Fri, August 08, 2025
Career uncertainty forces Australian netballers to change their sport
Australian netballers are increasingly turning to the women’s Australian Football League (AFLW) for more viable careers, according to The Guardian. Netball is the most popular sport for girls and women in Australia. It was one of the first sports to have a national league in the 1980s, and the Australian Diamonds are an extremely successful national team.
However, Super Netball, a professional netball league in Australia, only allows 8 teams, each with 10 contracted players. Therefore, part-time training positions and full-time spots are hard to come by. There are only around 65 contracted positions available after excluding international players. Netball also does not have extended squads in the same way other sports do.
The optional “11th player” was introduced last year. However, this is just a six-month minimum salary position, although the role was expanded this year to allow the 11th player to be promoted to the matchday team without requiring a contracted player to be injured first.
Overall, the financial situation is bleak for Super Netballers. The minimum pay for a player in the contracted 10 will rise to $46,600 and to $23,300 for the 11th players. Clubs are also allowed 3 additional “training partners” with a minimum pay of just $5,665. In comparison, the lowest tier AFLW contracts are worth $67,337.
With increasing opportunities in different sports for women, players are increasingly deciding to leave netball behind for more viable careers, even if they have a greater love for netball.
Super Netballer Olivia Lewis recently announced her switch. The Melbourne Mavericks defender, recently named the club’s Defender of the Year, voiced:
“I'm excited to announce I'm chasing a career in footy and playing AFLW. It's been a dream of mine for a really long time…
Bombshell, I know…
The hardest part for me is leaving the Mavs, netball is one thing but the Mavs is a special place.”
Lewis recently recalled an interaction with a 13-year-old girl who, despite enjoying netball more, was “enticed by the larger list sizes of the AFLW.”
AFLW player Poppy Scholz is daughter of Australian Diamonds legend Peta Scholz. Poppy expressed: “If you want to be a training partner in Melbourne, you have to work and play netball seven times a week in the preseason…
It’s not enough money to live on. Whereas in football, they’re so well supported by the AFL, so I can move to Melbourne, live out of home and be financially set up.”
Georgie Cleaver also switched from Super Netball to AFLW. She stated: “With footy, when you turn 18, if you’re in the best 50 footballers in Australia, you’re going to get drafted. Whereas in netball, at 18, 19, 20, you’re not guaranteed a spot at all.”
Some athletes balance two disciplines. AFLW’s Sarah Rowe, who is part of Collingwood FC, is also a defender for the Central Coast Mariners. However, as women’s sport becomes increasingly professional, this is becoming more difficult to do. Fremantle defender and former Diamond Ash Brazill had to give up netball in 2024 to focus solely on AFLW.
On the flip side, Verity Simmons returned to netball after initially making the switch to football.
She voiced: “I'd bitten off more than I can chew, not knowing AFL, not growing up around it and having to learn a whole game with all these different skills all at once and with the best there is, was full on…
I was really grateful I did footy, the year away from netball made me appreciate the sport and love the sport again…
I really do love netball, I've grown up on it, it’s in my blood and it's a sport I never want to give away or not enjoy.”
The 2025 Super Netball grand final broke records for both live attendance and broadcast viewership, suggesting the possibility for increased opportunities in the future.
However, Super Netball has also come under scrutiny for allowing Siala Robson to perform during the final despite pleading guilty to domestic violence charges in 2024.
Netball's players' association and Netball Australia have been strong in advocating against domestic violence over the past two seasons, so this was disappointing for many.
