The change in environment hit Kate hardest a week earlier<\/a>, when the mercury climbed to 43 degrees Celsius two days in a row \u2013 a far cry from the single-digit temperatures she\u2019s accustomed to in Invercargill.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019ve never experienced weather like that before, let alone trained in it,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was a shock to the system and made training feel slower. I love warm weather, even though I come from the bottom of New Zealand. So I\u2019m really enjoying it \u2013 although over 40 was probably a bit much.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the Thunderbirds, Kate Heffernan\u2019s arrival has been a long while coming. The club first approached her a couple of years ago, and nurtured a relationship for when the timing was right.<\/p>\n
Head coach Tania Obst had long admired Heffernan\u2019s on-court qualities, but just as important was her alignment with the Thunderbirds\u2019 culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cKate was super humble when we were chatting to her, and her desire to be the best she can be, while also striving for team success, really shone through. So I had no hesitation that culturally she would be a great fit for us,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Heffernan, one of nine Silver Ferns in this season\u2019s SSN, has always been keen to test herself in the Australian league. But it wasn\u2019t until last July, when Netball New Zealand changed the eligibility rules to allow overseas-based players to be selected for the Silver Ferns that she seriously considered the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got the green light [from Netball New Zealand], it was stressful. I was like, \u2018Oh, okay, there\u2019s no reason why I can\u2019t go\u2019. I just had to commit to it,\u201d she says. \u201cThe thought of leaving home was scary, but, with this team, I knew I would regret it if I didn\u2019t go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heffernan was the final signing and is the only New Zealander in the Thunderbirds in 2026. She joins Jamaican defenders Latanya Wilson and Shamera Sterling-Humphrey \u2013 who had her first child in October \u2013 and South African shooter van der Berg, last season\u2019s top shooter in the UK\u2019s Super League.<\/p>\n
Diamonds up-and-coming stars Matilda Garrett and Georgie Horjus round out the internationals in a side that won the championship in 2023 and 2024, but bowed out in the semi-finals last season.<\/p>\n
![\"Kate]()
Kate Heffernan in her new Thunderbirds kit. Photo \/ Adelaide Thunderbirds<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re obviously doing something very well here, because they have a pathway of players coming through \u2013 half the signed group are South Australian girls,\u201d says Heffernan, 26, one of the senior T-Birds. \u201cThere\u2019s a cool balance of homegrown and international experience \u2013 we\u2019ve got a really exciting team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The resources available have been an eye-opener for Heffernan. \u201cWe had a good set-up at the Steel, but this is another step up,\u201d she says. \u201cI always have eyes on me in the gym and people supporting me all the time. And they\u2019re great at what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team has relocated to Adelaide Arena this year while the Netball SA Stadium gets a $92m makeover, and also spends time at the South Australian Sports Institute. Matches continue at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, with an average 8000 spectators a game. <\/p>\n
Obst has been closely watching Heffernan\u2019s development, impressed by her attacking defensive game \u2013 a strong fit for the Thunderbirds\u2019 style \u2013 and her speed on attack. \u201cBeing a left-hander adds something different, too. And she\u2019s shown both domestically and internationally she can feed the circle,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlready she\u2019s shown what a good team person she is. She has a real desire to understand strategies and systems we\u2019re putting into place, but also we recognise her strengths and how we can make them part of our group.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Heffernan captained the Steel last season on returning from a knee injury, she doesn\u2019t have an official leadership role in the Thunderbirds.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s refreshing to focus on myself and make sure I can transition to SSN seamlessly. It\u2019s a whole different style of game, and I know it will be challenging at times finding my feet and being able to do what I know I can do really well,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had eight years with the Steel and I loved it, but this challenge is cool. I\u2019ve still got so much more to give.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s part of the reason Heffernan left for Australia \u2013 to grow her own game before returning to the Silver Ferns.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel lucky to be one of the players allowed to go,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was a hard decision \u2013 understanding the whole dynamic of the ANZ Premiership and wanting the competition at home to fire. But we want to win the Commonwealth Games this year and the [2027] World Cup. We have so much fire in our belly; we just want to bring it back to the Ferns.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2025 Ferns\u2019 international season was turbulent \u2013 head coach Dame Noeline Taurua stood down on the eve of the Taini Jamison series against South Africa, with interim coach Yvette McCausland-Durie stepping in.<\/p>\n
On the back of uncertainty around the future of the ANZ Premiership and its broadcasting rights, it was a \u201cheavy\u201d and \u201cunsettling\u201d time, says Heffernan.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut as soon as the Silver Ferns started playing, I was able to switch straight into netball mode, and I felt some of the weight lift,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cInitially, you could see it was really hard for everyone to be present \u2013 a disrupted lead-in, and not enough time together. But as soon as we were on court, it was our happy place and we were focused on skillsets and game plans.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s happy with the Ferns\u2019 2025 scorecard: winning the Taini Jamison series, almost retaining the Constellation Cup (losing a sudden-death play-off by two goals), then beating England 2-1 on their northern tour to end the year on a \u201cmassive\u201d high. <\/p>\n
![\"Kate]()
Kate Heffernan (left) will play with and against Jamaican defender Shamera Sterling-Humphrey (right) this year. Photo \/ Adelaide Thunderbirds<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s campaign presents a different challenge, with no internationals for the Ferns before the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in July. \u201cIt\u2019s a really important period,\u201d Heffernan says. \u201cWe need to have things sorted so we can hit the ground running.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heffernan, who holds a degree in psychology, was able to take something positive from last year\u2019s upheaval.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt made me understand how different everyone is \u2013 how we respond and feel things differently. Everyone was feeling different emotions at different times,\u201d she says. \u201cIt didn\u2019t mean we weren\u2019t united. While it was hard, it was a really valuable learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been 21 years since Annette Heffernan made her Silver Ferns debut against England, and two years later won the World Cup in Glasgow.<\/p>\n
Today she\u2019s \u201cbeyond proud\u201d of her two daughters\u2019 netball achievements. She and husband Noel try to attend every game although Kate\u2019s move to Adelaide makes it trickier. They\u2019ve booked their flights for her first two SSN games, including the season opener on March 14 against the Swifts, who feature Silver Ferns Grace Nweke and Gina Crampton.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such an amazing opportunity for a current Fern to be able to play in Australia. We\u2019re really, really proud of Kate taking up this opportunity,\u201d Annette says from her West Otago farm. <\/p>\n
\u201cHad they had this back in my day, I would have done it too. The key thing is that Kate is excited about the season, growing her game and bringing that back to the Silver Ferns environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Annette acknowledges the courage it took for her daughter to carve a path separate from her twin. \u201cIt\u2019s really brave. Unless you\u2019re a twin, you can\u2019t understand the connection they have. But it was too great an opportunity to turn down. She has our full family support, and we\u2019ll be turning up for her when we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heffernan hopes Henry Bell will be able to fly to Adelaide during the Highlanders\u2019 bye week in the Super Rugby season. He\u2019s been fully supportive of his partner\u2019s career move, having made a similar leap in 2023, playing for the Utah Warriors in US Major League Rugby. \u201cHe said I\u2019d be silly not to go \u2013 he\u2019s been so supportive,\u201d she says. He\u2019s also caring for her 2-year-old dog, Maple.<\/p>\n
She\u2019ll miss weekly trips with Georgia from Dunedin to Invercargill for Steel trainings. Georgia has moved south to be closer to the team, and the sisters speak often.<\/p>\n
Kate is proud of how Georgia has returned from an ACL injury to become a crucial attacking option for the Silver Ferns.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s had a more up-and-down netball journey, and I\u2019ve learned so much watching her. After her nasty injury, she had to find her confidence in the pretty brutal position of goal attack. Watching the way she went about it last season was really cool \u2013 in the deciding England test she took her game to a whole other level. Mum, dad and I had never seen her play like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re each other\u2019s biggest fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meeting new people through the Thunderbirds and coaching at Adelaide schools is important to Heffernan, who\u2019s also using this time to consider what she\u2019ll do apart from netball.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I miss home, but I realise I\u2019ve got to make it worth it \u2013 there\u2019s nothing worse than sitting here, missing home, and not getting what I want out of it. So that\u2019s a good wee driver,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
She might even reward herself with one of those giant meringues at her new local bakery.<\/p>\n
New Zealanders playing in Suncorp Super Netball 2026<\/p>\n
Adelaide Thunderbirds: Kate Heffernan<\/p>\n
Giants: Jane Watson, Whitney Souness<\/p>\n
NSW Swifts: Grace Nweke, Gina Crampton<\/p>\n
Queensland Firebirds: Kelly Jackson, Maddy Gordon, Te Paea Selby-Rickit (and coach Kiri Wills)<\/p>\n
Sunshine Coast Lightning: Karin Burger<\/p>\n
This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz<\/a> and is republished with permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seeing double: Georgia (left) and Kate Heffernan interviewed after an ANZ Premiership match. Photo \/ Getty Images The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[145502,32164,7972,89438,6540,72423,145503,145501,296,2517,134834,103051,5840,145505,16762,111,139,425,69,145504,105772,18746,213,17294,313,39662,3807],"class_list":["post-250240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-adelaides","tag-bakery","tag-beach","tag-brave","tag-hand","tag-hazelnut","tag-heffernan","tag-heffernans","tag-into","tag-kate","tag-laidback","tag-leap","tag-least","tag-meringues","tag-netball","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-now","tag-nz","tag-resists","tag-seaside","tag-size","tag-sports","tag-suburb","tag-super","tag-temptation","tag-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}