Grace Nweke on her big move to Sydney and why she will return a better netballer

Sunday, 16 March 2025

Netball star Grace Nweke has a nasty surprise waiting for her as she leaves New South Wales Swifts training – a parking ticket.

New Zealand’s best netballer is stepping outside her comfort zone this season, pushing herself to the limit in Australia’s glitzy Super Netball.

It is a move which has been full of emotion on several fronts.

Delighted to be testing herself in the world’s finest netball league, Nweke also has to deal with the reality of watching the Silver Ferns from afar.

By signing with the Sydney-based Swifts, the 23-year-old shooting supremo is ineligible to represent New Zealand internationally, for at least this year.

This is Nweke’s first time living outside Auckland and her support network – father Fortune, mother Chidinma, and her five siblings.

Nine weeks into her new life with the Swifts, Nweke admits there’s been plenty of happy moments, but also tough ones.

Parking ticket and Sydney traffic aside, she would still make the move every time.

“Obviously with most things, good days, bad days, weird days, but I’m just allowing myself to feel all the emotions and ride the wave of it all and that’s what I signed up for,” she says.

“I’m at a time in my life where it’s quite pivotal in terms of my development, not only as an athlete but as an individual. I think this move has a lot to do with that. It’s as easily exciting as it is scary at times.”

Nweke resides in the suburb of Mortlake in Sydney’s inner west, close to their state-of-the-art Netball Central training facility at Olympic Park. She flats with a fellow Swifts’ newbie, Melbourne Vixens recruit Sharni Lambden, which has made the transition easier.

A massive music nut, she’s already savoured the chance to attend several concerts and live acts in the Harbour City, including the Laneway Festival.

Opening up about signing with the Swifts, Nweke says a special time in her life quickly turned painful.

While many netball fans where chuffed for her, some on social media blasted her departure from the Auckland-based Mystics. Traitor, disloyal, turning her back on the Silver Ferns, Nweke heard it all.

“Those comments hurt the most because it couldn’t have been more far from the truth.

“Me moving here was in of my dedication to the Ferns and the team I love. I’m moving here to be a better netballer and to come back and play better for the Ferns. For people to say that it was quite hurtful because it was just so inaccurate.”

Nweke has learned to have a thick skin.

When she burst on the professional scene with the Mystics as a 17-year-old at Avondale College every word about her was positive.

New Zealand’s most gifted goal shoot since Irene van Dyk, Nweke knows for every compliment, there is a criticism.

She is well aware the netball world will be watching when she makes her Swifts debut against the West Coast Fever in Perth on April 6.

Netball supporters and media from both sides of the Tasman, and afar, will closely scrutinise her play in season one. Competing in Australia only increased the amount of eyeballs on her each game.

Entering her sixth full season as an elite netballer, Nweke realises all she can control is playing to the best of her ability on court.

“Over time I’ve learned not to take criticism from anyone I wouldn’t take advice from and I know who I respect and would go to and listen to.

“I know my why. I know what I have in my heart and what I want to do with my career and the season and why I’ve made this move. As long as I can stay true to that the opinions and discourse doesn’t bother me.”

The Swifts, historically an Australian domestic powerhouse, were the lone Super Netball team to approach Nweke.

She has always loved Sydney, going there on a summer holiday in 2023. Head coach Briony Akle, a Silver Ferns specialist coach under Dame Noeline Taurua, was a drawcard. Equally so was the chance to team up alongside England’s Helen Housby in the shooting end, the premier goal attack in world netball.

Add in matching up against the world’s top defenders week in, week out, and it became extremely enticing.

Ultimately what clinched the move was Nweke’s lack of enthusiasm for another season in the ANZ Premiership.

“It was three premierships, six seasons [with the Mystics] and the thought of winning a fourth one just didn’t inspire me any more. That’s when you know you’re due for change. You’ve done all there is to do for my age and stage.

“I wasn’t looking forward to winning a fourth premiership and that’s an insane thing to say, but that was what really hit me in that sense that it’s time to change that.”

Much has been made of the disparities between the Australian and New Zealand domestic netball environments.

Kiwi coach Kiri Wills, who left the south Auckland-based Stars to guide the Queensland Firebirds, described them as “light-years” apart.

Nweke is only two months into life as a Swift, but says the Mystics’ training sessions were just as intense as her new team.

Australian club sides are well resourced, receiving state government funding and administered by their state netball provider.

“The biggest thing here is the days kind of drain you. I get to training most days at 7am and I don’t get back to my car to about 1 or 2pm. It’s just a long day from start to finish.”

At the Mystics, players had shorter trainings before most dashed to work or study. Nweke was blown away being able to deal with all the Swifts support staff in the same building and having physio and recovery sessions there too.

“It’s a really professional training environment, but in the same sense you are there for a long time. It does start to compound week-on-week. The days are just quite long, which is what I’m adjusting to and trying to embrace.”

Nweke will have to combat the two point ‘Super Shot’ for the first time in her career in Australia. Goals are doubled in the final five minutes of each quarter for successful shots 3m from the goal post.

Ironically, the rule will be introduced to the ANZ Premiership in 2025, having made its debut in Super Netball in 2020.

Nweke is not a complete stranger to the two point shot, having represented the Fast5 Ferns in netball’s shortened version. Her key strength remains bringing in the ball aerially and scoring close to the post. Long range attempts have never been a hallmark of her play.

Despite that, Nweke has been trying to add different layers to her shooting arsenal and would not be opposed to shooting from deep.

“I hope if push comes to shove and I have the ball in hand with 10 seconds to go in the quarter and I’m in Super Shot range I can turn and shoot and make it, but I haven’t come to Sydney and been like, ‘I need to nail this shot and become the hero of the Super Shot because that’s not my game’.”

Watching the Silver Ferns in the Taini Jamison Trophy and Constellation Cup on TV later this year will be difficult. When the national anthem sounds and her team-mates dart around court in the black dress, it will hit home.

She remains respectful of NNZ’s eligibility stance, but holds out hope the regulations might be relaxed long-term.

Nweke is uncertain of her netball plans after this season wanting to pour all her energy and focus into the Swifts.

“I’m taking everything one centre pass at a time. I just genuinely don’t know what my life looks like after August and I know by August I’ll have a lot more information and I’ll be able to make more of an informed decision.

“I could re-sign here, I could re-sign back in New Zealand. It’s all up in the air.”