Grounded in greatness

By Linda Pearce 
 

As part of the small Brisbane primary school community where she is better known as ‘Barney’s mum’, former Diamonds’ captain Laura Geitz had an unusual experience after picking up her eldest son from a futsal competition at Nissan Arena. 

The life-sized bronze statue installed in Geitz’s honour outside the stadium proved to be an unsettling presence for two of eight-year-old Barney’s friends. 

“They were like, ‘to us you’re just Barney’s mum, but then there’s this weird big statue of you, and what’s that’s all about?’,’’ she recalled with a laugh.  

“I love how kids really bring you back down to earth.’’ 

It was humbling in a different way recently at the checkout of the IGA near the Geitz family farm at Allora in the Southern Downs, when a local stopped the well-known identity to point out that: “Jeez, you look a lot better on TV than you look in real life”. 

And that perhaps a hamburger should be on the shopping list because: “Darl, you look like you need to put on a bit of weight. Last time I remember you were a lot bigger’’. 

What a bemused Geitz wondered if she should take as a compliment she then recognised as something else: just like the statue moment, a reminder of her previous life, and self. 

So outstanding was her career the defensive great and acclaimed leader is one of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame’s latest seven inductees, and just the 10th netballer to be honoured. 

“It feels like a lifetime ago, but people remember you were this netballer, and I’m so far from that now, which is so fine with me,’’ Geitz, a 37-year-old busy mother-of-four, said. 

 “It’s reconnecting with that person that used to be, many moons ago.’’ 

As we speak, she is sitting on the farm just metres from the goal post home-made by her late father, Ross, and recounting how when SAHOF chair John Bertrand called with the news back in April, Geitz’s first response was to say that she felt unworthy. A bit out of place. 

After all, it’s a club that includes Sir Donald Bradman, Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe, as well as netball superstars Marg Caldow, Jean Cowan, Annie Sargeant, Vicki Wilson, Liz Ellis, Cath Cox, Sharelle McMahon, Michelle den Dekker and Jill McIntosh. 

When discussing with a friend her doubts that she belonged in such elite company, she was urged to think about the little girl reading Geitz’s story, who was also feeling out of her league, who might be inspired to go on to captain her state and country. 

“I might not be out there playing now but if my story can impact one little country kid or one young girl from somewhere across Australia to go, ‘that’s what I want to do’ then that’s so special for me,” she said. 

“And for the little shy country girl that grew up with dreams in her heart, I think this would probably be up there with some of my biggest highlights in my career.’’ 

Ranking the others is no easy task.  

Captaining the Diamonds to a home World Cup win in Sydney in 2015 and Comm Games gold the previous year were part of a golden stretch that included leading her precious Queensland Firebirds to the 2015-16 trans-Tasman premierships, the first having come in 2011. 

“It was probably one of the hardest times personally. We lost Dad in 2013. So my personal life was really challenging, but then my career was at its highest of highs,” she said. 

“It’s funny to think that things can happen like that. When you’re battling in some ways and other great things are happening in others.’’ 

Fellow defender and incomparable athlete Julie Prendergast was the best player she has seen, and Silver Ferns great Irene van Dyk the hardest opponent. Asked to describe herself as a player, Geitz opted for: “Competitive. Passionate. Always very loyal to my club’’. 

That club, being the Firebirds where her career spanned 169 games. 

She also played 71 Tests between 2008 and 2018, was fuelled by back-to-back ANZ Championship grand final losses in 2013 and 2014, and finished with a rare international silver at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games after the goal keeper’s return from her first child. 

One of the great leaders’ win-loss record as Australian captain was 26-3 (a stellar 90%. And at the Firebirds it was a still impressive at 81%) and her ability to turn games and shut down shooters while marshalling and inspiring her team from goal keeper was enormous. 

“The biggest thing I always say is how important it was for me to remain very genuine and authentic to who I was as a person and stay true to myself as a person and what my values were, so that’s probably what I would like to be remembered for,’’ Geitz said. 

“And also, I just loved the game. I loved playing it, and I hope people who go back and watch can see that. I loved the competition, I loved the big moments, the one-point games, I loved the pressure, I just thrived on that and really relished those situations. 

“Nothing in life really replicates that anymore. It’s hard to match, and it’s so hard to explain. It’s a bit of a euphoric feeling being in that pressure cooker situation and being able to come out (as winners). That was something that I just couldn’t get enough of.’’ 

Yet there would be no fairytale ending in the gold dress, with Geitz sitting on the bench for the second half of the gold medal game in 2018 when Helen Housby sunk the winning penalty for England in what she knew would be her last international. 

Having always assumed she could do it all but, but in reality she was torn between the competing demands of motherhood and professional sport, Geitz felt alternately guilty about not being there fully for Barney and the fact she was no longer able to give everything to her sport.  

Even if she still can’t watch a replay of her emotional last Test or its aftermath, a “heartbreaking, just horrible” finale was one Geitz believed was the closure she needed to have. 

“I had to draw a line and be content that, ‘yeah, that didn’t end the way I wanted it to’, but also if I didn’t do it I would have always been left wondering. So, no regrets.’’ 

Except the result? 

“Exactly,” she said. 

With Freeman confirmed on the guest list for the 40th anniversary SAHOF gala dinner on November 17, Geitz, whose career was inspired by watching the athletics legend win the 400m at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, said she will just be happy to sit in a corner and watch the parade of champions. 

Yet what will be shared with husband Mark Gilbride and her mum and sister is also bigger than netball, as she fangirls Queensland’s rugby league great Cam Smith and Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt, among others, and builds a connection with champion snowboarder and fellow mum Tora Bright. 

“Probably the biggest shock for me, very similar to Torah, is how when you’re in netball and you’re playing and achievements come, you’re living it, so it’s like quite a common thing that’s happening,’’ Geitz explained. 

“I am submerged in this world of motherhood where that is my day-to-day, and then to receive that phone call it takes you back to that previous life.’’ 

Which, Geitz suspected, is why she will be bringing her entire brood, aged between two and eight, to Melbourne as the eldest two are starting to understand a little more about who their mum used to be. 

That is, a superstar of netball, with a statue in her honour and now a member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. 

“You just go ‘oh, wow, OK’. It’s just an incredible thing to be a part of and I feel so lucky,’’ Geitz said. 

“I liken it to the (AFL’s) Brisbane Lions at the moment, where you get this awesome core group of players that leans into this amazing culture alongside a great coach, and there’s no better feeling than being part of that. 

“I always use the terminology of when all the cattle are on the truck and the truck’s heading in the right direction and everyone’s on board with that direction, it’s just this amazing feeling of momentum, and that was what I experienced at the Firebirds and the Diamonds. 

"I had also experienced when it wasn’t that, so to be a part of that shifting culture alongside so many teammates and coaches was pretty incredible.’’ 

So, too, being Barney’s mum (and Billie, Franky and Pippa’s), while reconnecting, even if just for a little while, with the leader, competitor and athlete that was.