Netball shines in Power 100

By Linda Pearce

As a sport developed by women, for women, netball has further entrenched its status as a colossus of female leadership through exceptional representation in News Corp’s annual Power 100.

Compiled by journalist Emma Greenwood, the list ranks the 100 most powerful and influential women in Australian sport, and was headed this year by triple Olympic gold medallist Jess Fox and champion swimmer Ariarne Titmus.

It features six current netballers, coaches and administrators working in the nation’s No.1 sport for females: Netball Australia Chair Liz Ellis, CEO Stacey West and strategy guru Stephanie Beltrame; Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich and captain Liz Watson; and elite player and fundraising marvel Amy Parmenter.

Another four - new Netball Australia patron, Governor-General Sam Mostyn, ex-CEO Marne Fechner, former Netball NSW boss Tain Drinkwater and 2020 State of the Game Review panel member Kate Jenkins, who now chairs the Australian Sports Commission - share close present or past ties as members of the extended netball family.

Indeed, only the AFL/AFLW combined boast more than netball’s big six, which is the equal of the NRL/ARL collectively and ahead of cricket, tennis, swimming and basketball in a Power 100 replete with chefs de mission, business bigwigs and superstar athletes.

West, whose inclusion at No.69 was 31 spots above her 2024 ranking as a newly-installed interim CEO before her permanent appointment last May, was lauded for being “a healing force” in a once-fractured sport. 

She said netball’s outsized presence was a well-deserved confirmation of its stature and standing in a traditionally male-dominated Australian sporting landscape.

“We’re extremely proud that netball has demonstrated over many many years the ability to create, develop, encourage and enable women leaders from grassroots right through to the highest roles in the office,’’ West said.

“So I think this recognition is a wonderful reflection of what netball has been for the women of Australia for so long and will continue to be in the future.

“It is also a fantastic example of netball’s life cycle of leadership, because there are current athletes on the list who are already demonstrating strong leadership capabilities which will be a strength of our sport moving forward.’’

West has described her leadership as a collaboratively-based coach-like philosophy summarised as “ask, listen, assess, action”.  

It’s one that comes with fiscal responsibility at its core in order to ensure the sport’s viability for another 100 years, as NA prepares to celebrate its centenary with the 2027 Netball World Cup in Sydney.

Another significant mover was Ellis at No.19, the high-profile former Diamonds’ captain, author, businesswoman and TV personality having come in 45th the previous year despite relinquishing her broadcasting role and having not yet joined the NA board.

It is a favourite saying of Ellis that netball is a place where women learn to lead, even if her definition of leading has changed over time from “being the loudest and bossiest” to listening, above all else.

That approach has been reinforced since her elevation to Chair: by fostering and encouraging those around her to look and dream big, and then seeking advice on how best to deliver on the collective vision.

“I think my strength is that I’ve led teams before and I’ve got a good handle on how you have conversations with people to figure out how they can contribute,’’ Ellis said early in her tenure.

“But at the end of the day, Stacey (West) as the CEO leads the the sport and my job is to simply lead the board, and that’s where I bring my leadership, is to the board.’’

Slotted in between Ellis and West were Diamonds’ skipper Watson (56, down 15 places) and coach Marinkovich (62, down seven), while Melbourne Mavericks captain and charity champion Parmenter and administrator Beltrame - both new entrants to the Power 100 - were 96th and 99th respectively.

A dual Melbourne Vixens premiership player, Watson has a 33-12 win-loss record (with one draw) since succeeding Caitlin Bassett in 2021.

That includes steering Australia to the 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2023 World Cup titles under triple Joyce Brown Coach of the Year Marinkovich, as the Diamonds seized every available international trophy before surrendering the Constellation Cup to New Zealand in October in what was the world No.1's first series loss since 2021.

Watson’s former Australian deputy Steph Wood has described her friend and now Sunshine Coast Lightning teammate as one who leads by example, Wood saying ahead of the captain’s first pinnacle event at the helm that “the biggest thing is, people want to follow what Liz does and that makes a great leader. It doesn’t have to be with words; sometimes it is just what she does on the netball court, but she knows what to say and when to say it.’’

Parmenter, the ex-Giant midcourter, Mavs’ inaugural captain, and Diamond No.185 has made a huge impact off the court, too, via the Tie Dye Project, initiated in honour of her late mother, which has raised over $1.1 million since 2017 for sarcoma-related projects including the Children’s Cancer Research Unit.

Beltrame, meantime, is an experienced broadcast and communications executive now working on NA’s strategic plan and Super Netball 2.0 vision that will help to determine the direction of the sport and the future of the world’s best domestic league as it eyes expansion beyond the eight current teams in five states.

Multi-national strategy and management consulting firm McKinsey and Company defines leadership as “a set of mindsets and behaviours that aligns people in a collective direction, enables them to work together and accomplish shared goals, and helps them adjust to changing environments’’.

In netball’s case, that includes the involvement of a growing cohort of men and boys, coming together with women wielding power and influence in increasingly impressive numbers.