Super Netball’s best buy almost signed for grand final rival

Source : ABC NEWS

In her debut season, Elmeré van der Berg is Super Netball’s top scorer.

Shooting 708 goals throughout the home and away rounds at 90 per cent, the South African has been a force under the post, helping the Adelaide Thunderbirds cement their ‘favourites’ tag and claiming several Player of the Match awards.

The first of these standout performances happened in game one, where Van der Berg broke a club record for most points in a game (59). Most recently, the 191cm tall import was also named MVP in the semifinals, when three different goal keepers tried and failed to contain her.

On Saturday night, she’ll once again have a huge role to play for the Thunderbirds, spearheading their attack in the grand final. Rewind a couple of years though and she could’ve been playing for the opposition.

After impressing at the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town, Van der Berg was offered a chance to join the Melbourne Vixens for the 2024 season.

A contract in the world’s best league is something most would kill for. Van Der Berg declined.

She’d rushed back too quickly from ankle surgery to play at the major tournament, pushed through pain in each game and ended up needing a second operation in the space of 12 months. The ordeal meant she wasn’t in a good headspace and her love for netball had waned.

The then 22-year-old was seriously contemplating retirement.

Plus, she was scared about the level of commitment a professional set-up would require.

From the outside looking in, Van der Berg tells ABC Sport the general perception other countries have is that Super Netball athletes here have to give 100 per cent of their energy and get zero free time. This is what they assume it must be like.

So instead of penning a deal with Vixens, she took a break, let her injury heal properly and signed a 2025 UK Super League contract with Manchester Thunder.

The competition’s part-time program felt less intimidating — running two to three training sessions a week outside of business hours to accommodate jobs and tertiary study.

That year, Van der Berg absolutely dominated. She was the best goal shooter in the league, tallying 567 goals at 92 per cent accuracy and 87 super shots.

The experience reignited her passion for the game, had her looking for the next challenge and reconsidering her chances down under. Could she genuinely play Super Netball?

Multiple Zoom conversations with Thunderbirds head coach Tania Obst and a casual meeting with the team at the end of the Proteas tour in Australia last October sealed the deal.

Van der Berg would follow in the steps of fellow South Africans Lenize Potgieter, Bongi Msomi, Shadine van der Merwe and Sanmarie Visser, and be a Thunderbird.

“Everyone has their view about how it is in Super Netball and the initial impression I got was that netball would be my whole life and I thought I wouldn’t like it,” Van der Berg said.

“It’s not like that at all; you have so much time for yourself and the player management is insanely good.

“I originally spoke with Vixens and then just before I needed to sign, something inside of me was like ‘no’ … I don’t see it as a twist of fate that I will now be playing them in a grand final, they’re a really good team, but maybe it just wasn’t the team I was supposed to join.

“Everything coming to Thunderbirds felt so right that I never hesitated, I was like ‘yes, let’s go’.”

There have been further surprises for Van der Berg. Despite her success in England, she honestly didn’t expect to do this well and thought it would take longer to find her feet.

But when asked to reflect, she found it easy to identify the key reasons behind her excellent form.

A desire to prove people wrong.

“There were lots of opinions after I got announced,” she said.

“I have a resting bitch face, everyone knows that I don’t smile on court and people make assumptions that because I look like that, the defender is in my head which is not the case.

“I’m straight faced because I’m focused and that misconception made people think I won’t be able to handle the Super Netball defenders.

“Since I was little, I wanted to prove people wrong and reading those comments, seeing what people thought, I was like ‘okay, let me just shut you all up’.”

Learning how to build strength and fuel her body.

“We have a, not a stigma necessarily, but a thing in South Africa where we need to be this lean girl, skinny and I didn’t gym because I thought I might pick up weight,” she said.

“Coming to Super Netball, I needed to be strong to play against the defenders because they are strong and that’s been my biggest learning.

“We didn’t eat much, so when you step on court you don’t have energy, whereas now, I eat a lot.

“If you’re not in the environment you wouldn’t know and I would love to see more South Africans come here and see that’s how it’s supposed to be if you’re going to be the best.”

The tweaks the Thunderbirds staff have made to her game.

“The coaching staff prepared me well, we did a lot of video analysis, they’ve helped me find variation to be able to read when I need to go between a holding or moving shooter,” she said.

“I don’t only get over balls now, I actually get falling front, reverse shuffling back into the one.

“I’ve been training at goal attack a bit as well and learning what I need to do in that position.

“And defensively, realising who I need to cover at different stages … it helps training every day against Shamera Sterling-Humphrey, because I think I have her on a hold and then she comes flying past me and intercepts the ball … I have to play smarter to stop her.”

Van der Berg believes Adelaide is an underrated city and likes that it feels similar to her hometown — just outside of Bloemfontein — except with beautiful beaches.

The fun, light-hearted environment has made for a “lovely six months.” As has been getting to know New Zealand midcourter Kate Heffernan.

The pair met while playing internationally in the Taini Jamison Trophy last September and have been roommates since arriving in Australia.

Constantly in each other’s pockets, Obst has nicknamed them ‘the Van der Beg twins’, which feels ironic, as Heffernan is a real twin. Her sister Georgia also plays for the national team.

If Van der Berg isn’t the buy of the year. Then it must be Heffernan.

The centre has been direct in attack and relentless in defence — racking up 233 assists, 14 intercepts and 34 deflections across the regular season.

“Kate is a smart player and I’m grateful she’s in my team and we’ve been able to experience all of this together,” she said.

“The first day driving to training we were very stressed, we didn’t know what to expect, the whole car ride was dead silent, we didn’t say one word.

“It’s nice to have gained that friend, that you didn’t know at all, to living together, to being so close — we actually said with Commonwealth Games coming up, we’ll have sleepovers in each other’s rooms.”

ABC Sport will live blog the Super Netball Grand Final between the Adelaide Thunderbirds and Melbourne Vixens on July 4 from 7pm AEST.