How Community Netball Built an Australian Great

From a tiny country town in northern Victoria to captaining the Australian Diamonds, Sharelle McMahon's journey shows just how far community netball can take you.

McMahon’s passion for netball started from an early age when she began playing locally in her hometown of Bamawm, a small country town just southeast of Echuca.

“I started playing netball at both a local association and a football and netball club,” McMahon said.

“The football and netball clubs are such an important part of the local community because they bring people together and give people opportunities, so I really loved my time playing netball there.”

It wasn’t long before McMahon’s talent was recognised, allowing her to transition into association netball and begin her road to the top level of netball.

McMahon played for the Rochester Netball Association in the representative side as a junior, where she then explored pathway tournaments with Netball Victoria.

“I loved playing in the association space at Rochester because it was another great opportunity to compete,” McMahon reflected.

“From there, I was talent identified before coming through to play for Victoria in the underage championships.”

At just sixteen years old, McMahon moved to Melbourne to pursue a Victorian Institute of Sport scholarship where she quickly progressed into the under 21’s national team for 1996.

Only a year later, McMahon made her debut as an Australian Diamond and won the gold medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games as the youngest player on the team.

This was just the beginning of a very successful netball career for McMahon who played 16 years of professional netball at both a national and international level.

McMahon won two World Championships, two Commonwealth Games gold medals, and six netball Championships, as well as the Outstanding Contribution to Victorian Sport Award.

These incredible accolades were achieved by McMahon over the course of her domestic netball career with the Melbourne Pheonix and the Melbourne Vixens, as well as her international career where she captained the Australian Diamonds twelve times.

It is difficult to briefly summarise the exceptional netball journey that McMahon had due to her ongoing commitment and long list of achievements within the netball world.

A continuous reminder of McMahon’s impact on the netball community is the Melbourne Vixens’ most valuable player of the season award, which has been named the ‘Sharelle McMahon Medal’ since 2014.

“When they first mentioned that they were considering naming it after me, I was quite shocked,” McMahon recalled.

“It’s an incredible honour, and it’s something that I’m very proud of.”

During her time playing for the Melbourne Vixens, McMahon captained the side from 2008 until 2011 where they won the grand final in 2009.

McMahon has also been a member of the coaching panel for the Melbourne Vixens, where she fulfilled a part-time specialist role before becoming Assistant Coach in 2019.

“The Melbourne Vixens is a club that I’ve always been really proud to be involved with and has had a long history of success,” McMahon said.

Since retiring from professional netball in 2013, McMahon has explored a number of different roles in broadcasting and commentary, as well as coaching positions.

“I’ve had a really varied experience across the sporting space, and it’s been really exciting to come into the management side of things,” McMahon said.

“More recently, I’ve moved into the administration and management side, and I was even on the match review panel when the AFLW first came to being.”

With such a deep passion for netball and sport, McMahon reflects on her post-playing career with gratitude and enjoys the challenges that each role provides.

“That’s what I love about these roles, is that you get to continue to grow in learning and development,” McMahon said.

“One of the things that we’re really focused on is ensuring that everyone, no matter where they live, has the opportunity to compete and to come through the pathway if they’re a talented netballer.”

As one of the most successful and impactful players of the game, McMahon knows what it takes to become a professional netballer and thrive within the sporting space.

Her advice to young players who are dreaming of making it to the top level is to be committed, work hard, and have a positive attitude towards netball.

“Your attitude and your approach to netball is really important,” McMahon said.

“No matter who your coach is or what level it is, you should be open to hearing feedback and adjusting to really get that growth.”

Whilst the transition from community sport to the top level is no easy feat, McMahon maintains that any player must enjoy netball and love the process before anything else.

“I think overarching it all is that you still have fun and that it doesn’t get too intense, because we ultimately play sport for fun and that’s what should be happening,” McMahon said.

Netball and women’s sport has come a long way since McMahon started playing professionally in 1997, making it much more available to junior netballers.

“It was a long time ago when I started, but I’ve really enjoyed seeing the evolution and progression of not just netball, but women’s sport too,” McMahon said.

“We were training a couple of days a week and playing without getting paid for it, so it’s incredibly different from when I started playing.”

Professional netballers in Australia did not always receive adequate pay or resources for the work that they were putting in, which was the case for many female dominant sports.

It wasn’t until 2016 that a Collective Player Agreement was introduced to double the minimum wage for professional netball players and allow them to play full-time.

“There’s definitely more work to do, but there’s been such an improvement, especially recently,” McMahon said.

As both a player of the Super Netball League and an Australian Diamond, McMahon cares deeply about the progression of women’s sport and the future of netball in Australia.

“There’s so many things to be proud of as a sport and I love seeing how much the game has grown from where it started,” McMahon shared.

Last year’s Suncorp Super Netball season set an all-time attendance high with 386,455 spectators, continuing its streak as the highest-attended women’s sport league in Australia.

For past players like McMahon, these numbers are a reflection of the hard work and advocacy efforts overtime for women’s sport and female athletes.

“We’ve now got ten thousand Vixen’s members and we’re selling out John Cain Arena on a fairly regular basis, so there’s still massive participation numbers in netball which is great,” McMahon said.

As for the future of netball, McMahon hopes that the game continues to progress and hit record-breaking figures each year as the sport continues to gain more support and attention.

“I think what excites me most is that while there has been all that shift and change, we’ve only just scratched the surface of what’s commercially possible,” McMahon said.

“We can still think outside of the square for how we can grow to bring netball to new audiences, build new fandoms, and really highlight and amplify what’s great about netball,”

As a mother of two and a true sporting legend, McMahon continues to impact the direction of netball and inspire young players who dream of following in her footsteps.

From being a young girl playing country netball to becoming one of Australia’s most successful female sporting athletes, Sharelle McMahon is a champion of netball both on and off the court.