Sydney Swifts

Sydney Swifts

Founded	1996
Disbanded	2007
Based in	Sydney
Region	New South Wales
Head coach	Julie Fitzgerald (1997–2007)
Captain	Catriona Wagg (1997–1999) Liz Ellis (2000–2007)
Premierships	4 (2001, 2004, 2006, 2007)
League	Commonwealth Bank Trophy
Uniform

Sydney Swifts were an Australian netball team based in Sydney. Between 1997 and 2007, they represented Netball New South Wales in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league. Together with Sydney Sandpipers and Hunter Jaegers, they were one of three teams to represent NNSW in the competition. After Melbourne Phoenix, Swifts were the league's second most successful team, winning four premierships and three minor premierships. In 2008, when the Commonwealth Bank Trophy was replaced by the ANZ Championship, Swifts and Jaegers merged to form New South Wales Swifts.

History

Mobil Superleague

Sydney Swifts evolved from a state league team that represented the Ku-ring-gai area. Between 1994 and 1996, Sydney Ku-ring-gai represented New South Wales in the Mobil Superleague. They were also known as Sydney Cenovis because they were sponsored by Cenovis. The team featured a young Liz Ellis and Catherine Cox and were coached by Julie Fitzgerald. In 1994 and 1996 they were Mobil Superleague semi-finalists.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Commonwealth Bank Trophy

Between 1997 and 2007, Sydney Swifts played in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league. Together with Adelaide Ravens, Adelaide Thunderbirds, Melbourne Kestrels, Melbourne Phoenix, Perth Orioles, Queensland Firebirds and Sydney Sandpipers, Swifts were one of the founding members of the league. Together with Sydney Sandpipers and Hunter Jaegers, they were one of three teams to represent Netball New South Wales in the competition. After Melbourne Phoenix, Swifts were the league's second most successful team, winning four premierships in 2001, 2004, 2006 and 2007. Between 2004 and 2006, they also won three successive minor premierships. Swifts head coach throughout the Commonwealth Bank Trophy era was Julie Fitzgerald. Their leading players included Liz Ellis, Alison Broadbent, Catherine Cox, Megan Anderson and Selina Gilsenan.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]} In 2008, when the Commonwealth Bank Trophy was replaced by the ANZ Championship, Swifts and Jaegers merged to form New South Wales Swifts.^[8][15]

Regular season statistics

Season	Position	Won	Lost	Drawn
1997[9]	3rd	7	5	2
1998[9]	3rd	11	3	0
1999[10]	2nd	11	3	0
2000[10]	4th	9	5	0
2001[11][16]	2nd	11	3	0
2002[11]	3rd	11	3	0
2003[12]	2nd	10	4	0
2004[12][17]	1st	12	2	0
2005[13][18]	1st	12	2	0
2006[13]	1st	14	0	0
2007[14]	2nd	11	3	0

  Minor Premiership and Premiership
  Minor Premiership and Runners Up
  Premierships
  Runners Up

Grand finals

Season	Winners	Score	Runners Up	Venue
1998[9][19]	Adelaide Thunderbirds	48–42	Sydney Swifts	ETSA Park
2001[7][11][20]	Sydney Swifts	57–32	Adelaide Thunderbirds	State Sports Centre
2003[12][21]	Melbourne Phoenix	47–44	Sydney Swifts	Sydney Super Dome
2004[13][17][20][22]	Sydney Swifts	52–51	Melbourne Phoenix	Sydney Super Dome
2005[13][20][18][23]	Melbourne Phoenix	61–44	Sydney Swifts	Vodafone Arena
2006[7][14][24][25]	Sydney Swifts	65–36	Adelaide Thunderbirds	Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre
2007[7][14][26][27][28]	Sydney Swifts	45–37	Melbourne Phoenix	Acer Arena

Home venues

	Years
Anne Clark Netball Centre[29]	1997
State Sports Centre[29]	1998
Sydney Super Dome[17][18]
Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre[17][18][30]
Wollongong Entertainment Centre[17][18][20]	2005

Notable former players

Internationals

 Australia

Jane Altschwager Megan Anderson Erin Bell Alison Broadbent

Catherine Cox Liz Ellis Mo'onia Gerrard Selina Gilsenan

Kimberlee Green Susan Pettitt Chelsea Pitman Joanne Morgan

 Australia Fast5

• Vanessa Ware
• Amorette Wild

 England

• Chelsea Pitman

Award winners

Most Valuable Player

Season	Player
1998	Liz Ellis
2002	Liz Ellis
2006 [25]	Liz Ellis

Source:^[14]

Grand final MVP

Season	Player
2001[11]	Liz Ellis
2004[13]	Catherine Cox
2006[14]	Liz Ellis
2007[14]	Selina Gilsenan

Best New Talent

Season	Player
2001[7][14]	Jane Altschwager

Captains

Captains	Years
Catriona Wagg	1997–1999
Liz Ellis	2000–2007

Source:^[7]

Most Appearances

Players	Matches	Quarters
Liz Ellis	173	680
Alison Broadbent[30]	152	562
Catherine Cox	135
Megan Anderson	111
Selina Gilsenan	121	461
Raegan Jackson	92
Susan Pettitt	68
Briony Akle	53
Jane Altschwager	50
Catriona Wagg	49

Sources:^{[6][7][20][31]}

Head coaches

Coach	Years
Julie Fitzgerald[6][7]	1997–2007

Support Staff

Team Manager Jan Troy (1998 - 2006)

Team Physiotherapist Sean Mungovan (1999 - 2007)

Sponsorship

Sponsors	Seasons
TAB[7][25][26][29][32]	1997–2007

Premierships

• Commonwealth Bank Trophy
  • Winners: 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007: 4
  • Runners up: 1998, 2003, 2005: 3
  • Minor premierships: 2004, 2005, 2006: 3

References