NS EXCLUSIVE: Julie Fitzgerald AM

Cover Image: Danny Dalton

Now 25 years deep in an illustrious, elite coaching career, Julie Fitzgerald AM isn’t quite sure how she made it so far. She took a different pathway from the elite-player-turned-coach model, combined it with the ‘chaos’ of bringing up four young children, and has come out the other side as one of Australia’s most respected, decorated and loved sporting mentors. Known for her successful development of young athletes and numerous premiership titles, Fitzgerald tends to brush aside accolades, instead speaking of how lucky she’s been.

“I’ve not only had great players, but very athletic players and players who wanted to win. It’s not hard to get the best out of players with those attributes.”

Fitzgerald’s time as a coach started well before she stepped into the elite arena. And while some of those teams are hidden in the mists of time, she started coaching state NSW teams in 1985, before moving up through the state league with Ku-Ring-Gai Cenovis, and on to the Swifts.

Her 15 year stint at the club was a successful one that included five titles, and the growth of both her family and the professionalism of netball. While Fitzgerald often felt torn between her family life and her job, she now believes that bringing them together was the best childhood she could have given them.

“It was chaotic. The kids were little, they were busy and had so much going on in their lives, and so much going on in mine. I think I spent half my life feeling guilty for it.

“We had a discussion around the table one night, and I told them how I felt. They were quite astounded. They felt so lucky to have grown up with people like Liz Ellis and Cath Cox who we are still close to and call family friends.

“So bringing them up like that was probably the best thing for them in the end, as they all have busy, active lives. I now have kids who think they can do anything, and that everything is achievable.”

Julie Fitzgerald gives her side a pep talk. Image by: May Bailey

Fitzgerald has watched netball’s evolution over a long period of time, but it wasn’t until the start of the Commonwealth Bank Trophy in 1997, when she took over at the Swifts that she saw it become more professional. She explained, “We started playing in a true home and away season. We thought it was great at the time, and although I look back now and realise it was very, very semi-professional, it was a turning point and we’ve continued to grow from there.

During her time at the Swifts, Fitzgerald won five titles, and coached a ‘who’s who’ of Australian netball. Together with Ellis and Cox, other players in her ranks included Catriona Wagg, Kim Green, Selina Gilsenan, Briony Akle, Mo’onia Gerrard and Bec Bulley, to name a few.

Laughing at memories of their younger selves, Fitzgerald said, “I watched those players grow from ratty teenagers to the accomplished young women that so many of them are now. They were an incredible team, with some incredible women, but it’s their growth that I remember most fondly.”

An internal review done by Netball New South Wales controversially dislodged Fitzgerald without notice at the end of the 2011 season. She said it was a ‘difficult’ time. “If anyone had come to me and said, ‘I think it’s time’, I would have understood. If you can coach any team for 15 years you’re pretty lucky, and I would have been happy with a tap on the shoulder. But the way it was done I regretted.”

“I can move past things pretty quickly though. I had a day feeling sorry for myself, but I’m very much one to believe that when one door closes, another one opens, and it certainly did for me.”

In one of number of sliding doors moments that she’s experienced, the newly available Fitzgerald was head hunted for the role of head netball coach at the Australian Institute of Sport. She said of the experience, “At the Swifts we were running with very limited staff and things like sports science weren’t available to us.

“Down at the AIS I got such an introduction to it from a highly skilled group of people. I learned so much about sports science, recovery and all the things that add up to being a better coach. I loved that period of time, and it breaks my heart that the programme was closed.”

While Fitzgerald had been commuting between the AIS and her home in Sydney for three years, a huge change was on the horizon. The fulltime netball programme closed, bringing Fitzgerald’s employment to an end. A chance conversation with a player agent opened up future horizons, when he contacted her about a new team for his athlete.

“He then asked me what I was up to. I said I had no idea and would worry about it later. He said, “(Waikato Bay of Plenty) Magic want a coach.” It never even occurred to me to apply as I didn’t think a New Zealand team would ever take an Australian. But he rang them, organised an interview for me and I flew over there a couple of days later. They told me I had the job on the spot.

“It happened too quickly for me to even think about it. Then I got home and didn’t know if I did want to move. But I did, and it was one of the best things that I’ve ever done.”

Giants coach Julie Fitzgerald has always been a strong mentor for her young athletes, featured with Tilly McDonnell. Image Danny Dalton

Living away from her close-knit family, Fitzgerald was well out of her comfort zone. However, the communities of Hamilton and Cambridge adopted her and players who came in from different areas. She said, “They looked after the girls so well. Every family adopted a player who didn’t have a family in town, made us feel welcome and that we had a home away from home. My family came over to visit regularly and I also came home for long periods between seasons. I absolutely loved my time there and made life-long friends.”

Fitzgerald would happily have stayed longer than the three seasons she did, but an offer came along that was too good to refuse – setting up a new club in Sydney.

With the introduction of Suncorp Super Netball in 2017, three clubs were added and the Giants became Fitzgerald’s new home. Setting up the team was like being a kid in a candy store – Fitzgerald was involved in every aspect from building a playing roster, to putting staff together and choosing team colours.

“It was so exciting. For a few months there I worked harder than I’d ever done, but it was so much fun. Every step that we took, every little bit of advancement that we made.”

While it was one of the busiest periods in Fitzgerald’s life, the results were successful. In their brief six year history, Giants have made four finals campaigns and reached two grand finals.

The amount of effort and attention to detail are two of the key platforms that Fitzgerald has built her career on, and she expects no less from the people around her. She explained, “If you aren’t prepared to put the hard work in, then you start to bring the standards around you down. So I do need people, including our players, who are prepared to go to the nth degree to be the best that they can.”

Netball has always been a family affair for Julie Fitzgerald, with two of her grandchildren acting as ball carriers. Image Danny Dalton.

While Fitzgerald is Australia’s most experienced domestic netball coach, she is still on a journey of growth. Learning from the staff around her to the football programme down the hallway, she always aims to extend her knowledge and vision. She also finds it important to listen to her athletes.

“I was never a great player,” she said. “So I feel that when I have elite players on court, they are experiencing things in a different way than I am. I’m very, very keen to know what my players are thinking and doing on court.

“And if I thought I wasn’t doing my job well enough that they couldn’t improve and reach their potential, I would be heartbroken. My job is to make sure they are the best they can be, and I’d be very disappointed if I wasn’t doing that.”

Included in her armoury of skills is honesty, which Fitzgerald believes is what players most respect from a coach. “They want to know what you say to them is what you really feel, and what the heart of the situation is. That might mean some difficult conversations, and whether or not they like what you are saying, you have to have them, and they respect the fact that you are.”

Closing in on four hundred games of national league coaching, Fitzgerald’s love of the sport is as strong as ever. She thrives on a challenge, including the constant juggle of making sure that her players are looked after both on and off court, and that she’s creating an environment they are thriving in.

She said, “I’ve never lost that magical feeling. I always want to know that the players want me to stick around, and that’s it’s not time for a change. And if they did tap me on the shoulder, I’d feel flattered that they knew me well enough to say it.”

Julie Fitzgerald delivers a time out message. Image Clinton Bradbury/Bradbury Photography

With Norma Plummer – still coaching in her late seventies – one of her greatest role models, there’s no sense that Fitzgerald will be done with netball any time soon. And while she loves the day to day grind of the job, she also takes great pride in looking back at what she’s helped to create.

“While the premierships have been amazing, I think I’m very proud of the number of Australian players that have come through our programmes, and seeing where they are now.

“I’m also extremely proud of the Giants and what we’ve achieved in such a short time. Our team is very young, and we’ve been developing players from within our New South Wales pathways – other than Jo (Harten) everyone is from here.

“I think that’s worth celebrating.”

Julie Fitzgerald’s elite coaching resume includes:

1985-1999 Coach of NSW state pathway and senior teams

1994-1996 Ku-Ring-Gai Cenovis in the Sydney State League

1997-2007 Sydney Swifts in CBT (premierships 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007)

2004/06/07 Netball Australia Coach of the year

2008-2011 NSW Swifts in ANZC (premiership 2008)

2008 ANZC Coach of the Year

2009 Head coach World 7 (Taini Jamison trophy after defeating NZ 2 games to 1)

2011-2013 Head coach of netball programme at AIS

2011-2012 Assistant Coach, Australian team

2014-2016 Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic (NZ conference title 2015, 2016)