inconsistent shooting.
The position vacated by the 27-year-old player has been filled by former Vixen Rahni Samason at the south Auckland-based franchise. It was initially believed that Hume would be moving to Melbourne to play in the Victorian Netball League, where former Magpie Shimona Nelson is the star 2024 signing for the reigning Premier City West Falcons. Samason is a former player for the Vixens.
One New Zealand insider said of Hume, "Too good to be not playing, and if the Thunderbirds could get her shooting consistently, she would be a good pick-up." Instead, Hume may end up in Adelaide, where the Thunderbirds are looking to replace Mavs-bound defensive midcourter Maisie Nankivell and have lost three members of their championship-winning team.
A third circle defender at the Giants to join incumbent Tilly McDonnel and recruit Jodi-Ann Ward has yet to be announced among the 80 contracted positions across the eight clubs; however, Erin O'Brien is favored for promotion in place of the departed Lauren Moore.
However, the CPA impasse has yet to be addressed, so no players may be signed officially. Numerous SSN teams have signed new team participation agreements; however, these will be perpetual rather than for a fixed multi-year duration.