The Easter long weekend has come to an end and so has Super Netball round 4.
Although there was some great entertainment served up to fans to enjoy with their chocolate, most of the games blew out, with margins ranging from seven to 23 goals.
The two bottom teams faced off in Sydney as the Giants fell to the Queensland Firebirds 78–55.
For the team in purple, it was the end of a 15-game losing streak. For the team in orange, it was a disappointing sign of how far they’re trailing behind the competition standard.
The Melbourne Mavericks gave the Adelaide Thunderbirds their biggest challenge yet. This was the closest match of the round and saw the number one team seal a fourth straight win, 55–48.
The West Coast Fever were down by seven goals against the NSW Swifts at Ken Rosewall Arena before digging deep to claim the final three quarters and overall match comprehensively, 77–57.
Last year’s champions Melbourne Vixens also continued their undefeated streak with a gutsy 70–59 victory over the Sunshine Coast Lightning.
Yet the most interesting topic this week has less to do with what’s happening on court and more to do with netball’s lack of ties to gambling.
In fact, it may be the only team sport in the country that doesn’t have to fret after the federal government announced a series of new rules to reform betting in sport.
If you missed it, don’t worry — we’ll get you up to speed with our Super Netball Round-Up.
Zero gambling in netball
The former chief executive of Netball Australia said it was behind the times when she walked out the door in December 2023, but new gambling reforms introduced by the federal government show the sport was right to steer clear from sports betting.
Kelly Ryan faced a difficult two-year tenure as she managed to keep the number one women’s and girl’s sport afloat in the midst of the pandemic. Twelve months into the role, it was revealed that financially, she’d been handed a poisoned chalice.
Kelly Ryan was frustrated by the sport’s “willingness to evolve” at the end of her two-year tenure. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)
Netball Australia was $4 million in debt and desperately needed to repay its loans and turn around its commercial fortunes in order to survive.
This is where the controversy of Ryan’s leadership began. The grand final location was sold to the highest bidder; a partnership was announced then withdrawn with Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting; and sports gambling sponsorships were believed to be in the works.
The latter was put to Ryan on ABC News Breakfast, where she admitted these deals were not “out of the realms of possibility”.
“The reality is that gambling sponsorships are very lucrative,” Ryan said. “Netball has to put itself more outside its comfort zone in terms of what it does contemplate and consider.”
Identity crisis dividing netball
The idea did not go down well amongst the netball community and as a result, sponsorships reportedly offered by two separate wagering companies did not go ahead.
It was starting to become clear that the commercial tools Ryan had previously learned from working at the AFL and Docklands Stadium weren’t necessarily a good fit for this sport.
In a letter sent to Netball Australia, the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation — which ceased operating in July 2024 — reiterated that athletes were role models so it was extraordinary a “clean sport like netball might align itself with a product associated with harm”.
“A partnership with a betting operator would likely offer Netball Australia a quick, easy solution to its financial difficulties, but is the risk to the long-term health and wellbeing of our young people — as well as to your organisation’s reputation — worth the gamble?” the letter asked.
Anthony Albanese announced gambling ad reforms at the National Press Club on April 2, 2026. (ABC News: Dan Sweetapple)
In December 2023, Ryan resigned after a long and bitter pay dispute with the players. Speaking with Forbes Australia, she reflected on her time in the role and suggested netball needed to make some fundamental changes to evolve.
“I’d done everything I could to try and progress the sport … I started questioning how much it wanted to change and grow,” Ryan said.
Although it may be true that netball needs to be bolder commercially, by not having a prominent male side of the game to rely on — one that would likely already be embedded in gambling — it has had to think outside the box and stand on its own two feet.
It has done this by forging partnerships that better reflect healthy values for women and girls.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has outlined a new set of rules that will tighten the access wagering companies have in sport from January 2027.
Some of these changes include uniforms and venues no longer being able to feature gambling branding, celebrities and sports personalities not being allowed to appear in their promotions, and betting ads being banned on live sports television broadcasts between 6am and 8:30pm.
Experts suggest the restrictions don’t go far enough. Nonetheless, they will heavily impact the NRL and AFL, which are propped up by this kind of investment. Without it, they claim they will struggle to fund the grassroots.
But netball? It’ll be fine. Of the two forks in the road Netball Australia could’ve taken in 2022, they’ll be glad they didn’t go for the quick fix and avoided getting involved.
Pending ownership of the Giants
The Giants are in a world of pain.
Winless after four rounds, they have equalled their worst ever start to a Super Netball season — going at the same rate as they did in 2024 when they finished with the wooden spoon.
Jo Harten (left), Julie Fitzgerald (second from left) and Jamie-Lee Price (right) all left the Giants at the end of last season. (Getty: Jason McCawley)
The key difference between that campaign and this one, though, is they had the likes of veteran coach Julie Fitzgerald and former co-captains Jo Harten and Jamie-Lee Price in the mix.
Now all three of those figures have moved on, retiring or switching clubs, they lack experience. The bulk of their roster is aged 24 and under, in the early stages of their career.
The signing of two former Silver Ferns players, Whitney Souness and Jane Watson, has done little to combat this and round five is set to be even tougher, as bottom of the ladder faces the high-flying competition favourites the Thunderbirds.
It will take time for them to find their feet, but how much time do they have?
A frustrated Nerida Stewart, new coach of the Giants, has told her team they aren’t meeting “this level of netball”. (Getty: Kelly Defina)
The uncertain ownership of the club means their future is hanging over their heads, which, coupled with their lack of results, may not help recruitment looking to 2027.
Dwindling support via crowd attendances and membership numbers won’t be helped by poor performances either.
Last year, a representative from Mounties Group confirmed with ABC Sport that they’d held discussions with Netball NSW about their interest in trying to acquire a Super Netball licence.
Mounties Care — a healthcare service for members of the group — is already a joint owner of the South West Magic franchise participating in Netball NSW’s state league.
It has not been made clear whether Mounties would take over the Super Netball licence and keep the AFL-aligned branding of the Giants or form a unique identity of their own.
The proposal was handed to Netball Australia for consideration, and should it not go ahead, Netball NSW was to continue holding the licence for now.
$140m in dirty money allegedly gambled at Mounties
The process came to a halt, though, when AUSTRAC launched federal court proceedings against the Mounties Group in July for alleged “serious and systemic” non-compliance with anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing laws.
The pokies giant with 10 venues across Sydney was accused of wagering almost $140 million from gamblers considered to be high risk.
There has been no update given by Mounties Group on their intentions in netball since then, however incoming head coach Nerida Stewart did thank them in a social media post when she was appointed in August, indicating they were still involved behind the scenes.
It is believed Netball Australia has shelved the proposal to let the legal system take its course and will assess it after the outcomes of the court case become known.
If cleared of any wrongdoing, they could find a loophole with Mounties Care and shift the attention away from pokies towards their healthcare service, as has been done in the NSW state league.
But this makes for a fascinating discussion in the context of our earlier topic regarding sports betting and whether the sport wants to associate itself with gambling money at all.