How the Thunderbirds built a dynasty

By Stephanie Smarrelli 

For years, Adelaide Thunderbirds talked about family.

They talked about empathy and about enjoying the game.

But behind the scenes, there was another word.

One the coaches were almost too uncomfortable to say out loud.

Feared.

"It wasn't a value we focused on at the start," assistant coach Cathy Fellows admitted.

"It was one we were aiming towards and it's now one we're focused on more being the best that we can be and the best in the competition.

"We had someone working with us who challenged us to actually say what we wanted to be.

"He said if we wanted to be the best team in the world we needed to own it."

Even hearing those words felt foreign.

"As coaches we laughed at first," Fellows said.

"It sounded a bit pie in the sky.

"But he made us realise if we can be the best team in Suncorp Super Netball, then we will be the best team in the world.

"We've had to challenge ourselves to feed into that feared factor."

It wasn't about arrogance.

It was about permission.

Permission to stop talking like hopeful contenders and start acting like the benchmark every other club was chasing.

Three premierships in four seasons suggest they successfully made that shift.

But becoming the competition's most feared team didn't begin with ruthless defence or relentless standards.

It began with something much simpler.

Good people.

It was head coach Tania Obst who offered Fellows a role in the club. Taking over the reins for the 2019 season, Obst had decided she wanted Fellows in her ranks.

Fellows confessed she thought she was going to step away from coaching at the end of 2018.

"There was a bit of a changeover in coaching roles at Collingwood where I had been and I basically decided I wasn't going to do any more coaching,” Fellows said.

“Then Tania got in touch with me...it was the first time I went into full-time coaching because I'd always balanced my coaching with my teaching work.  

“It was exciting but challenging.”

After a winless 2018 season, Obst was determined to make her mark and that started with bringing in the right people, Fellows one of them.

"I was very blind to what had been happening previously at the club,” Fellows said.  

“They'd come off losing 27 games in a row and had a huge changeover in roster.  

“They've got an honour board of who has played for the Thunderbirds in the changing room and for a period of time, there was a huge number of players being added.”  

When Obst took over Fellows recalled how deliberate she was with selecting athletes.

"She looked at the type of people she wanted to be involved with the club both on and off the court,” she said.  

“I don't know what you would classify as ‘good people’ exactly but they’re people that have good relationships and have empathy for other people.

“Tania’s whole emphasis was getting good people, from the athletes to our off-court personnel, people that cared and shared the same vision with empathy for other people's roles.”

With good people in place, their core value became apparent.  

Family.

“That’s the main one that drove us,” Fellows said.

"The group is very diverse, we look at how we celebrate our diversity and bring together very different people on and off the court.

“Family was the one we worked on first, how we look after each other and care about each other and everyone makes a really conscious effort to understand each other.

“They understand why they each choose to play netball because everyone's ‘why’ is a bit different and they’re respectful of the different ‘whys’.”

The next value revolves around each player on the court.

“We celebrate the differences that we bring on court,” Fellows said.

“I won't say the word that we use, but it is what makes them special as a player at this level, they own it and the rest of the team challenges them to own it and celebrate it.”

Another word ingrained in the club’s culture?

Fun.

"That has been something that's been driven quite strongly from the athletes,” Fellows said.

“They need to enjoy what they're doing and as coaches we've learned a bit about that as well.  

“We come from an old school environment but are learning that you get the best out of athletes when they're enjoying what they're doing.

“You give more when you're invested and you enjoy what you’re doing, it's easier to enjoy when you're winning though, I always remind them of that.”

While Obst has been the ringleader of the club’s culture shift, Fellows credits another key figure for having a big impact.

It’s someone fans probably aren’t aware of, an outsider who has become integral to the side’s premiership success.

Kelly Dennis.

“She previously did work in leading teams and has been someone who's been working with us continuously from the start,” Fellows said.

“She’s worked with us on reinventing what the Adelaide Thunderbirds look like from the inside and outside and reminding us that what we look like and do inside is reflected on the outside.

“That should also reflect what our supporters and Netball South Australia want as well.”

Culture aside, Fellows also recognised the hard work the players put in each and every week.

But confessed it took them lifting the trophy at the end of the season to realise just how dominant a season they’d just completed.  

"We continually challenge,” Fellows said.  

“In our post-season reviews, we were talking with the players, and we were saying how each week we had to play our best to win.  

"We didn't reflect enough during the season on all the great things we were doing because we were focused on what we need to do to win, how we had to play to be our best.  

“After the Grand Final, we went, ‘Oh shit, they actually have been pretty amazing all year’.”  

Sustaining that level of excellence is no easy feat. Winning one premiership is difficult enough, let alone three in such a short span, and Fellows was candid about what has underpinned the side’s success.

“It's always about being honest about your expectations,” she said.  

“We were always striving to be better coaches and athletes...everybody understands how good each individual can be and we continue to challenge that.  

“Sometimes our trainings were pretty ugly, how we played on game day was not always reflected in how we were training during the week...so we continued to challenge to be better.”

That commitment to constant improvement was especially evident in the defensive circle, where Fellows has played a key leadership role since joining the club.

But she is quick to deflect praise for the Thunderbirds' standout defensive end.

The combination of Shamera Sterling-Humphrey, Latanya Wilson and Matilda Garrett is often touted as the world’s best defensive unit.

“It helps when we’ve got amazing athletes,” Fellows said.  

"We didn't know what they were going to be like, Shammy was recognised and Latty we didn't know a lot about when she first came in.”

Fellows went on to break down the simplicity of the Thunderbirds’ defence.

“Everything we do in is an understanding of how we can win ball and where we can win ball,” she said.

“We've got basic concepts that drive our structures but those structures change depending on who we're playing.  

“One of our strengths is always trying to adapt because teams try to change the way they play against us to try and beat us.  

“You would’ve noticed in the last few years we were recognised as a really good aerial team, so all of our players have continued to improve their ground play.”

For Fellows, it all comes back to something that is simple on paper.  

“Skill development,” she said.

“We work with them, so they have the skills in all facets, and everybody understands in our team what they need to do in certain circumstances.  

“It might be different every time, but they understand the principles and what they need to do.

“That's why when teams throw different things against us in attack our players are able to adapt because they have a really good understanding of the purpose of what they're trying to do.  

"With Shammy, Latty and Tilly it doesn't matter who we put in what role, their understanding is of what their role is and that’s with the whole team.”  

That focus on understanding and skill development Fellows has learned isn’t different from what she’s taught as a coach in the Australian pathways space as well.

"Prior to joining the Thunderbirds I thought I was more of a pathways coach,” Fellows admitted.  

“I didn’t think my ideas would translate to the elite level but I found that netball's netball.  

"The skills and the concepts are the same, it’s the ability to get athletes to understand those concepts and develop those skills in the pathway that will make them better at the elite level.  

"For example, when Shammy and Latty first came over we were still working on the same sort of skills we would work on in the Australian pathway, they're not actually different.  

“At the elite level, you're working with athletes that are further along in their skill development so their ability to execute is higher but concepts are exactly the same.”

While growth in skill development and understanding are important it’s not what Fellows is most proud of at the Thunderbirds.

Nor is it the premiership medals and growing trophy cabinet.  

"It’s the growth of all the young players as people,” she said.  

“I’ve seen Shammy grow from a person who didn't want to be in Australia, at her first court session she sat on the ground and didn't want to train.  

“She’s grown into this amazing athlete, person and mother.  

“She reaches out for support when she needs it too, that’s huge that she feels comfortable reaching out to the people in our club for support when she needs it.”

Likewise, Fellows highlighted the growth of the club’s other co-captain Georgie Horjus.

“Georgie’s come from Kangaroo Island, didn't say a word and is now captain of her club and playing for the Diamonds,” she said.

“Now she has a voice in the group, not a very loud one but when she speaks the athletes listen whereas four years ago, she would’ve stayed quiet and still had the same things to say but wouldn’t have felt confident to voice it.  

“That’s most rewarding, people see the result on the outside but it's how they've evolved over time for me.  

“It's not a perfect line and Tania’s been amazing in that space as has the club with how well they look after their people.  

“The players have had a lot to do with creating that environment as well, they’re an amazing group of athletes.”