GEORGIE PARKER: Melbourne Vixens' grand final win over West Coast Fever a terrific showcase event

West Australian

3 days ago

'Can you get me tickets for the grand final?', is usually only a message I receive in the last weekend in September for the AFL.
But, this year I was receiving them for a different sport, netball.
It feels as though Super Netball is only getting better and has more interest year after year, and this year's grand final was no different.
I couldn't get any, of course, because it was sold out.
So, in front of a loud, sellout crowd of 15,013, the Melbourne Vixens pulled off a fairy tale one goal win over the West Coast Fever on Saturday night.
A result that not only crowned a new champion, but in a match that, in my opinion, cemented Super Netball as the premier women's sporting league in Australia.
The game had everything.
The underdog Vixens, written off by many earlier in the season, clinched a win against a Fever side that had won 13 games straight.
It marked the end of an era for Vixens coach Simone McKinnis, who bowed out after 13 years at the helm.
And it showcased netball at its best – fast, skilful, insanely athletic, dramatic, and most of all, elite.
But beyond the final, you can't help but remember just how far Super Netball has come, and how it's had to do it the hard way.
My cousin played for the Thunderbirds in the early 2000s, so watching the differences in the league now compared to then, by how they train (no more after work training sessions) and how professional they are obviously backed by a real income, is huge.
Unlike the AFLW, NRLW, or WBBL, all excellent leagues in their own right, and ones I support and love, Super Netball has built its empire without the safety net of a men's competition propping it up.
While the others benefited from being extensions of established men's brands, they can expand, take risks, and grow with big financial losses in the hope it will pay dividends.
Meanwhile, netball has done the hard yards solo.
That's not a criticism of those leagues, far from it (with the female athletic talent in the country I believe they just jumped on too late), but when women's footy and cricket arrived, netball found itself fighting a battle on a few fronts.
Firstly, it was losing not just some of its best junior athletes to rival sports but senior, established players who jumped codes.
I played with former Australian netball captain, Sharni Norder (nee Layton) at Collingwood in the AFLW for example.
Netball also saw corporate sponsorship dollars flow to women's arms of already well funded men's codes and female players, relatively new in the sporting world, rather than their league and their established players.
How many netballers do you see on insurance, car or phone network ads? It's a scenario that could have buried the game, like it has with many other sports.
Instead, Super Netball doubled down and knew it had a product worth fighting for.
It developed world class pathways and a league that invited the best in the world to compete.
It built a compelling product, that serviced its very loyal fans, but at the same time made it a game anyone would want to watch.
It did this without being tied to a men's league, which meant it had to work harder, market smarter, and demand more from every part of the sport.
Two years ago, players took a stand in a heated pay dispute with Netball Australia.
At the time, some questioned the timing and ethics. Now, after a season like this, the fight from the players feels justified. The athletes knew their worth, and they've proved it every week since.
This final was everything elite women's sport should be.
It was fiercely contested, beautifully played, and impossible to look away from.
It also caught the attention of Hollywood legend Whoopi Goldberg, a surprise entrant into the netball conversation, who announced this year she's backing the league and plans to bring it to a broader audience through her major network AWSN (All Women Sport Network).
I can imagine her and her team would have watched the grand final and thought it had been money well spent.
The Vixens' dramatic finish to the season has been the best possible advertisement for netball.
Super Netball didn't just survive the storm of competing codes, it weathered it, evolved, and emerged stronger.
Now it's not just competing, it's leading and is easily the best in the country.
So while it does have a three decade head start on women playing footy and cricket at the same level, it's given us an idea on what standard we can expect with time, and doesn't it look great?