By Matt Fotia
Netball is entering a new era, as more leagues join the professional space, and the game goes to another level of analysis, conditioning and performance.
But there will always be players from the generation before who did it all without sport science and full-time contracts.
Players who pure lovers of the game still remember fondly
Players who left a lasting impression on the netball community.
Players who will never leave our minds.
These are the players the nets won’t forget.
Selina Gilsenan
Gilsenan stood at just 171cm, but her presence on court was anything but small.
The midcourter finished her career with 136 caps for the Swifts and earned the nickname ‘The Rash’ due to her speed, consistency and persistence in defence across the course of her eight years with the club.
Gilsenan has won the most premierships of any player in Swifts history (5) and was named Grand Final MVP in their 2007 premiership.
According to the NSW Swifts website ‘Gilsenan is one of the greatest midcourters to ever grace a netball court’ and with her a CV like hers, it’s hard to disagree.
Sharni Norder (nee Layton)
It’s fair to say Sharni Norder left it all out on the court.
Famous for being a vocal leader, Norder was a big presence for all five of her national league sides, across her 14-year career.
The 187cm circle defender started her career with the Melbourne Kestrels in 2004, spending three seasons with the club before becoming part of the AIS side for the 2007 season.
Norder signed with the Vixens for the 2008 ANZ Championship season, but spent just one year with the club, before moving to the Adelaide Thunderbirds ahead of the 2010 season.
She won two premierships with the Adelaide club before moving to the NSW Swifts in 2014. Norder stayed with the Swifts for three seasons, winning the club MVP award in 2016 before signing with Collingwood for the beginning of the Super Netball era.
She played two seasons with the Magpies before stepping away from the sport to sign with Collingwood’s AFLW side and carved out a career in the media,
Norder has been a welcome addition to the netball coaching fraternity in recent times and will always be remembered for her on-court performances.
Sharni Norder was a crowd favourite.Nat Avellino
An ever present on our TV screens in recent years on the NSW Swifts coaching bench Avellino was a national league star in her own right around the turn of the millennium.
The 177cm attacker, who played 20 times for the Diamonds, was a regular fixture in the Mobil Super League with both the AIS (1989-91) and Adelaide Garville (1993-96) where she won a title.
Avellino began her Commonwealth Bank Trophy career with the Sydney Sandpipers (1997-98) before moving to the Melbourne Phoenix for the 1999 season. She then returned to the Sandpipers.
Not content with the eastern seaboard, Avellino also spent time with the Adelaide Thunderbirds and took her talents to New Zealand, playing in the National Bank Cup with the Southern Sting in 2004 and 2007.
Laura Langman
One of the best players of the modern era, Langman set tongues wagging in 2019 when she was granted an exemption by Netball New Zealand to play for the Sunshine Coast Lightning and be selected for the Silver Fern, following two years in the international selection wilderness.
A winner of the ANZ Championship with Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic, Langman announced her first move to an Australian club on August 19, 2015, confirming the NSW Swifts as her destination.
She was a key signing for the Sunshine Coast Lightning in 2017, leading the Lightning to the 2017 premiership with her tireless efforts in the mid court.
She was absent from the Lightning in 2018 before returning with exemption in hand to captain the club in 2019.
Langman retired from professional netball at the end of the 2020 season, with more than 200 national league appearances and a reputation as one of the best to ever play the game.
Langman was a star of the competition.Susan Pettitt (nee Pratley)
Seventeen seasons and more than 125 games.
Susan Pettitt had some career.
The crafty goaler, who paved the way for the likes of Steph Fretwell, was too smooth and too smart for many an opponent across the journey.
She was a part of the Sydney Sandpipers list for the 2002 Commonwealth Bank Trophy, but didn’t debut until 2003, when she hit the court for the AIS Canberra Darters.
Pettitt ended up playing three seasons with the AIS Canberra Darters before returning to Sydney in 2006, to begin her long running Swifts career.
She became the first player to ever shoot at 100% in a national league Grand Final, with 26 from 26 in the Swifts 2006 victory against the Thunderbirds and was a part of their 2007 championship winning team.
Pettitt stayed with the Swifts for the entirety of the ANZ Championship, before joining Kim Green and signing with the GIANTS in 2017, where she played two seasons and signed off at the end of the 2018 campaign.
Pettitt is one of few people who can say they shared a goal circle with both Cath Cox and Jo Harten and was loved by many across the netball landscape.
