IT’S been a whirlwind 12 months for the second recipient of the Julie Wardle Medal, with Swan Hill’s Stevie Bibby winning the Central Murray’s A grade netball best and fairest on Sunday evening.
Bibby was a popular winner on the night, with the Swan Hill defender returning to the game after welcoming son Henry to the world last November.
This year has also seen the former Balranald premiership defender and Moulamein coach change clubs, with Bibby quickly becoming an integral member of a Swan Hill team that will attempt to defend their premiership title this Saturday against Lake Boga.
Having begun with Kalkee and then Minyip-Murtoa, Bibby now calls Swan Hill home after being welcomed into the Swan family with open arms this season.
“It’s been great – the girls have all been really welcoming and I’ve loved my first season with the team,” Bibby said.
“I love playing for the girls.
“It’s great to have three coaches as well.
“It’s different but I’ve really enjoyed it, but especially ‘Mads’ (Madeleine Nalder) with her being a defender.
“I’m learning so much from her, but they are all a great bunch of girls and a great club.
“They all bring something different to the group.
“They all have great netball brains, they complement each other perfectly and inspire us girls to give everything we have.”
Bibby polled an astonishing 33 votes to win her first Julie Wardle Medal, with Lake Boga’s Emma Peacock finishing as runner-up four votes behind.
Sunday night wasn’t Bibby’s first experience as a league best and fairest, having previously won in the North Central Netball League years ago.
But it was her first as a mother, with Bibby quick to note that the challenge of being the best netballer in the league wasn’t even close to having the toughest job of all.
“To be honest, I’m probably not the fittest I’ve been having had a baby last November,” Bibby said.
“It’s taken a bit of a toll on the body but having the girls behind me like ‘H’ (Hayley Neuschafer) and Tess (Meney), I can’t thank them enough.
“They’re a great bunch of defenders and we’ve really gelled together nicely.
“It’s definitely challenging but I have a great support network behind me: my partner (Xavier) helps out a lot and then when he’s busy on the farm, his mum steps in.
“It comes with its challenges but it’s definitely very rewarding and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It would be amazing to share that with my family if we do win on Saturday.
“‘Xav’s the reason I’m at Swan Hill.
“It’s been his club for most of his life.
“He’s the reason I’m here and hopefully everyone will get around all us girls on the weekend.”
Although Bibby wasn’t involved with the Swans’ premiership success last season, she is also no stranger to performing on the biggest day on the sporting calendar, having been one of Balranald’s better players in their record-breaking 2022 victory – coincidentally against the Swans.
Bibby will be a key player for the Swans and is expected to line up on fellow team-of-the-year representative Katie Carmichael, with the Swans defender hoping history repeats itself.
“You can never be too confident going into a grand final as anything can happen,” Bibby said.
“We got a lot closer in the semi-final than we did earlier in the season.
“We didn’t know what to expect from them (Lake Boga), but after the first time we played our coaches did their homework and came back to us girls and we really worked on our game plan and improved a lot since before the semi-final.
“We came up just short two weeks ago but we’re trending in the right direction and hopefully we’ll go one better this weekend.”
