Baby Diamonds: Meet Hannah Mundy

By Linda Pearce 

One of Hannah Mundy’s special skills was not executed quite as she would have liked on the big occasion of her Origin Australian Diamonds debut against South Africa in Adelaide. 

That is, the wet willy.  

The licked finger poked in the ear of head coach Stacey Marinkovich, the midcourter’s half-intended target at Sunday’s post-match media conference. 

“It didn’t fully happen. I had it in my brain to do it, but I don’t think it was the time and place,’’ Mundy said.  

“But the wet willy is a signature move of mine, that’s for sure.’’  

When asked about her other signature moves, Mundy remained tight-lipped. 

 “I can’t give away all my tricks,” she said. 

There was laughter as she said this. Of course there was. This is Hannah Mundy, one of the new cluster of Baby Diamonds; the early-to-mid-twentysomethings leading the next generation on their path to netball’s hoped-for appearance at the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane. 

An emerging on-court talent known for her dynamic power, strength and speed is also full of mischief, personality and chutzpah and a lover of spontaneous TikTok posts plus a few of the more choreographed kind in cahoots with pal Sophie Garbin. 

If Mundy had a nickname within the Diamonds’ environment, she quipped that it would probably be “pest”, while her Melbourne Vixens’ captain and former fangirl subject Kate Moloney has described her as “the little class clown’’. 

That was a few years back though. So is Mundy more mature these days, as a 2025 Vixens premiership player who overcame a potentially season-ending foot injury to play a key role in that famous grand final triumph, and now a newly-capped Diamond No.195? 

“I did knick knock Stacey Marinkovich’s door last night, so probably not,’’ she confessed with a smile. 

“I’m trying to be better but it’s just my natural self, and you’re encouraged to be your authentic self, so that’s just me. But I find a balance of having fun off court and then on court being able to switch on and be in the moment… and not being a pest on court, that’s for sure.’’ 

Yet it’s those high spirits and love of the ridiculous that also helps Mundy to relax and take the edge off the more solemn moments that come with elite team sport. 

“Being able to find a joke or a laugh in a serious situation is kind of the way that I can get out of a lull and I think it helps to lift others as well,’’ she said.  

“Energy is a massive thing in team sport, so it helps a lot to have that connection off court. 

“I’s really important to see personality and different characters in athletes... I don’t try to be anyone that I’m not. Whatever that is.’’ 

Indeed, between the South Africa Series and Friday’s start to the Constellation Cup in Melbourne, the Diamonds were apparently due to choose a new babysitter to look after their ball of “bubbly energy” with Sunday Aryang and Amy Parmenter considered among the best-equipped to keep up. 

As for who held the role previously: “It’s probably just whoever I latch onto. Sometimes it’s Stacey, I probably gravitate to the Vixens girls a bit. Jamie (Lee Price) cops it, Liz (Watson) does as well, but everyone’s pretty good at palming me off to the next,” she said. 

While Test selection has been a slightly slower burn for the 24-year-old who was named in the broader squad in mid-2024, her 2021 Vixens call-up in place of the injured Watson was so sudden that Mundy had spent game-eve working in the curtain department of her local Spotlight store.  

She enjoyed the curtain department. But it turned out to be her final shift. 

Watson, the national captain, was in her Snapchat address book as ‘idol’ despite now being a teammate, and the 2014 Vixens’ premiership poster had not so long before that been stuck proudly on the teenager’s wall. 

A starting seven position reopened at wing attack with Watson’s departure to the Sunshine Coast Lightning, in 2024, and the former Fast5 representative had her moment against the Proteas, with mum Shelley O’Donnell having made a secret trip to Adelaide to make the dress presentation as part of the Diamonds’ first ever mother-daughter duo. 

“Yeah, did she make a speech… it went for like 20 minutes,” Mundy said, being something of a mini-me version of her boisterous mum. 

She is also about 8cm taller than the 84-Test great of the 90s, triple world champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist. 

“She wasn’t answering my calls like an hour before (the presentation), because I had a really random question to ask her, not netball-related, and she was blanking me, so I was a bit off her,” Mundy said. 

“Then when I saw her in the room it was a really happy surprise, and a really special moment for us to kind of recognise the connection we have with netball and how significant it is.’’ 

Meanwhile, dad Lee and the rest of the extended Mundy-O’Donnell family were at the Burvale pub in Melbourne’s east watching the Test as part of a “dual event” for her brother Jasper's 21st.  

Which Hannah had to miss to represent her country for the first time.  

“Yeah, it was a hard decision,’’ she said jokingly.  

Completing a quartet of newcomers that included the mature-aged Alice Teague-Neeld, Mundy was among three youngsters in game three, joining Ash Ervin, 22, and Lucy Austin, 23, with 23-year-old Georgie Horjus blooded 12 months earlier. 

“Stepping onto court with Ash and Lucy was super-special. We were all just so excited to be there and sitting on the secondary bench together the last few games, we knew how much each other just wanted to have a crack,” Mundy said. 

“We’re all different but have known each other growing up through the pathways and all bounce off each other and have great relationships. 

“Georgie is quieter but she’s funny and can be witty at times, then you’ve got Lucy who’s quite loud, and Ash keeps to herself a bit more but has her funny quirks as well. 

“The best thing about our little ‘young’ group, or whatever we’re calling ourselves, is we love to learn off others in the environment, and we’re not afraid to show our personalities and have our input into the group as well, which is really encouraged.”