Fitzgerald on surprise coaching gig

By Matt Fotia 

Julie Fitzgerald’s love of netball knows no bounds. 

After 400 national league games and almost three decades at the top of the elite game, you would excuse her for trying to lighten her workload. 

But the coaching great has been doing the exact opposite. 

Fitzgerald has spent the last three years coaching the Roseville College senior netball side in her spare time, spearheading the underdogs assault on the IGSA crown. 

Late last month the master tactician added to her overflowing trophy cabinet after leading Roseville to a long-awaited senior premiership. 

“It was something I got talked into three years ago and I absolutely loved it,” Fitzgerald said. 

“I was only going to do one year, but I got quite fond of the girls, so we stuck together for three years, and we’ve just won their first premiership in 40 years.” 

The enjoyment of coaching at the community level confirmed one thing for Fitzgerald. 

The fire still burns. 

“It shows I still love the sport and what I’m doing,” Fitzgerald explained. 

“I just love all levels of netball. 

“It’s a phenomenal sport for women and girls and I love being a part of it. 

“When I give up the GIANTS, I’ll coach someone, somewhere.” 

Her role at Roseville isn’t the only coaching side quest Fitzgerald is currently embarking on. 

The five-time national league winning coach is on tour with the Australian Men’s side, the Kelpies, as assistant coach for their upcoming series against New Zealand, alongside colleague Nerida Stewart, and is excited about yet another coaching opportunity.  

“You can’t go into something like this and not learn something,” Fitzgerald explained. 

“With the Kelpies it is so interesting and very different to the netball you see every day. 

“Their skillset is different and there are plenty of areas you really want to work on, because they haven’t had the grounding of coming through pathways like most of the girls have, but you can also design a totally different gameplan because of the skillset they do have.” 

This won’t be Fitzgerald’s first dalliance with the men’s game of course. She has been watching its growth for a long time and likes what she sees. 

“From the time I first saw the men play compared to now, their level of play has increased considerably,” Fitzgerald stated. 

“We used to bring the men in to play against the women (in training) and would be worried they were too physical, or because of their lack of control they would injury the girls. 

“There is none of that now. They have good body control; they can play the game, and they can give the girls a good run.” 

Her role with the Kelpies offers Fitzgerald another chance to visit New Zealand, the country she called home for three years as coach of the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic. 

She has since kept a keen eye on netball across the ditch and has been impressed by the recent development of the Silver Ferns pathway. 

She is however, slightly concerned by the mini wave of Australian talent heading to both New Zealand and the United Kingdom. 

The likes of Tyler Orr (London Pulse), Gabrielle Coffey, Gabrielle Sinclair (both Birmingham Panthers), Emily Andrew and Chelsea Blackman (London Mavericks) are destined for the Netball Super League in 2025, while former Queensland Firebirds pair Donnell Wallam and Remi Kamo are being joined in New Zealand by Sunshine Coast Lightning training partner Charlie Bell and her GIANTS peer Charli Fidler. 

Fitzgerald believes all those players will benefit enormously from their moves overseas but wants to see more opportunities for players of that calibre to ply their trade on home soil. 

“If you look at Charli (Fidler), she’s been a training partner with us for three years and there wasn’t quite room for her (in the ten) just yet, so for her it’s a great experience,” Fitzgerald explained. 

“She’s a little bit too young to crack it in one of our teams, but she’ll get invaluable experience over there and will come back one day and be a GIANT. 

“But for netball from an Australian point of view, we need more teams to give more of these players opportunities to stay home and play in our national league.” 

Fitzgerald is certainly well-credentialed enough to have an opinion on these matters, having been ever-present for every step of Australian netball’s professional growth.  

She was there during the Mobil Super League with Sydney Cenovis. 

She famously led the Sydney Swifts through the Commonwealth Bank Trophy era and into the ANZ Championship and has been the GIANTS coach since the start of the Suncorp Super Netball league. 

“We certainly have a lot of talent you’d like to put out there, but there just isn’t the room,” Fitzgerald stated. 

“I’m not someone who thinks we should reduce the number of internationals, because it’s made our competition the best in the world, and it’s given us an opportunity to play against the top international players. 

“Having more teams is the answer.”