WOMEN’S EVOLUTION
You retired after winning the gold medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. When did you know your playing days were up?
A
Probably during that tournament. I had an ankle injury going into it and had a knee injury a bit earlier. I hadn’t had many injuries during my career but the last one was tougher to get back from. The level you have to keep up to fitness wise, I knew I’d had enough and wasn’t ready for a whole pre-season. The following year was a world champs year so it was a big decision but I was very happy with Commonwealth Games gold.
Q
Following your playing career, you made the transition into coaching. Did you always see yourself coaching?
A
No, not at all. When I finished playing, I had enough of the sport and needed a break. I don’t think I even watched it on television. I needed a clean split. I didn’t think it was ever something I would be doing but then I got a call from Julie Fitzgerald who coaches the Giants netball team now but was coaching the Swifts at the time. She asked me to come in and do some work with their shooters and I was like, ‘really?’ But I eventually went in to help and got more involved and started to enjoy it more and more. I found it really enjoyable and loved the experience of passing on my knowledge – which I never though I would but here we are.
Q
Women’s sport is in the midst of a revolution in terms of coverage and exposure. But what were things like for you as a female athlete when you were at the peak of your craft?
A
When I first made the Australian team, I think it was the first year we didn’t have to pay for our uniforms. It wasn’t entirely professional but the sport was in a good place. We got a fair amount of coverage. It was all just starting to improve. We had the 1991 world champs in Sydney so things really started to pick up then. Then a few more national leagues were introduced. I moved from NSW to Victoria (in 1998 for the Commonwealth Bank Trophy season) and I think I was the first person to be paid to move to a different team. I got $2000 to relocate and around $150 a match.
Q
I guess netball is unique in that there’s always been that national and international pathway for women, whereas we’ve seen that develop only fairly recently for the likes of AFL, football and cricket. How do you think netball stacks up these days in a fairly saturated sporting market?
A
There’s a lot more to choose from now but we’re lucky netball has that strong history. There’s a lot more competition and poaching between codes. But we’ve got a good foundation and we promote the sport well. You’ve got to respect all the other codes as well. As women, I think we have to support them anyway. There’s no competition and netballers support other female athletes.