Firebirds Futures

Firebirds Futures

Founded	2008
Based in	Brisbane
Regions	Queensland
Home venue	Queensland State Netball Centre
Head coach	Katie Walker
Asst coach	Simone Nalatu
Manager	Ashley Naugamo
League	Australian Netball Championships
Website	Firebirds Futures
Uniform

The Firebirds Futures are an Australian netball team that represents Netball Queensland in the Australian Netball Championships. Between 2008 and 2019, as Queensland Fusion, they played in the Australian Netball League. From 2020 to 2022, the team was known as the Queensland Sapphires. The Firebirds Futures are effectively the reserve team of Queensland Firebirds and the representative team of the HART Sapphire Series.

History

Queensland Fusion

Between 2008 and 2019, Queensland Fusion played in the Australian Netball League. They were founder members of the ANL. Their best performance in the ANL came in 2014 when they reached the grand final but lost 51–49 to Victorian Fury. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Regular season statistics

Season	Position	Won	Drawn	Lost
2008
2009 [4] [5]	3rd	7	0	3
2010
2011 [6]	4th
2012
2013 [2]	6th
2014 [2]
2015 [7]
2016
2017
2018
2019

  Overall runners Up

Queensland Sapphires

In 2021, Queensland Fusion were re-branded Queensland Sapphires after the HART Sapphire Series. In September 2021, they were due to represent Netball Queensland in the inaugural Australian Netball Championships tournament. ^{[8] [9] [10] [11] [12]} However, this tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ^[13] Sapphires subsequently played in a four team series, playing against Sunshine Coast Lightning's ANC team, the Queensland Suns men's netball team and PacificAus Sports, a Pacific Islander select. ^{[14] [15] [16]}

Grand finals

Season	Winners	Score	Runners up	Venue
2014 [2] [3]	Victorian Fury	51–49	Queensland Fusion	Waverley Netball Centre

Source: ^[17]

Home venue

During the 2019 ANL season, Queensland Fusion played their home matches at the Queensland State Netball Centre. ^[18]

Notable players

2021 squad

Queensland Sapphires – 2021 Australian Netball Championships roster
Players	Coaches
Name Pos DOB Height Club Nat Caps Reilley Batcheldor GA, GS (2002-04-15) 15 April 2002 (age 23) 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) Brisbane North Cougars Ruby Bakewell-Doran GD, GK, WD (1999-01-21) 21 January 1999 (age 26) 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) Brisbane North Cougars Charlie Bell – USQ Jets Ava Black C – Bond University Bull Sharks Rudi Ellis GD, GK, WD – Queensland Firebirds Ashleigh Ervin GD, GK – Bond University Bull Sharks Macy Gardner C, WA – Brisbane North Cougars Remi Kamo GD, GK – Brisbane North Cougars Leesa MiMi – Brisbane North Cougars Martina Reekers GS – Brisbane North Cougars Mia Stower GA, WA, GS 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) Brisbane North Cougars Hulita Veve WD, C (1995-09-14) 14 September 1995 (age 30) 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) QUT Wildcats	Head coach Katie Walker Assistant coach Simone Nalatu Manager: Ashley Naugamo Physical Performance Leads: Brynley Abad Georgia Black Physiotherapist: Kerry Staples Performance Analysis: Brandon Marangelli Natalie Grider Notes (c)– Captain (cc)– Co-captain (vc)– Vice-captain – Injury / maternity leave (TRP)– Temporary Replacement Player
Player profiles: Team website	Last updated: 29 December 2021

Source: ^[12]

Internationals

  Australia

• Demelza Fellowes
• Cara Koenen
• Laura Scherian
• Gretel Tippett
• Stephanie Wood

  Australia Fast5

• Verity Simmons

  Fiji

• Simone Nalatu

  New Zealand

• Ameliaranne Wells

  Papua New Guinea

• Maleta Roberts

  Samoa

• Lenora Misa

Queensland Firebirds

Mahalia Cassidy Laura Clemesha Tippah Dwan Demelza Fellowes Beryl Friday Macy Gardner Michelle Hess

Tara Hinchliffe Abigail Latu-Meafou Amanda Lucas Simone Nalatu Jennifer O'Connor Meegan Rooney

Jacqui Russell Laura Scherian Verity Simmons Gretel Tippett Katie Walker Ameliaranne Wells

Sunshine Coast Lightning

• Cara Koenen
• Madeline McAuliffe
• Jacqui Russell
• Laura Scherian
• Stephanie Wood

Source: ^{[2] [6] [7]}

Head coaches

Coach	Years
Kylee Sampson [19]	2009
Kylee Byrne [2]	2012, 2014
Tracey Jeanes-Fraser	2017
Jenny Brazel [6] [7] [20]	2011, 2015, 2020
Katie Walker [8] [12]	2021

Premierships

• Australian Netball League
  • Runners up: 2014: 1

References

1. "Queensland Fusion". Netball Queensland. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
2. "Netball Queensland – Annual Report 2014" (PDF). Netball Queensland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 October 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
3. "Two titles for Fury". Riverine Herald . 27 August 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
4. "2009 New Idea Australian Netball League". www.netball.asn.au. Archived from the original on 19 February 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
5. "Australian Netball League 2009". www.netball.org.sg. 22 July 2010. Archived from the original on 23 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
6. "2011 Netball Queensland Annual Report" (PDF). Netball Queensland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
7. "2015 Netball Queensland Annual Report" (PDF). Netball Queensland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
8. "Queensland Sapphires to be introduced to netball world at Championships in September". qld.netball.com.au. 27 July 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
9. "ANC & Qld Sapphire". qld.netball.com.au. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
10. "Record number of teams enter ANC". netball.com.au. 8 July 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
11. "Australian Netball Championships – 2021 Fixture" (PDF). netball.com.au. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
12. "High hopes set for Australian Championships as Queensland Sapphires announce squad". qld.netball.com.au. 29 July 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
13. "Queensland Sapphires look at options as Australian Netball Championships remodelled". qld.netball.com.au. 20 August 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
14. "Exciting talent to light up the coast in Born to Shine series". qld.netball.com.au. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
15. "Elite stars on court". 16 September 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021– via PressReader.
16. "Australia and the Pacific share one court in Born to Shine Series". netball.com.au. 30 September 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
17. "Australian Netball Championships". netball.com.au. 21 May 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
18. "2019 DUANL Fixture" (PDF). netball.com.au. 15 April 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 June 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
19. "Storm grabs a record win". Sunday Territorian . 16 August 2009. Retrieved 31 December 2021– via PressReader.
20. "Queensland Fusion". Netball Queensland. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2021.