Diamonds star wants golden end to Vixens netball season

West Australian

24-05-2025

The tiny West Australian mining town of Kambalda has unearthed two gems with Diamonds and Vixens netball star Sophie Garbin still shining bright.
Garbin is set to play her 100th Super Netball match on Sunday while her older sister Darcee turned out for the Opals before taking her basketball career overseas.
Located 60 kilometres from Kalgoorlie and more than 600km from Perth, and with a population of less than 3000, Kambalda amazingly also produced three football players who made it into the AFLW.
With sport pretty much all that was on offer and coached by her mum Kym, whom she credits for her athleticism, Garbin said she played both netball and basketball and almost followed her sister's path.
"I always grew up wanting to be Lauren Jackson and going to the Olympics, and in a way I have kind of achieved that going to the World Cup with the Diamonds," Garbin told AAP.
"I wasn't actually that tall when I was younger and I didn't have very good ball skills - my brother and sister used to watch me play and tease me how I used to do lay-up.
"But I probably had more friends in netball and there was probably a little bit of me that didn't want to do the same thing as my sister."
The 28-year-old goal shooter proved she made the right choice, winning two Super Netball titles with NSW before moving to Melbourne to join the now-defunct Collingwood.
When the Magpies folded she signed with Melbourne Vixens with the team losing a grand final battle to Adelaide last year.
Garbin also shone on the international stage and was rewarded with the Liz Ellis Diamond as Australia's best player.
This season the Vixens have struggled to find their groove and sit second last with two wins from six matches.
But a win in Brisbane over the sixth-ranked Queensland Firebirds could see them jump to fifth, with the top four playing finals.
Looking to send departing coach Simone McKinnis out a winner, Garbin said she still felt positive about their 2025 season and had extra motivation with Melbourne hosting the grand final.
"We're just not playing our best," she said.
"It'd be a bit more disheartening if we felt like we were giving it our all and still losing, but I don't think we've had all 10 of us firing at the same time.
"I still feel quite positive, like I've been at many different clubs and have had different seasons, and sometimes successes come later on in the season.
"We're two and four, but that doesn't mean the season's over.
"Our mindset going into this weekend is just focusing on beating the Firebirds rather than looking too far ahead and looking into finals, but I'm still very much thinking that we're playing finals and we're not out of the race just yet."