The QBE Swifts Academy side for the 2025 Super Netball Reserves competition will have a wealth of experience to lean on with Lili Gorman-Brown named Captain.
Gorman-Brown, who is a current Swifts Training Partner (TP) with 18 senior Club appearances to her name, will lead the feeder team with the support of fellow TP Jess Conlan who has been appointed Vice-Captain.
The highly-anticipated SN Reserves competition will officially make its return this weekend, providing a critical development pathway for emerging national talent.
Introduced in 2024, the competition was established to support talent identification and to provide additional match play for athletes on the cusp of Suncorp Super Netball (SSN).
The 2025 season will inject an eighth SSN affiliated team to the competition with the Melbourne Mavericks Reserves added to the lineup.
All eight teams will play each other once across a seven-week SN Reserves season that runs alongside SSN from Round 4 to Round 10.
The QBE Swifts Academy get their campaign underway this Sunday with a clash against the Thunderbirds Reserves.
A Finals Weekend in Melbourne, held between June 20 – 22, will see all teams compete in three sessions. The 2025 SN Reserves champion will be crowned at the end of the weekend in a Grand Final match.
Swifts Assistant Coach Dylan Nexhip said the Club was excited to see the competition return.
“At the Swifts we know that depth is key and high-quality match play is essential so we are delighted that the SN Reserves competition is back bigger and better in 2025,” he said.
“The Swifts Academy acts an integral component of our High-Performance Program, and we know our athletes and performance team have been working extremely hard to prepare for this competition.
"SN Reserves is truly about seeing which players are ready to make the move into SSN, so expect to see talent scattered across the court.
“It promises to be a wonderful competition and I cannot wait to see what our team does.”
QBE Swifts Academy Head Coach Lenore Blades congratulated Gorman-Brown and Conlan on their appointments.
“We have a huge depth of talent in NSW and Lili and Jess are two of the best,” Blades said.
“Lili has proven herself at SSN level and that experience will be huge when we face some of the best opposition talent in the country.
“Equally, Jess has been a standout in the Swifts environment and I know she will be fantastic support to Lili when it comes to mentoring the younger players in our team.
“Last year SN Reserves proved to be a brilliant experience and development opportunity for our Academy, and this year we feel it’s going to be better again.”
