‘In the best place it’s ever been’: rise of men’s netball opens up new pathways

W ill Whiteacre sometimes imagines he is national team player Brodie Roberts, slicing through the top of the goal circle to receive a feed before turning and shooting a goal with perfect form. It says much about the growing profile and legitimacy of the men’s game in Australia that a 14-year-old from Bendigo has a male netball idol.

Although boys and men have played the predominantly female sport for more than 40 years in Australia, the last decade has seen a spike in participation and mainstream acceptance, culminating in a watershed moment last October, when a series between Australia and New Zealand’s female teams included two televised curtain-raisers between the nations’ men’s sides.

The landmark trans-Tasman series was followed by a game for the Australian men against England in Sydney and a Fast5 series in New Zealand involving the Kiwis and England.

For the first time, the more than 116,000 Australian men and boys like Whiteacre who regularly play the sport saw the men’s game treated as equal to the elite female product. They also saw that there is a pathway to national representation. It was an “if you can see it, you can be it” moment.

It made names such as Brodie Roberts, a sleek shooter who dominated games last October, and national captain Dylan Nexhip, as well-known in netball circles as Liz Watson and Courtney Bruce.

Whiteacre, who was among the first in the stands at Melbourne’s John Cain Arena, said the match mattered a great deal.

“It meant so much to me, and every boy out there playing. It showed that the game we love is here, that there’s a path, a goal to reach in your sport, that you can represent your country, be on telly, all that,” he said.

Even though international netball remains sanctioned