Australian netball great Catherine Cox AM has added another accolade to her ever-growing list, with the former Origin Australian Diamonds shooter and Member of the Order of Australia, inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame earlier today for her outstanding contribution to netball.
Cox began her professional career back in 1997 with the then Sydney Swifts, playing three seasons for the red and white before moving to the Perth Orioles as co-captain for the 2000 and 2001 seasons.
Cox then returned to the Swifts and became part of a famous powerhouse outfit, with the Sydney based side competing in six straight Commonwealth Bank Trophy / ANZ Championship Grand Finals from 2003 to 2008, winning four of them, developing a fierce rivalry with the Melbourne Phoenix in the process.
In 2012, Cox made the move back over the Nullarbor to join the West Coast Fever, who she represented on 26 occasions.
She then made one last sea change in 2014, heading back to the east coast, taking up a spot on the Melbourne Vixens list.
The netball great rounded out her career with a premiership, as the Vixens defeated the Queensland Firebirds in the 2014 decider, Cox’s 252nd professional match.
Incredibly Cox shot at more than 80 per cent in all her five premiership victories and was the Grand Final MVP in the Swifts 2008 triumph over the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic, where she shot 41 goals from 46 attempts. Cox was also named the Australian ANZ Championship Player of the Year that season.
Cox was the Australian ANZ Championships player of the season in 2008.Cox’s international career span almost mirrored her domestic one, beginning with the Diamonds in 1997 with a debut outing against South Africa, the first of 108 Australian caps.
Cox won all of netball’s greatest accolades across her lengthy Australian career, winning gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games to go with her 2007 and 2011 World Cup triumphs.
Cox shot more than 2000 goals during her time as a Diamond, captained her country on seven occasions and was the fourth Australian to play over 100 tests after fellow greats Vicki Wilson, Sharelle McMahon, and Liz Ellis.
Despite her playing career coming to a halt in 2014, her involvement with netball has not ceased, with Cox immediately making the transition into the commentary box, becoming one of the leading voices on netball since 2015 working with several television broadcasters. Cox is also one of the lead ambassadors for the Woolworths NetSetGo program.
