Selby-Rickit's new adventure

By Stephanie Smarrelli 
 
New Zealand’s Te Paea Selby-Rickit is one of a handful of players crossing the ditch for the 2026 Suncorp Super Netball season. 

The 33-year-old has 66 international test caps for the Silver Ferns to her name and will bring plenty of experience to the Queensland Firebirds’ goal circle. 

Fresh off a premiership in the ANZ Premiership, Selby-Rickit confessed she was torn about leaving New Zealand. 
 
“It was a tough decision, but it wasn’t at the same time,” Selby-Rickit said. 
 
“It’s the strongest netball competition in the world and I've always wanted to challenge myself at that level.  
 
“After a long time playing in New Zealand, it was the right time to step outside of my comfort zone and test myself against the best. 

"I've always watched the SSN, and I've always admired the intensity, the physicality, the speed and the Australian style of play.  

“It's a great opportunity for me to grow both as a player and as a person in a new environment.” 

Having not won a premiership since she was with the Southern Steel in 2018, Selby-Rickit said her premiership with the Tactix was extra special. 
 
Her Tactix teammates Jane Watson and Erikana Pedersen convinced her to make the move for the 2020 season and their hard work finally paid off. 

“It was awesome to win with some players I've played with for a really long time, like Erikana, Karin Burger and Jane,” she said. 

 
“We'd come really close to a premiership for a couple of years but didn't quite get there so it was awesome to finally win. 

“Our coach Donna [Wilkins] also came on board this year but had been with us for a while as a specialist coach.  

“She was awesome for my game since she was a goal attack herself and similar to me, [having] played basketball and netball, so it was really special to work with her and get the win especially knowing a few of us were going our separate ways.” 

While Selby-Rickit will be a long way from the small town of Otaki about an hour outside of Wellington where she grew up once she lands in Brisbane, she’s looking forward to reconnecting with a familiar face. 

“Kiri [Wills], hasn’t coached me at an elite level, but she was my Schoolgirls coach when I was 16,” Selby-Rickit said. 

“I made the New Zealand Secondary Schools team, and she was the coach my very first year.” 

It was Wills who reached out to Selby-Rickit to see whether she had any desire to move to the Firebirds. 

“I was quite comfortable with the Tactix, we had a pretty good thing going on there,” Selby-Rickit said. 
 
“But when I really thought about it, [SSN] is something I've always wanted to do, play week in and week out against the world’s best. 

“I've had a taste of playing against the calibre of players with the Silver Ferns but to be able to do it every week is going to be a good challenge for me.” 

Joining her at the club will be Silver Ferns Maddy Gordon and Kelly Jackson with Gordon breaking the exciting news in an unconventional way. 

"We played Pulse in Christchurch in an elimination final,” Selby-Rickit recalled. 
 
“We were shaking hands after the game and Maddy said something like ‘I'll see you in Brisbane next year’ and I didn't think too much about it.  

“I wasn’t sure if she was moving over as well or if she’d said Queensland and was going to the Sunshine Coast so would be close to Brisbane. 

"I ended up finding out by messaging her and Kelly and asking what they were going to be up to. 

"It’ll be quite nice to have some familiar faces over there.” 

The 33-year-old is looking forward to getting to know the rest of the Firebirds squad as well. 

“Maddy and Kelly will be busy with Silver Ferns commitments for the pre-season, so the first month or so in Brisbane, I’ll be without them,” she said. 

“That will give me a good opportunity to get to know everyone else, when you literally don't know anyone that means you really have to connect with others and get to know other people, so it'll be quite nice getting to know everyone else before they arrive in January.  

“But it's really cool to be able to reconnect with them having played a bit with them in the Silver Ferns environment.” 

When it comes to her own game, Selby-Rickit believes her game style will fit in well with the Firebirds attack. 

“I’ll bring the ability to make a good connection in the attacking end,” she said. 

“I like to be really accurate when connecting, that's something we placed a lot of importance on in my last few years of playing in both the Steel and the Tactix, being accurate at centre pass.” 

There’s one Firebird she can’t wait to team up with in particular.  
 
Mary Cholhok. 

“She's such a unique presence in the shooting circle,” Selby-Rickit said.  

“I've played against her a couple of times at World Cups and Comm Games, and she just played such an exciting game, she's really cool but also agile and she's got really good footwork so I'm excited to connect with her.  

“I've also watched quite a bit of the Firebirds attacking line this season and there's some exciting players like Macy Gardner and Lara Dunkley. 

"I'm looking forward to seeing what I can bring to that attacking combination and hopefully build something really accurate and exciting.” 

Selby-Rickit hopes to use the lessons she’s learned from her time as a Silver Fern when she takes to the court in SSN. 

Her biggest takeaway from her time in the black dress, the step up in intensity.  

“SSN is probably the closest thing to international netball you’re going to get,” she said. 

“It’s such a step up playing against these players week in and week out. 

“There's so many amazing athletes, the accuracy and the speed of the game at that level it’s exciting and a good challenge.”  

With a wave of New Zealand players joining the league for 2026, Selby-Rickit is pumped to come up some familiar faces in a new environment and shake up the competition. 

“I've watched a lot of SSN over the years and there hasn't been that many Kiwis,” she said 

“I'm excited to see how the competition's going to change with another style of game in there.  

“Coming up against some familiar faces, it's going to be so different, but it's really exciting. 

“I'm excited to see players like Whitney [Souness] and Karin over at the Sunny Coast. 

“I've played against Karin a lot at training so as much as I know how they play, they know a lot about how I play.  

“It's going to be another challenge but I’m really looking forward to it.” 

For Selby-Rickit and the Firebirds, there’s one clear goal; make finals.  

“The Firebirds haven’t played finals for a long time and that's something we want to do,” she said. 

“If we can get there who knows what can happen.” 

Away from the court, Selby-Rickit is looking forward to soaking up the Queensland sun. 

“I love the beach and sunshine,” she said. 

“I’ve lived in really cold places in the South Island of New Zealand with the Steel and Tactix so I’m looking forward to the climate change.” 
 
As are her family who can’t wait to watch her play overseas. 

“Quite a few of my family members are planning to come for a holiday,” she said. 

“It's not a bad spot to be able to come and watch a game and then tag a holiday on to the end of the trip.  

“Everyone's really positive and excited, they're all saying they need to buy a Netball Pass subscription so they can watch all the Australian games now.  

“They’ve all been really supportive about the move.”  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos supplied by Te Paea Selby-Rickit & Getty Images