

Scherian ready for finals return
Laura Scherian enjoyed seven years with the Lightning. Now sheโs ready to make history with the Thunderbirds.

Laura Scherian enjoyed seven years with the Lightning. Now sheโs ready to make history with the Thunderbirds.
By Matt Fotia
After seven successful seasons with the Sunshine Coast Lightning, former Diamond Laura Scherian found herself back in the netballing wilderness.
She was without a contract and the Suncorp Super Netball signing window was ending.
The crafty midcourter was set to step out of the professional netball circle with over 100 national league games, two premierships and a handful of international caps under her belt.
Her netballing days were over.
But then the reigning premiers picked up the phone and Scherianโs career was back on track, with a different team and in a different city.
โI had this feeling of being excited but also petrified at the same time,โ Scherian said.
โI hadnโt been the new person for a long time in any aspect of my life.
โAt this stage of my career you donโt often get to feel those emotions that strongly and at the same time.
โSometimes a forced change and a challenge is what you need to grow as an athlete and a person.โ
The move down South has been a good one redefining the way she plays and approaches her netball.
โThe experience is really refreshing, everythingโs new, everythingโs exciting and different,โ Scherian explained.
โEven being in a different location has changed the way Iโve looked at netball this year and itโs changed the way Iโve been playing.โ
Scherian was intent on being flexible when she arrived at the Thunderbirds, aware she needed to fit into a strongly defined and successful system.
So far, so good, with the midcourt veteran loving life with the 2023 premiers on and off the court.
โ(Dame) Noeline Taura once said to me, a team is put together like a puzzle, and youโve got to find out where you piece fits and how the other pieces work with you,โ said Scherian.
โThere are so many different aspects you can use of yourself, so many different skills that you can bring, that you might not have used in one team, but you can use it with another.
โItโs a great culture that theyโve built here over the years and whilst on paper theyโre young, theyโve done a lot and experienced a lot in their short careers.
โTheyโre great people and Iโm loving being a part of it.โ
The move to the Thunderbirds has ignited a new wave of enthusiasm for the game Scherian has devoted her whole adult life to.
โNetball is netball, but the way the coaches coach and the way the other players interact with each other makes it different,โ she said.
โExperiencing different players and different coaches makes it so exciting.
โItโs definitely changed the way I think about the game defensively.
โThe Thunderbirds defence is like nothing Iโve ever experienced before, and I really enjoy playing my role in that as well.โ
Scherianโs role with the Thunderbirds was defined from the start. On court she would provide cover across the wing attack and centre positions, and off court she would provide a very specific type of experience.
โThey were very direct with what they wanted from me,โ Scherian said.
โExperience was one of things I could bring, the fact Iโve been involved in back-to-back championships was massive.
โCovering across wing attack and centre, having the flexibility to help out in either of those roles, being a little bit of a different mid court player to what they had and creating a different dynamic and combinations was spoken about as well.โ

Scherian has held up her end of the bargain, appearing in all 14 of the Thunderbirds games in 2024, averaging over 7 assists and 13 feeds per game from limited minutes, as Adelaide surged home to clinch the minor premiership with six straight wins to finish the home and away season.
Scherian, who has played the most SSN games of anyone still active in the competition (121 equal with Kate Moloney and Sarah Klau), knows that the job is nowhere near finished.
โThe exciting thing about this yearโs finals series is that thereโs four very different teams,โ Scherian said.
โStrategy could be what separates the teams.
โEveryone is extremely skilled, extremely fit and has very different attributes, so it will be about how we can combat that as a group.โ
The Thunderbirds host the Major Semi Final this Saturday, taking on the Melbourne Vixens, who they defeated comfortably in Round 12.
โVixens have that moving shooting end, they move the ball fast, theyโre quick and direct with the ball, they donโt cough it up and theyโre very structured in their approach to the game,โ Scherian said.
โIf you get ball off them, youโve got to convert it.โ
Personally, Scherian is beyond grateful for the chance to take part in a final series once again, as she eyes a third SSN premiership.
โThe first five years with the Lightning we were in finals, the first three years in grand finals,โ she said.
โBeing in the position we are reminds me of those feelings and brings back amazing emotions of being in that space going into the finals, and I am pumped for them.โ