‘I cried when I missed out’: Veve relieved Tonga will be at full strength for netball series

The timing of the 2025 Pacific Aus Sports Netball Series has pleased four-time champions Tonga Tala, who have found it much easier to field a team than it did last year.

Beginning Monday, in Brisbane, the highest-ranked netball team in the Pacific heads in at full strength.

Back in the line-up is captain Hulita Veve and experienced defender Kelea Iongi, who were tied up in 2024 with their respective Queensland Firebirds and Central Pulse commitments.

It seems the Melbourne Mavericks have learnt from their mistakes and also released goal shooter Uneeq Palavi from her pre-season prep after the controversy caused by their prior reluctance to let a training partner go and represent her country.

Palavi travelled interstate despite the club’s warnings it could cost her a Super Netball debut and ended up being a vital cog in their 72-58 victory over the Fiji Pearls in the final, contributing 63 goals at 95 per cent in that match before being named the Player of the Series.

This year’s shift to an earlier time slot in the calendar is pure coincidence from an organisers’ perspective, but it has made the world of difference to the participating teams.

If it was up to captain Veve, the PacificAus Sports Series would be run outside the peak professional netball seasons every year.

“It was definitely hard missing out,” Veve told ABC Sport.

“I remember crying when I found out that I couldn’t play because I was so devastated.

“Luckily, I was still able to be involved on the sidelines, helping to coach the girls that were able to play and giving them advice.

“But it’s definitely hard to sit and watch, so it makes me grateful that I’m able to play this year.”

Tongan Netball chief executive Salote Sisifa raised the issue on ABC’s Pacific Beat and brought it to the attention of the wider netball community.

Sisifa even went as far to suggest that the selection process was so tough, they were considering forfeiting the series.

“I completely agreed with Salote’s thoughts on that one,” Veve said.

“I think it is unfair that our games are scheduled in season so that we can’t play, which impacts our team performance and our world ranking.

“The rules for some nations and not others are a bit rough at the moment.

“Australia and the other top ranked countries don’t have games in season and if they would, then their Super Netball teams would suffer majorly.

“I do think it’s a concern, and something I reckon the sport could do better at … the timing this year is great … I feel like we should be treated fairly, so we can get the game time we need with each other leading up to major tournaments.”

From no ranking to eighth in the world

Despite the issues last year, the PacificAus Sports Series has done wonders for Tonga’s ranking and ability to stake its claim as a serious global contender.

Prior to the inaugural tournament in 2022, the nation was not ranked, as they hadn’t played enough international matches during COVID.

Now they’re in the top 10, they’ve appeared at the most recent World Cup, and are in the running for a place at the 2025 Commonwealth Games.

“It’s pretty crazy to think that we’ve won this series four times in a row,” Veve said.

“But our mentality coming in has to be that we’re not going to win again.

“It gets a bit harder each time because of the pressure and expectation.

“We’re just trying to stay humble and hope we can get that trophy again.”

Beyond the team’s on court success, there’s a real sense of what this series means to Tonga and their efforts to raise their profile as a sporting nation.

The players have been welcomed back to the country multiple times to be honoured by the royal family, and their Tala name was selected by Queen Nanasipau’u as a nod to the country’s rare sea-diving bird that is considered to be a good omen.

Right now, the team is entirely made up of Australian and New Zealand-based talent, but there is hope that as netball’s popularity grows there will be players ready to compete from the islands.

“We’re really proud of our rise and there’s not that many of us Tongan netball players around, so for us to be now eighth in the world is a huge deal,” Veve said.

“They don’t even have a netball court in Tonga, they use a car park after work hours and recently they’ve started to run programs for kids there, which is really cool.

“Every time we go back, the people are so excited that we’re putting their country on the map, and as a very small country, they really respect that about us.”

Scotland to debut at series

For the Tala to have dominated again whilst missing their key leaders, the question in 2025 is will anyone be able to stop them at full strength?

Although its the Scottish Thistles first appearance at the tournament — taking Singapore’s usual spot as the one team outside of the Pacific region competing — their new Australian head coach likes to think they’ll give the title a red-hot crack.

Kath Tetley was recruited late last year at a critical time for netball in Scotland, with the governing body preparing to host the next Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and work on building a stable future for their elite netballers in an era without a dedicated Netball Super League team.

Prior to that, Tetley was a sports administrator for close to 30 years.

In her most recent role, she was the general manager at the NSW Swifts — offering the Super Netball side a wonderful parting gift with the signing of Kiwi import Grace Nweke.

But Tetley is best known for being the general manager of the 2015 Netball World Cup held in Sydney, dubbed one of the most successful tournaments of its kind.

Aside from her work running the sport, Tetley has also coached in representative sports high schools, state representative teams, and in the NSW Premier League.

Her connections have helped Thistles captain Emily Nicholl and vice-captain Hannah Grant land contracts with clubs like the Panthers and Eastwood Ryde Hawks in Sydney this year.

The national side are currently ranked 10th in World Netball and feature regularly in major tournaments. But now the Strathclyde Sirens are no longer in the Netball Super League, the players and team have freed up their calendar to play more international matches.

For a country with just 11,000 participants, they punch above their weight globally.

The PacificAus Sports Series therefore offers them a crucial opportunity to prepare for next year’s Commonwealth Games, especially against Pacific teams like Tonga, who they lost to at the World Cup.

“It has been my dream to coach the Thistles for a while because my grandmother is from Aberdeen in the Scottish Highlands,” Tetley told the ABC.

“We’re here to win and I don’t say that trying to be cheeky or brash, but when you’re 10th in the world you know the other teams will be coming for us, so we can’t take anything lightly.”

How can I watch?

The PacificAus Sports Netball Series will run from February 17 to 22 at The Queensland State Netball Centre in Brisbane, featuring the Australian First Nations Black Swans, Samoa Tifa Moana, Tonga Tala, PNG Pepes, Scottish Thistles and Fiji Pearls.

It is a free event open to the public and for those that can’t attend in person, the matches will be streamed in Australia on Kayo Freebies.

International audiences can stream the series live and on-demand via Netball Pass netballpass.com