By Matt Fotia
We’re just weeks away from getting our first glimpse of netball’s newest (on court) power couple, Grace Nweke and Helen Housby.
The Swifts new look goal circle will join the likes of Proud and Hadley, Bassett and Fretwell and the Von Bertouch’s on the illustrious list (check out part one here), but what other netball pairings deserve to be in the discussion?
Laura Geitz and Clare McMeniman – Queensland Firebirds
A connection that headlined the last great Firebirds era.
Laura Geitz and Clare McMeniman played together at the highest level for almost a decade and took all before them, from the International Youth level, all the way to the top of the world game.
Their time with the Firebirds was littered with success. The pair, along with Romelda Aiken-George, are two of just three players to play in all three of the Firebirds ANZ Championships titles (2011, 2015 and 2016).
Geitz, one of the few goalkeepers to be mentioned in the same breath as Liz Ellis, was an intercept machine, possessing an amazing ability to turn the ball over and win a game off her own back and is widely regarded as one of the finest defensive generals the game has ever seen.
McMeniman was more circumspect to the eye but was Geitz’s perfect deputy.
A workhorse, she was unbothered by the goings on around her, composed to a tee and embarrassingly clever on the court.
These two defensive dynamos helped pushed the Firebirds to back-to-back titles in 2015 - 16.When in sync, the pair were impenetrable.
In 2011, they conceded just 83 goals in a successful finals campaign, while in both 2015 and 2016 they were the driving force behind the best defensive record in the competition.
Together they marshalled the Firebirds into one of the most successful franchises in Australian sporting history, a feat more than worthy of a spot on this list.
Shamera Sterling-Humphrey and Latayna Wilson – Adelaide Thunderbirds
From one defensive duo to another.
This Jamaican pairing combines two of the most incredible athletes to ever grace the Australian netball scene and is a major factor in the Thunderbirds return to the top of the domestic game.
Sterling-Humphrey first landed in the SSN in 2019 and has since racked up more than 300 intercepts and almost 600 deflections. Her sidekick, Wilson, arrived in 2021 and has not missed a beat, flicking between the three defensive positions like it’s nobody’s business.
Between them, they’ve won everything there is to win on these shores, with eight TOTY selections, multiple Thunderbirds MVP awards, an SSN POTY trophy and two premierships, all before either player has turned 30.
And even though Wilson has begun to spend more time in the mid court, when the chips are down the Thunderbirds always revert to this electrifying combination that sends shivers down the rest of the SSN’s collective spine.
Both players make the extraordinary look ordinary, and their optimistic demeanour (and general brilliance) have made them crowd favourites across the country.
Fortunately for us all, their time in the SSN is nowhere near running out.
Sharelle McMahon and Caitlin Thwaites – Melbourne Vixens
These two country kids came together for three seasons at the beginning of the ANZ Championship and made hay while the sun shone.
McMahon’s record speaks for itself.
Quick, agile, creative, ruthless, dynamic and incredibly passionate, she remains one of the top netball names in the Australian psyche.
Thwaites was her perfect partner.
With her strong effortless movements, versatility and incredible accuracy providing the ultimate foil for McMahon’s brilliance.
In 2008 they helped drag the Vixens to the finals. Thwaites leading the scoring charts with 422 goals, while McMahon was thereabouts with 273 as the Vixens bowed out in the first week of the playoffs.
The following year they went to another level, spearheading the Vixens premiership charge.
Thwaites and McMahon were unstoppable at their peak.Led by skipper McMahon (339 goals, Vixens MVP and Grand Final MVP) and Thwaites (476 goals, including 66 across two finals) the Vixens lost just one game during the 2009 campaign.
The beautifully balanced goal circle had managed to bring silverware back to Victoria.
In their three seasons together (2008 - 2010) Thwaites (1187) and McMahon (846) combined for more than 2000 goals and set the bar high for all future Vixens’ goal circles.
Kiera Austin and Sophie Garbin – Melbourne Vixens
The bar might be about to rise.
The Austin-Garbin partnership is in the earliest of stages, but if season 2024 is anything to go by, it could just be the pairing to rival the Nweke-Housby combination.
In her first season as a Vixen, Garbin shot 592 goals and helped guide the Melbourne side to the edge of glory.
Her ability to be comfortable both as a holding shooter and as a more mobile option worked seamlessly with the ridiculous work rate and aggressive final third drives of Austin, who continues to go from strength to strength as a player while in the Vixens’ dress.
Kiera Austin and Sophie Garbin could challenge Nweke and Housby in years to come.Austin’s overall scoring numbers (362 goals) may not be as eye-catching as Garbin’s, but it is her ability to carry a side on her shoulders which makes her so awe-inspiring.
Their on-court performances caught the eyes of the right people last season, with both players named in the SSN Team of the Year, while Garbin was the 2024 Liz Ellis Diamond.
Garbin is consistent in putting up big numbers week in, week out, while Austin is the enigma with the ability to change the game in a matter of moments.
This ying and yang blend is what makes their partnership so powerful, and with both players approaching their individual peaks at the same time, we could be about to see this Vixens shooting duo take the netball world by storm.
