The GIANTS are delighted to announce that Nerida Stewart has been appointed to the role of assistant coach for the 2025 Suncorp Super Netball season.
The current Australian Kelpies head coach and former assistant coach with the West Coast Fever, Stewart joined the GIANTS ahead of the 2024 SSN season as a specialist coach but following an impressive first season in orange has been elevated to the part-time assistant coach role for the 2025 season.
A former National League player with experience working across an array of teams in pathway netball, as well as three years as the head coach at the NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS), Stewart is viewed as the perfect fit to work alongside coach Julie Fitzgerald as the GIANTS chase success in 2025.
“I feel so honoured to be working alongside Julie and with the GIANTS again in 2025,” Stewart said.
“The opportunity to be involved as a specialist coach in 2024 was a great introduction into the culture here at the GIANTS and the group’s desire for success.
“The environment here aligns so closely with my coaching ethos and to have another season working a lot closer with Jules, the staff, and the super talented playing roster is so exciting.
“This competition is the best in the world, and I will be working alongside one of the greatest coaches of all time, with world class athletes. What is there not to be excited about,” Stewart added.
Stewart – who hails from the New South Wales’ Central Coast- said working with the team as a specialist coach in 2024 helped her gain a great understanding into the group and what can help drive the team to the next level in 2025.
“The GIANTS are an extremely connected group who constantly turn up and strive for excellence and success in everything they do,” she said.
“The energy amongst the girls is contagious and so authentic and it’s supported by the coaching and support staff who have an intense drive to achieve success in 2025. We’re confident we can showcase the best version of the GIANTS next season as we strive towards our goals.”
The mother of five says she’ll bring a new perspective along with a strong work ethic while also helping keep it an enjoyable environment to be a part of.
“I’ll be hoping to bring a fresh set of eyes with some new viewpoints and strategies, as well as relentless energy in always aiming to be better.
“I am super competitive, and I’ll certainly look to push our girls, but I also like a good laugh too.”
Stewart added that her coaching style focuses on getting to know players off the court in order to best help them on it.
“Working with the person concurrently with the athlete is a major cornerstone to my coaching ethos,” she said.
“It assists me in understanding them as best I can in order to tap into the areas needed to foster excellence and drive autonomy.
“Fine-tuning the fundamentals of the game in an elite space and problem solving with the players as to when and where they are best used is an area I really enjoy.”
Having forged a strong relationship over more than two decades, Stewart is excited to continue her work with Fitzgerald ahead of the 2025 SSN season.
The pair will also work together but in reverse roles when they lead the Kelpies [Australian Men’s Netball team] for their upcoming Trans-Tasman and World Fast5 series.
“Julie plucked me from obscurity back when I was 17,” Stewart recalled.
“She opened up an opportunity for me to realise the potential I had [as a player], and in a strange way she is doing that now too in a coaching capacity.
“We share our views on many things and we can often agree and we can disagree, but in the end we share the same aspirations and both chase success and an enjoyment in the craft of coaching.”
“If you had asked me 25 years ago when I retired [from playing] if I would ever be coaching in this space then I would have laughed. But here I am working with Julie in an SSN space and nationally with the Kelpies. I have learnt too well - never say never. Anything is possible.”
The GIANTS will return for pre-season in staggered groups over the next few weeks as they prepare for the 2025 Suncorp Super Netball season.
