Thunderbirds co-captain to lead 'connected' team in grand final repeat

A culture of camaraderie combined with good recruitment has elevated the Adelaide Thunderbirds into competing for their third premiership in four years, co-captain Georgie Horjus says.

The team is preparing to visit Victoria and play the decider against the Melbourne Vixens on Saturday night at the John Cain Arena.

"We've been building over the years," Horjus said.

"When I first came to the club we were losing games by 20 points, so I think [coach] Tania Obst did a lot on the culture at the club.

"Over the last couple of years we've done so much on our culture, and we're such a connected team on and off the court."

While the team has recruited "some amazing international players", including South African shooter Elmeré van der Berg and New Zealand centre Kate Heffernan this season, and co-captain Shamera Sterling-Humphrey and defender Latanya Wilson from Jamaica in previous seasons, she says it has a "good mix of South Australian players as well".

This includes Horjus herself, who hails from Kangaroo Island and is in her sixth season with the Thunderbirds.

"I think it's the buy-in from the players to build those connections off the court, and that's really helped on the court as well," Horjus said.

Cross-border rivalry

The Thunderbirds last won the premiership in 2023 and 2024, winning the latter by just two points over the Melbourne Vixens, who went on to win the flag in 2025 and are looking to go back-to-back this year.

Adelaide most recently beat them in the semi-final on June 20 at home, and are preparing to face off again after the Vixens beat West Coast Fever in a preliminary final on the weekend.

"I think coming up against them is always a challenge," Horjus said.

"They have world-class players, so you know you're going to always get a great game, and you have to put your best game out there to win.

"There's been a few wins and losses along the way, but it's always a great game when we come up against the Vixens."

She said the Thunderbirds will be looking to curb the Vixens' fast ball movement and attack.

"Slowing that connection down will be really important for us, and they don't lose much ball, so we need to build that pressure over the game to win ball and defence, and then be really good in attack and convert any ball we get," Horjus said.

Despite the Thunderbirds being minor premiers this year with a near flawless season of 13 wins, the grand final will be held in Melbourne due to Netball Australia's ongoing $15 million sponsorship deal with Visit Victoria.

Horjus says the fact the Thunderbirds won their place early in the finals series means fans had benefited from some extra time to consider a Melbourne trip.

"Our fans are so loyal so we're going to have so many supporters there, which is really exciting," she said.

Nerves could be high ahead of grand finals, but Horjus said that was all part of the experience and the Vixens would be feeling "exactly the same".

She will be "soaking it all in and trying to get around the teammates as well, because there's a few girls that haven't played in grand finals".

"We head to Melbourne a day earlier so we do have an extra to hang around," Horjus said.

"We'll have a few team activities that keep us busy and a few fun things that keeps our mind off the game as well.

"For us, it's all about controlling your controllables this week."

The two teams play on Saturday at 7:30pm ACST.