The tweak that saw Romelda Aiken-George smash her personal scoring record when she was meant to be retired, two heavyweight teams that didn’t aim up, plus a lingering headache for the new-look Firebirds.
The first week of Super Netball is in the books for 2026 — and here are some of the biggest talking points.
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RYAN’S RECORD-BREAKING ROMELDA TWEAK — Fever 68 def. Lightning 65
Romelda Aiken-George wasn’t just good on her West Coast Fever SSN debut. The iconic GS notched the highest single-game haul of her career, with 53 goals to explode into a remarkable 19th season that only happened because she was plucked from retirement at age 37 on the recommendation of pregnant friend Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard.
Fever coach Dan Ryan revealed post-game after downing a highly-rated Sunshine Coast that he had instructed Aiken-George to play more of a Fowler-Nembhard role, utterly dominating the post; in a complementary pairing with returned GA ‘Super Shot’ Sasha Glasgow, who drained five two-pointers.
“Great to see Sasha back to some of her best form and so good to see Romelda, who was just brilliant for us too,” Ryan told FOX Netball’s Pivot.
“She’s such a different goal shooter to Jhaniele in a number of different ways, because she spends a lot of her time almost creating play for others because she knows the game and the patterns really well. I kind of said to her when we first got her, ‘We think we can make you a bit more of a weapon under the post’.
“And even after the game when I spoke to her, she went, ‘Oh, I think I can get the ball more!’ So this is excellent, let’s get the ball in our hands a bit more often.”
Aiken-George’s 53/62 included an audacious lay-up shot, showing age is just a number when you’re a bona fide legend. The champion GS next faces her old Adelaide teammates, having won a fourth premiership with the Thunderbirds in 2024.
“I’m excited, I feel like every game is a challenge,” Aiken-George said on Pivot.
“Obviously we know ‘Big Dog’ (Shamera Sterling-Humphrey) is back, but at the end of the day it’s what we do for ourselves out there on court. We know what she’s gonna do and we can starve her of the ball; but knowing her, she’s gonna try and get it somehow.”
Ryan’s other huge personnel shift this season will be significantly more game time for England star Fran Williams, after a season-ending ACL injury to Diamonds defender Sunday Aryang.
Williams played a “selfless” hand against the Lightning, Ryan said, in support of goal keeper Kadie-Ann Dehaney. She still racked up a team-best six gains.
“Fran’s a world-class player, so we’re really lucky,” Ryan said.
“Unfortunate we can lose Sunday, but so lucky we can replace her with the captain of the Roses. It’s a pretty healthy spot to be.”
As for the Lightning, they did not entirely aim up to start a season that holds some hopes of a premiership breakthrough; with Silver Ferns captain Karin Burger and Diamonds shooter Donnell Wallam having been added to a star-studded squad.
“There’s two teams that everyone predicted would do well in finals that probably underperformed this week — that was the Swifts and Sunshine Coast Lightning,” Diamonds great Caitlin Bassett said.
“I don’t know if it’s because they have big names in their group and everyone just expects them to stand up during pivotal moments, but (for Lightning) no one really stood up when it counted. And Swifts, we talked about Helen Housby and some of their Diamonds players were really very quiet in that game. That was probably a surprise — I thought those player,s those real superstars who’ve been in our league for along time would have come out and really stamped their authority.”
T-BIRDS’ TERRIFYING WARNING SHOT — Thunderbirds 74 def. Swifts 54
Wow. Just wow.
Plenty tipped Adelaide for a third premiership in four years, and the early signs are scary.
“The hype around the Adelaide Thunderbirds … it is REAL,” Diamonds great Cath Cox said on Pivot.
Replacing Aiken-George in the pink dress, South African goal shooter Elmere van der Berg had an astonishing SSN debut featuring several club scoring records: most goals in a quarter (18, twice), most goals in a game (59 from 61 attempts) and highest team score in a game (74).
Van der Berg was ruthlessly accurate and took all but 13 of her team’s goal attempts, from 53 minutes of game time. If there was any doubt over her ability to step up from the UK Super League to SSN, it was quickly detonated.
“She was incredible. We didn’t know what to expect from her, she’s still quite a raw talent, just 24 years old. Well, she broke records left, right and centre for the Thunderbirds,” dual Adelaide premiership player Emily Beaton said.
“The way that she moved in the air, the way that she adapted to the different defensive lines that were thrown at her and the connection already in game one with her midcourt, she was exceptional.”
The next challenge? Doing it every week now that she’s stamped herself as a gun of the competition, rather than an unknown. If things hold their course, van der Berg could become a shining star in a dominant T-Birds line-up.
“What she put out in the first quarter in particular, she shot every single one of the Thunderbirds’ goals in that first quarter, all 18,” Bassett said.
“So (Lauren) Frew was actually just an extra feeder for her. She came out with a bang and she didn’t fade from there, she kept building and building. She didn’t even spend the whole 60 minutes on court and she still broke the record, which is incredible.
“Four different types of defensive combinations, the Swifts had to put up against her, and all of them failed. So if we’re talking about flying under the radar, who is going to have a huge impact who we didn’t even really, it’s probably that lady there.”
The famed Adelaide defensive end welcomed back Shamera Sterling-Humphrey from maternity leave and barely needed to get out of third gear, in another ominous sign.
“I think what is frightening is there probably a bit of an underwhelming element, or air, coming out of that Adelaide defence because of what we expect from them,” former Roses defender Stacey Francis-Bayman said.
“But they still played pretty good and we know what they’re capacity is and their ability to grow and really start to stamp their authority on the game. That’s what frightens me.”
NEW-LOOK QUEENSLAND’S LINGERING HEADACHE — Vixens 60 def. Firebirds 49
With new coach Di Honey at the helm, the Vixens more or less resumed business as usual in the first game of their premiership defence — which meant a mighty stern test for a Firebirds team that claimed last year’s wooden spoon, before a dramatic roster overhaul.
The good news: their raft of blue-chip Kiwi recruits — Kelly Jackson, Maddy Gordon and Te Paea Selby-Rickit, if you don’t mind — made a promising start and Queensland were just six goals down at the final break. That kind of pure class surely promises a significant improvement in fortunes once the combinations click.
The bad news: towering goal shooter Mary Cholhok demonstrated many of the same issues that delivered an underwhelming entry to SSN last year. The Ugandan star shot at just 78% for her 33/42 goals and was bothered by a robust examination from Melbourne’s fringe Diamonds defender Rudi Ellis.
“She actually made Mary Cholhok very confused. She confused the passer as well, which I think is the whole job of a goal keeper,” former Silver Fern Cat Tuivaiti said on Pivot.
“She managed to pick up some really good ball and she forced some changes in that shooting end that I do not think were pre-planned.”
Tuivaiti was satisfied with the first outings of the New Zealand trio and said the attack end would be Queensland’s ongoing issue.
“I thought they all played really well. I think the finishing touches on almost everything is where they got let down. There were not enough intercepts to be taken,” Tuivaiti said.
“We spoke about Kelly Jury (Jackson) and the effect her arm span has, and I think it worked. She forced Sophie Garbin out of the circle, but I do not think there’s a structure up the front to pick ball up, so they were not picking the ball up but they were forcing the Vixens into very uncomfortable situations; which in my eyes is pretty successful. Just little things – those tidy-ups, those pick-ups, finishing of shots. I think the Firebirds will stay in this season and make sure that they’re very uncomfortable to play against.”
The Firebirds converted only 62% of ball from centre pass and 55% from gains into goals. Jackson, one of the marquee recruits this season among the NZ influx, said that there was clearly some refinement needed.
“I think out there we just had a few key moments that we let slip and as we know, the margins in this league are so tiny that those moments make a big difference. Just tidying up on those basics and converting the ball we get,” she told Pivot.
JLP EXPLODES AS REVAMPED MAVS LINE-UP EXCITES — Mavericks 61 def. Giants 52
After moving from Giants to Mavericks as one of this season’s biggest signings, Jamie-Lee Price exploded with 140 net points in her first SSN game, powered by 21 goal assists in a midcourt masterclass against her old team.
“She’s definitely made a statement, hasn’t she, on this very first (game),” Diamonds great Caitlin Thwaites said on Pivot.
“She’s the reigning Liz Ellis Diamond, so back out there on court in blistering form. Of course, there was a little bit of a hole to fill with Molly Jovic being out and that connection that she had with Shimona Nelson. Jamie-Lee Price has filled that absolutely perfectly with her goal assists, the fact she is getting pick-ups, defensive intercepts. She was absolutely outstanding.”
While it wasn’t a flawless performance under new coach Gerard Murphy, with JLP branding some of the ball control “careless”, the Mavs showed that they may mount a threat this season under the captaincy of Amy Parmenter.
“You can definitely tell that we’re a new team and we’re trying to figure each other out, but really proud of how we stuck by it today and I thought we did a really good job,” Price said.
One question mark over the Mavericks is the height of their defensive end, anchored by new recruit Tara Hinchliffe and Kim Brown, but they made a strong start in Bendigo.
“She came out of the blocks on fire, she had five gains to her name so early on,” Diamonds legend Bianca Chatfield said of Hinchliffe. “Her game and her combination with Brown is going to be formidable this season.
“She really had a bigger presence out there in the circle than what you think from her height. The elevation, she gets up to ball, is very good at tracking.”
Thwaites added: “Her positioning, that front position to be able to get her hands on the ball early really set the Mavericks up for the win. She was the one that was making all of those turnovers, being able to send that ball down the other end of the court.”
Yet the proper feel-good story of Round 1: a bright performance from Mavs shooter Uneeq Palavi, in the fan favourite’s first season as a full-time contracted player. She shot 6/7, plus 5/8 Super Shots.
“Shimona Nelson is the one that we’re used to seeing on fire and stand tall – but Uneeq Palavi came on in that second half and put on a show,” Chatfield said.
“The intensity. She wanted that ball, she was hungry.”
Thwaites added: “When they were trying to wrestle back the momentum from that Giants comeback in the third quarter, enter Palavi. She was incredible, coming on with real presence and being able to work all of her moves; the roll-offs, and lining up the Super Shot. She was really impressive making an impact there, and that’s what really excites me about this Mavericks group, is the flexibility that their personnel have created.”
While the Giants didn’t offer much to ease fears of a wooden spoon season, and curiously started with big GS signing Lucy Austin on the bench, Jane Watson’s defensive partnership with Erin O’Brien was a tick.
“We know she’s a Silver Fern, we know the damage she’s done over in New Zealand. Her first game over here in Australia, and he really was able to play the Australian way. She was able to get hand on ball, lots of deflections, nine deflections to her names. She’s only going to continue to build her relationship with O’Brien” Chatfield said.
Thwaites added: “She was a menace early and really set the standard for the Giants. Being able to get her hands on ball, creating doubt and breaking those connections to the shooters is something that’s going to be really impressive to watch for her.”
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