Magpies netball coach displays on finish of an period at Collingwood

It was June, the Collingwood Magpies had simply gained their closing Tremendous Netball sport, and Nicole Richardson had tears rolling down her face.

After 5 years pouring her coronary heart and soul into the membership, three of them as head coach, to beat a top-two-ranked aspect just like the West Coast Fever felt considerably like a comfort prize in a bittersweet finish of an period.

A month beforehand, Collingwood, below completely different management than when its netball workforce was established in 2016, had determined it will not proceed.

Backside line, its netball program wasn’t earning money and the administration had grown uninterested in splitting its funding in ladies’s sport, preferring as a substitute to channel its efforts solely into AFLW.

From that low to the excessive of successful a Netball World Cup in August as an assistant with the Aussie Diamonds, Richardson was introduced again to earth simply final week.

Virtually three months down the road, watching the Pies improvement workforce win the Australian Netball Championships (ANC), there she was once more, wiping away tears and considering of what Collingwood netball may have been.

“I used to be there in my function as an Australian below 21s selector for Netball Australia, however I could not assist however get caught up within the emotion of all of it,” a proud Richardson instructed the ABC.

“It introduced tears to my eyes as a result of we have had a extremely robust yr at Collingwood and to finish the way in which the ladies did, I suppose it was a becoming finale to what’s been a really emotional three months.”

4 of these ANC gamers — Olivia Wilkinson, Montana Holmes, Casey Adamson and Zoe Davies — had been concerned with the Tremendous Netball workforce as coaching companions the previous two seasons, whereas midcourter Zali Anderson’s performances noticed her rewarded with Australian U21 choice.

Their success was a satisfying justification for what the Pies had been constructing lately.

And though their Tremendous Netball workforce completed with a second wood spoon in 2023, Richardson and 5 Collingwood gamers reached the rostrum on the World Cup in Cape City, highlighting the unbelievable potential of their gifted group that by no means fairly clicked into gear at membership land.

Trying again, the coach factors to the closeness of the league and reiterates her aspect was just one win behind the Giants in sixth place and two behind the Lightning in fifth.

Regardless of being so closely criticised, the Pies additionally gained a pre-season Group Women Cup (2019), a Tremendous Membership Event (2019), two ANC titles (2018, 2023) and reached the finals thrice throughout a seven-year journey in Tremendous Netball – together with as lately as final yr.

That is twice greater than present champions the Adelaide Thunderbirds, and even the Queensland Firebirds, each basis netball golf equipment with 20 years extra expertise.

Had been we too onerous on Collingwood? Certain, their brash begin in the netball scene might have put folks offside, as they claimed to be the workforce to beat of their basis yr.

However that was seemingly soccer speaking. In the meantime, their netballers would face the same battle for respect, ample gear, and sources to everybody else.

In these early years the Pies appeared they had been the flashy new youngsters on the block, with unbelievable services and a star-studded aspect planning to overcome all of it.

What has since come to mild is that their netball division was poorly arrange, handled as a second-rate precedence, and run by soccer directors who thought they might reinvent the wheel.

As Linda Pearce reported for Code Sports activities, the netballers educated with brief goalposts and a rock-hard unsprung ground at Collingwood HQ, usually needing to wash up the mud on the courtroom’s floor earlier than they might begin a session attributable to their AFL counterparts strolling it in from the footy area.

Reflecting on the membership’s choice to make their Tremendous Netball workforce defunct, leaving the teaching group and gamers looking for new jobs, Richardson stated it nonetheless felt “gut-wrenching”.

“I went via the feelings of disappointment and frustration, and there have been occasions there that I used to be additionally indignant on the membership for not backing us in,” she stated.

“I get it; sport is enterprise. And I have been reminded fairly lately that, sure, there are professionals of being concerned with a large beast like Collingwood, however on the finish of the day they’re a soccer membership and their primary intention is soccer.

“There’s been a changeover of the powers that be. You had Eddie McGuire and Mark Anderson at first who had a imaginative and prescient transferring ahead and netball was part of that, however over time the membership determined our sport wasn’t good for it financially and so we had been on the top of that.”

Richardson’s current reminder has been the non-existent help for any of the netball program’s achievements past its closing Tremendous Netball sport.

Collingwood did a minimum of comply with via with its dedication to take part on the ANC, however there was no promotion of its success at that event, nor of its athletes on the World Cup.

“As soon as Spherical 14 towards the Fever was completed, that was it for just about something netball associated,” Richardson stated.

“There have been no socials relating to our 5 athletes and myself on the World Cup, even after the Diamonds grow to be world champions, and nothing for our ANC workforce.”

The message was clear: “Collingwood is a soccer membership getting ready for finals.”

Regardless of this, and her conflicting emotions on the way it all ended, Richardson does not prefer to play the blame sport.

“I imply, you’ll be able to put blame on numerous completely different teams, however everybody has an element to play, together with the workforce itself, and to get bums on seats, you want wins.

“We most likely did not have as a lot success general as we may have. Nevertheless, I believe we nonetheless performed an thrilling model of netball and had been in a position to do some nice issues as a comparatively younger membership.

“I perceive you must take care of the membership as an entire, however I do not suppose any of the Tremendous Netball groups are earning money, and I additionally consider there’s much more to having a workforce exterior of the underside line, when it comes to what it will possibly deliver.

“Nike obtained on board at Collingwood because of the feminine athletes there, of which our netballers had been part of, so there’s extra that goes into it, however I do not essentially blame anybody. Sport is enterprise.”

As she hunts for the subsequent alternative, Richardson says she is eager on linking up with the incoming SEN-owned workforce set to take Collingwood’s place within the Tremendous Netball league from 2024.

English legend Tracey Neville has already been assigned as head coach and the aspect’s roster appears to be taking form in an unofficial capability behind closed doorways, as everybody waits on the collective pay settlement (CPA) to be negotiated.

Richardson’s desire is to remain in Melbourne, however till the CPA is in place, she’s in a holding sample, ready to see if and the place a home spot will open up for a specialist coach.