[Ian Harkin]

#1314880

Kangaroo Island rising star Georgie Horjus has signed with the Adelaide Thunderbirds for 2021! 😍🙌

Full story – https://t.co/yihDp3Q6Nc #fiercetogether pic.twitter.com/l0VvhWjjjQ

— AdelaideThunderbirds (@AdelaideTBirds) October 14, 2020

[Ian Harkin]

#1315346

Lenize Potgieter and Samantha Gooden join Georgie Horjus in the Thunderbirds shooting circle next year.

https://adelaidethunderbirds.com.au/news/thunderbirds-secure-shooting-circle-2021

[Netballcrazy1]

#1315379

Interesting that they re-signed Gooden. I don’t think she would’ve been first choice if the super shot wasn’t in play.

I’m just again devastated that Hodges wasn’t given a chance.

[Tully]

#1315525

Thunderbirds didn’t offer Shimmin a contract!!!

[Jbss]

#1315528

Honestly just when you think Tbirds have started to build a great spine for their roster they throw so many curve balls, they change key players every year.

[Netballcrazy1]

#1315534

WOW! I think this is a bad decision. Shimmin has been important to the Thunderbirds, comes off the bench and fits seamlessly into the game even if she’s spent most of the game on the bench. Her experience and consistency has been important for the Thunderbirds. Even her loyalty and attitude has been amazing.

At this point, the experience of Pitman and Shimmin has been lost and the talent in Glasgow. Pitman has been important in the development of Horjus. This has become very clear this past season and right now all I see is youth, too much youth. I see a lack of experience and the lack of a player with a calm head on their shoulders.

At this point I really don’t know what management is doing, just as they start to show some promise, they overhaul the whole roster. As a Thunderbirds fan, I’m getting sick and tired of the way they’ve gone about their decision making the last few seasons. I think the management needs an overhaul

[Ian Harkin]

#1315564

View this post on Instagram

To my family, friends and the pink army I am so utterly sad and disappointed to say that unfortunately I am not in the Thunderbirds future plans and I will not be returning to the club for the 2021 season. It is such a shame to not be returning as I felt like we had such a special group of women this year and we were building towards something amazing. The Thunderbirds club has watched me grow into the woman that I am today, It has taught me resilience, to always back myself no matter what and to take every opportunity with both hands because you don’t know when it could be your last and preseason training is no joke 🤣 I have met and played with so many amazing women throughout my time there and I want to thank the club for all the amazing experiences during my time there. My absolute passion for the game has not faded one bit and I know I have so much more netball left to play. Most importantly I want to say a massive THANKYOU for all the support I have received from the community and the PINK ARMY week in and week out it means so much and I can’t wait to still be a very active member in the South Australian netball community xx Signing off Thunderbird number 54

A post shared by Kate Shimmin (@kateshimmin) on Oct 19, 2020 at 1:00am PDT

[Fluffy]

#1315586

And Beth Cobden has just signed for Loughborough in the Superleague – so she won’t be back either. What IS going on in Adelaide?

[Netballcrazy1]

#1315587

That is the question I’ve been asking for the last four years

[K2]

#1315589

I don’t know why Adelaide Thunderbirds thinks it’s a good idea to do a post celebrating each of Shimmin’s nine years at the club if they have given her the boot – just highlights her loyalty and contribution that they have decided to pass on. A lot of angry fans in the comments.

[Zara Collings]

#1315591

If I was a current or young Tbird watching the way they are just dismissing all the players that have shown them loyalty I’d be seriously considering giving them my time and loyalty!

[al_ex]

#1315592

The Thunderbirds have the most atrocious player management. Unless they somehow lure some really strong interstate or international talent, I don’t really understand how Gooden, Williams and Blackman are more valuable to their premiership chances than Glasgow, Pitman and Shimmin. That’s not even taking into consideration all the players they’ve already lost or are actively ignoring (like Hodges).

[Netballcrazy1]

#1315598

100% agree Zara and al_ex.
And you’re right, it’s gotten to a point where I’m reconsidering my membership as well as general loyalty to the club. Player management is indeed atrocious and it’s not going to look good to potential players that they try to lure in the future. Not that it’s not hard enough already since it’s Adelaide.

I seriously don’t know where they go from here or if there’s anyone who can step in. It’s been a good five years of poor performance, poor management, and issue after issue. At some point I’d hope someone higher up (not sure who that would be, maybe someone from NA or SSN) would step and be like, you need to restructure who you’re going about player management. Nothing too serious but just give them a bit of a nudge in the right direction. God everyone on the outside can see it, I have no clue what’s going on inside.

[T-BirdsAreGo]

#1315646

Its so frustrating!

They really bothered me with the Membership refunds too, which further highlighted the lack of organisation and professionalism at T-Birds at all levels.

[Netballcrazy1]

#1315651

Thunderbirds are light years behind other clubs n terms of professionalism. My limited involvement at Netball SA alone has shown that. I guess partly they lack a lot of funds for hiring the right people who have the right experience and can make the necessary changes (they rely on many volunteers) and lack the funds for investing in changing the way they go about things on a general level. They really do lack organisation and professionalism and their poor decison-making is snow-balling and has affected the team for multiple seasons. Not a good look, especially when they have such strong young netballers coming through the pathway.

[Author]

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