New leaders bring grand plans to GDFNL netball

It has been a busy year for netball in the GDFNL and while the season isn’t over yet, Nicole Smith and Elisha Balins have been working hard behind the scenes to make it all happen.

The pair stepped into their roles for the first time this year, with Smith serving as the Netball Co-ordinator and Balins being appointed as the Junior Development Officer for 2026.

“We started off the season six weeks before the first game, and it was daunting,” Smith said.

“Neither of us have actually run a league before, we’d only done it at club level, so it was definitely an eye opener.”

Smith has previously fulfilled roles with the St Albans Football and Netball Club and has strong skills in leadership, governance, coordination, and stakeholder management.

As a netball player herself, Balins takes on her new role with past experience as a Junior Netball Coordinator for the Modewarre Football and Netball Club for two seasons.

“We’ve been really collaborative in designing the netball program based on how we think it should be, which is what we did with the home and away series this season,” Smith said.

“We’ve worked really well together because we’re really similar people, so Elisha is like a daughter and a best friend.”

As the season has gone on and the pair have become more comfortable in their new roles, both Smith and Balins have introduced new plans and ideas for netball into the league.

From expanding representative netball programs, to organising junior netball camps, and even securing a visit from professional netball players, Balins and Smith have done it all.

“We’ve got some really grand plans for the league, so there’s lots to look forward to and lots to coordinate,” Balins said.

“We’re putting together our first ever summer season which will be a 12 week competition starting in October, so there’s lots of new opportunities.”

As the Junior Development Officer, Balins has a passion for building junior netball programs and creating opportunities that will allow younger netball players to grow and learn.

“One of the really great ways to strengthen a league like this is to start with the juniors, so if we can do it from the ground up, I think that makes a really strong league,” Smith said.

“We just really want to increase the junior competition and start from there,” Balins added.

During their time planning throughout the year, Smith and Balins admit that there is a lot of work that goes into coordinating the netball program, particularly during finals.

“The first week of finals, we probably worked about 80 hours between us, but it’s been so much fun,” Smith said.

“Coming into the finals series, I was doing four to five hours a day just in correspondence and making the rosters so that everything could run smoothly.”

On top of their new roles, Smith and Balins balance full time work, personal commitments and other responsibilities while working as netball coordinators after hours most nights.

“Everything we do is fit around our other jobs, so we work the most random hours ever and our Friday nights are very busy,” Balins said.

Attending meetings, sorting through hundreds of emails, dealing with complaints, entering votes and checking off information are just some of the many jobs of a netball co-ordinator.

While both Smith and Balins admit that their roles can be intense, they couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to manage the netball league and to work alongside each other.

“Running a league is a lot, but we’ve loved it, and we wouldn’t change it,” Balins shared.

“We want the best for this league and so we’re working collaboratively to make it the best that it can be,” Smith added.

With two weeks of finals remaining, Smith and Balins’ busy inaugural season continues as they prepare for Wednesday night’s 2026 GDFNL netball vote count and look ahead to an ambitious new era for the competition.