About this episode

Maddie Hay discusses her unexpected return to netball after retirement and the challenges faced by Australian players.

Maddie Hay was linked to the Giants for eight years and bled orange before the Super Netball club decided not to re-sign her at the end of the 2025 season. The midcourter felt like it was the end of the road for her in the competition and despite feeling like she had more to give, announced her reluctant retirement. Fast forward to January of this year and she got an interesting call from her former teammate Amy Parmenter asking if she'd be interested in a move to Melbourne. Now she's playing at the Mavericks as a pregnancy cover for Molly Jovic and has found her love for the sport again. Here she chats about her unexpected career trajectory, the lack of opportunity for homegrown Australian players and where it would be good to locate more teams.

People in this episode

Guest: Maddie Hay

Topics covered

• retirement
• comeback
• netball
• Australian sports
• career trajectory
• opportunities for players

Keywords

• Maddie Hay
• netball
• retirement
• Mavericks
• Giants
• Australian players
• career comeback

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Giants, Mavericks, Super Netball

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• Jodi-Ann Ward is gunning for Commonwealth Games gold · April 17, 2026 · 19 min
• No expansion for 2027 · April 14, 2026 · 57 min
• Karin Burger moves to the Sunshine Coast · April 9, 2026 · 30 min

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