Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Former netball star Kelsey Browne says she’s “incredibly proud” of her boyfriend Luke Jackson and Fremantle as she hopes her WA return doesn’t snap the Dockers’ hot streak.
Browne is back in WA, having spent most of the past few months in the USA helping to cover the NBA finals for ESPN, meaning she has missed much of the Dockers historic 13-game win streak.
She admits she shared some words of encouragement with the Fremantle superstar, hoping she would not be a bad luck charm.
“My dad has been making the same joke, I’ll be there on Sunday and feeling the pressure,” she said on Nova.
“I’ve got a lot of pressure, don’t I? I did say to him yesterday, look, you’re gonna need to perform well this weekend, because otherwise people are going to think it’s my problem.
“But very proud of what he and Freo are doing at the moment, it just makes me a little bit nervous to be going so well right now, but happy to be back, and here for the next, however many rounds we’ve got, and just jumping on the Freo bandwagon.”
The couple, who have been together since 2024, have spent much of the year apart as Browne continues to pursue her broadcasting career, saying Jackson has been her biggest supporter.
“He was incredibly supportive of the whole thing. He was like, You’ve got to go. I think he was more of a fan than I was,” she said.
“I hope that there are things on the horizon, but I also love what I do over here with the NBL and Fox Netball as well, and I hope I can sort of make do with what I’ve got, but I loved my experience over there with ESPN.”
The former Melbourne Vixens and West Coast Fever player also had some words of encouragement before their blockbuster preliminary final this weekend, saying the Adelaide Thunderbirds are not unbeatable despite their dominant season.
“The Vixens and the Fever are going into a very hotly contested final, and you get to test your competitiveness and your game plan in the week before the grand final,” she said.
“So that is always something that I think does work against the teams that go straight into a grand final. Is that week off? Does it become helpful? Because it’s a hindrance because you don’t get to play.”
