Mavericks inspire Warrandyte netballers

by Zeus, Canine Correspondent
4th August 2025

Photos: JIMMY HARRIS

MEANDERING past the Warrandyte sporting and cultural precinct one crisp July Sunday afternoon, I spotted dozens of excited girls and women buzzing around the netball courts.
What seemed like an invisibly controlled frenzy, scores of these keen netballers were busily practising ball passing and intercept techniques, readying for the upcoming spring season.
All divided into little gangs, or teams, they all seemed to be named after Australian native birds and animals — the kookaburras, pelicans, emus, dingos, and many more.
I had to investigate further.
The footballers had just finished.
An even larger crowd of netballers, their families and friends, along with the club’s loyal sponsors and supporters, were gathering for the Warrandyte Netball Club (WNC) Spring 2025 Season launch.
Mingling amongst this huge flock of netballers were two Melbourne Mavericks superstars, Amy Parmenter and Jessie Grenvold.
Amy, who hails from New South Wales and is the current Melbourne Mavericks Captain and an Australian Diamond player, along with South Australian Jessie, gave the assembled netballers a wonderful insight into their respective netball journeys.
Both Amy and Jessie had fascinating stories to tell about when they first started netball and how they grew and developed their skills to become the professional athletes they are today.
After that, it was on to team presentations, with trophies for all the “Little Legends” and then Coaches’ and Most Valuable Player awards for the older players.
With the Autumn netball season just finished and the Spring season about to start, it was the perfect occasion to celebrate the premiership wins of the Kangaroos, Emus, and Kestrels, and start making plans for the games ahead.
The club then thanked all the volunteers who are essential to getting the players out on court, as well as the parents who bring them there, and of course, the players themselves.
Although I enjoyed listening to Amy and Jessie, watching the presentations, and making lots of new friends, I must confess I was getting rather hungry towards the end of the day.
Luckily, WNC had planned their catering with me in mind, and I was able to gulp down a ham sandwich or two to give me the energy to farewell everyone, but not before I posed for some photos with my new friends Amy and Jessie.