It was a memorable night for the NSW Swifts at the 2022 Netball NSW State Dinner with Club centurion Cath Cox, current assistant coach Natalie Avellino and the Class of 2006 inducted into the organisation’s Hall of Fame.
On a night when former Swifts captain Abbey McCulloch also took out the NSW Coach of the Year Award, the netball community came together to celebrate some of the game’s greatest champions.
Cox, a multiple Premiership winner in both the yellow and red dresses of the Swifts, shone on the world stage with the Australian Diamonds, winning two Netball World Cups and a Commonwealth Gold medal.
She won four Premierships as a Swift and captained the side to the inaugural ANZ Championship title in 2008 when the club rebranded from the Sydney Swifts to the NSW Swifts.
One of 10 Swifts centurions, Cox finished her Club career in 2014 in the colours of the Melbourne Vixens when she won another Premiership in her final National League game.
Cox was also part of the Sydney Swifts team which went unbeaten throughout the 2006 Commonwealth Bank Trophy competition.
Under the leadership of Liz Ellis and players such as Cox, Ali Broadbent, Kim Green and Susan Pettitt, the Swifts would prove themselves to be a cut above the rest (full team list below).
For the Swifts, and Foundation Coach Julie Fitzgerald, 2006 would mark the first year of an unprecedented threepeat with the Club going on to win the final Commonwealth Bank Trophy in 2007 before the Swifts then claimed the first trans-Tasman ANZ Championship a year later.
Pettitt, Kim Green, Sam May, Jackie Byrne, Erin Bell, Vanessa Ware, as well as Fitzgerald and assistant Jenny O'Keeffe were in attendance to accept the honour on the team's behalf.
Avellino, meanwhile, has been a stalwart of the Swifts’ coaching staff for the past four years and been involved in two Premiership-winning campaigns as a specialist shooting coach. Earlier this year she was elevated to Assistant Coach for 2023 after Bec Bulley’s departure to the Queensland Firebirds.
As a player she was of the finest shooters to ever grace a court, and enjoyed a fine playing career that started and finished in New South Wales before she transitioned into coaching.
A World Cup winner with the Australian Diamonds in 1995 and a Commonwealth Games silver medallist in 2006, Baulkham Hills junior Avellino made a huge impact at home and abroad, especially in New Zealand.
Swifts Executive General Manager Kath Tetley congratulated the inductees on their respective honours.
“At the Swifts we are very proud of our Foundation Club heritage and the rich legacy that was created by the likes of Cath Cox, Julie Fitzgerald and the 2006 Premiership team,” she said.
“Without this history we wouldn’t be where we are today and I know what was achieved then still inspires our current group of champions today.
“It is also a very special occasion for Nat who has really become a key part of our Swifts family over the past four years. She too played a huge role in the inspiring a generation of players in the early days of the National League and we are delighted for her.”
Swifts – Netball NSW Hall of Fame inductees
- Catherine Cox AM
- Natalie Avellino
- 2006 Swifts (Leah Shoard, Erin Bell, Mo’onia Gerrard, Adelaide Johnson, Jackie Byrne, Selina Gilsenan, Liz Ellis AM, Catherine Cox AM, Alison Broadbent, Kim Green OAM, Samantha May, Chelsea Pitman, Vanessa Ware, Susan Pettitt, Jo Sutton, Head Coach: Julie Fitzgerald AM, Assistant Coach: Jenny O’Keeffe, Manager: Jan Troy, Team Doctor: Dr Grace Bryant OAM, Team Physio: Sean Mungovan)
