\u201cSo I\u2019m really excited to sign with the Sirens for three years and to commit to making Sydney my home. I don\u2019t want to live anywhere else right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s taken a while to grow on me. Now the only thing missing is my people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coming Home to Nigeria<\/p>\n
Grace Nweke saw a lot of promising netball talent during her coaching in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Nweke\u2019s father, Fortune Nweke, and mother, Chidinma Nweke, grew up in Nigeria and were living in South Korea when they were drawn to New Zealand in 2000. They\u2019ve raised their six children here \u2013 Grace Nweke is one of two sets of twins.<\/p>\n
Their Silver Ferns daughter always yearned to see the place her family calls home and the opportunity finally came last month after the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t simply a visit. Nweke was invited by the Coming Home programme to coach and mentor a group of girls in Lagos, Nigeria\u2019s largest city. Most of the girls, aged 14 to 20, have just come to netball from basketball.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoaching was such a humbling experience and I feel very grateful to be able to give back through netball,\u201d Nweke says.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo connect and learn more about myself and my culture, and do that in the netball space, was really awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Netball in Nigeria is going through a massive revival. Popular in the 1960s and 1970s, interest in the game withered with the growth of basketball. But there has been a push this year to reintroduce the game in schools and form the country\u2019s first national netball team, the Green Hawks \u2013 who this week play in the African qualifier for next year\u2019s World Cup in Sydney.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a sport that\u2019s played in Nigeria but isn\u2019t known and loved across the country yet. So to be in a space where we could start to grow the game and encourage netball as the sport girls take up was really cool. There\u2019s a lot of talent and it\u2019s exciting thinking about where the game could go in Nigeria over the next 10 years,\u201d Nweke says.<\/p>\n
She will likely return to help that evolution.<\/p>\n
Home to New Zealand<\/p>\n
Grace Nweke (front, facing the camera) was part of the New Zealand team who won gold at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
It\u2019s almost exactly five years since Nweke made a nervous debut for the Silver Ferns in a loss to England. And it was always obvious the 1.93m tall teenager, with an impressive reach and leap, would eventually stamp her mark on the game globally.<\/p>\n
Back in July, she started her second Commonwealth Games campaign by notching up her 50th test and ended as the top shooter of the tournament, on 229 goals at 90.5% accuracy. The nerves were still there, though.<\/p>\n
Since having to be content with bronze in Birmingham four years earlier, Nweke was determined, almost gripped, to win gold in Glasgow.<\/p>\n
In the moments after the Ferns\u2019 56-48 final victory over Jamaica, Nweke sobbed with joy at winning her first serious title \u2013 after a harrowing 12 months around the standing-down of coach Dame Noeline Taurua.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always wanted to win Commonwealth gold and it\u2019s so poetic we were able to do that this year and determine how that story gets to end. To right some wrongs or at least heal some wounds,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted it so bad, and the fear we might not get it was an awful place to be. In the semi-final [against England], I was so sick because we had to win that game. I so badly wanted it to be my reality, I don\u2019t know how I\u2019d have coped if it wasn\u2019t \u2013 which may be a future work-on for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we won that game, the nerves for the final weren\u2019t so intense and there was a quiet surety, a belief we could do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A year ago, Nweke made an impassioned public plea for Taurua\u2019s reinstatement as coach at the end of the Taini Jamison series against South Africa. She says she has huge respect for the way Taurua navigated the past year and how she returned to the team just before Glasgow.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe came in with such beautiful energy and excitement, her spirits were so high, and you wouldn\u2019t expect that based on what she\u2019s been through,\u201d Nweke says. \u201cWe didn\u2019t need to go back and talk about X, Y, Z. It was very forward-thinking, she had a game plan and it was foolproof.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the years I\u2019ve been part of this team, I\u2019ve never had so much fun. There was both joy and performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nweke arrives in Auckland on Thursday to see friends and family before next week\u2019s Silver Ferns training camp. While the immediate focus is on reclaiming the Constellation Cup \u2013 decided last year in a tiebreak \u2013 her thoughts are already on next year\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt keeps me so excited and giddy talking about that real possibility of playing for gold in Sydney. That\u2019s the ultimate goal,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
A new home in Australia<\/p>\n
Nweke isn\u2019t keen on labels like trendsetter or trailblazer. Still, her decision to join the Swifts in 2024 led the way for other Silver Ferns to play in the Suncorp Super Netball league this season. That, of course, became even more consequential as New Zealand players turned to offshore competitions when a domestic league in 2027 looked doubtful.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t set out to start a trend or make waves. I was thinking what\u2019s next and how can I grow and be better. The move made a lot of sense and I\u2019m really happy I did it. It\u2019s funny when I think how close I came to not doing it,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
In her two seasons with the Swifts, Nweke helped shoot them to third and then fifth. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t without challenges, off and on the court \u2013 coming close to big moments and falling short. But there were some awesome people, friendships and relationships I\u2019ll have throughout my career,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
While she was disappointed to see the demise of the ANZ Premiership, she\u2019s \u201cproud\u201d of the other New Zealand players who have taken up professional contracts in Super Netball and in England\u2019s Netball Super League.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we were in Glasgow, I gave some advice and encouragement to all the girls who came to me,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t know if the Aussie fans realise they\u2019ve got some real gems, some genuinely awesome people who will really benefit their clubs. I\u2019ve pretty much got a mate in every state now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her former Northern Mystics and Ferns teammate Claire O\u2019Brien is returning home to Sydney and lining up in the Sirens side.<\/p>\n
\u201cCob\u2019s a huge get. She\u2019s very unassuming but a force to be reckoned with. I\u2019m excited to have her personality, leadership and skillset on court \u2013 she\u2019s got a great feed and she\u2019s fearless,\u201d Nweke says.<\/p>\n
Nweke is the first Kiwi to sign a three-year Super Netball deal. The Sirens replace the Giants franchise, formerly owned by AFL club Greater Western Sydney and bought out by media mogul Craig Hutchinson last month.<\/p>\n
She says she had always wanted to be a foundation member of a new club \u2013 \u201cbeing a thread in the fibre of a new team culture\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I go through my career, I\u2019m learning about what\u2019s bigger than netball, than winning and medals and selections,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s the legacy piece, connection and community. I\u2019ve seen that first-hand at the Mystics and the Silver Ferns and now I can share that knowledge with a new group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always wanted to do two seasons then I thought, \u2018What\u2019s one more?\u2019 It gives me job security and it\u2019s a sign of my intent and commitment to be part of something, to be all in.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the Constellation Cup, starting on October 18, Nweke will start looking for a place to call her own in Sydney. \u201cI want continuity in my personal life. All the things that make up my life over here are in storage right now. I want somewhere to hang my pictures, put out my little trinkets and a kitchen that\u2019s mine,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
She also plans to resume her Bachelor of Commerce studies, majoring in information systems and marketing, after a two-year hiatus.<\/p>\n
Nweke has struck a deal with Netball New Zealand, allowing her to be based in Sydney when she\u2019s not in training camps or in international series.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told them I\u2019ve had a pretty tumultuous 18 months and I don\u2019t see Auckland as home now,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m really stoked they were on board with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Nweke, this is living the dream.<\/p>\n