Netball great Catherine Cox has questioned the logistics of superstar Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard’s return as her potential inclusion gives the West Coast Fever 12 players to pick from – and not 11 like other Super Netball teams.
Fowler-Nembhard had been replaced for the 2025 season by former Vixens star Mwai Kumwenda back in December after announcing her pregnancy.
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But sadly weeks later, the club revealed that Fowler-Nembhard tragically lost her baby. Now, two months on the Fever has confirmed Fowler-Nembhard is available to play in 2025 and preparing to return.
While Cox said it was “fantastic news” for the competition, fans and the Fever alike to have Fowler-Nembhard back on court, it did leave a question over list management.
How the Fever and Netball Australia negotiate this next move could have wide ranging impacts, not just on this sport, but all women’s sports, the majority of which offer maternity leave.
“How on earth does 12 go into 11?” Cox questioned on Fox Netball’s Pivot.
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“The team is obviously allowed a contracted 10, and there’s an 11th player that is nominated … this would make Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard the 12th.”
In a statement to Fox Netball, Netball Australia did not confirm if Fowler-Nembhard would have to return as a contracted athlete, training partner or temporary replacement.
“Jhaniele’s wellbeing continues to be our number one consideration and we offer our full support as she returns to training with the West Coast Fever,” a Netball Australia spokesperson said.
“If and when she feels ready to return to matches, Netball Australia will support that position.
“Ultimately that decision is for Jhaniele to make alongside her medical team.”
Cox said the statement was “not an answer” to how Fever’s contracted player list would work with Fowler-Nembhard’s flagged return.
“Firstly and foremost, fantastic news for our game,” Cox reiterated.
“It is obviously a big recruit though – I don’t know how other teams will be feeling about the fact that potentially Jhaniele is allowed to come back into that environment.
“I also think that as the leading women’s sport, the biggest female sport in the country, we have to be the front runners in whatever this looks like – there’s probably a new policy from Netball Australia not far away regarding this.
“But what does it mean for whoever is in the team at the moment?
“Obviously Kumwenda came in as the replacement player – a permanent replacement player. Is she the first one to then be dropped? Or is it somebody else? Or do they keep the 12?
“We still don’t really know what’s going on.”
Kumwenda herself is on her own path back into the game after missing the 2024 Super Netball season to give birth to her first child.
When the Fever needed a goal shooter replacement, Kumwenda uprooted her Melbourne life, bringing both her baby and mother-in-law to Perth to continue her professional netball career.
But with Fowler-Nembhard’s return uncertainty, NA and the Fever are yet to confirm what that means for Kumwenda.
“You can’t just drop that player!” Cox said.
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“That player came in as a permanent replacement player, that was obviously Kumwenda. Had to move from Melbourne over to Perth – that’s a big commitment in itself to be there. But does it have to be her (to make way for Fowler-Nembhard)?
“If she’s now a permanent, that means she’s in that contracted 10.
“Will we continue to see her in the game for the rest of the season? Watch this space.”
The Fowler-Nembhard situation is uncharted territory for a sport that already has issues with limited contract opportunities.
There’s just 80 professional contracts for the entire league – with many rising talents heading overseas in a bid to continue their careers, while others are waiting in the wings as low-paid training partners.
Fowler-Nembhard is a star attraction in Super Netball, as a five-time competition MVP and leading goal scorer in every season she has featured.
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