Super Netball Round-Up: From retirement to record breaker, Romelda Aiken-George keeps reinventing herself

Round 10 is done and with just one month left to play of the regular season, there has been a major change at the top of the Super Netball ladder.

The top-ranked Melbourne Vixens had gone undefeated for nine weeks straight and managed to avoid the injuries that have plagued the rest of the league. That is, until Saturday night, when three key players were unavailable to take to the court — Hannah Mundy (heel), Rudi Ellis (knee) and Em Mannix (illness) — and they were unable to rotate through their roster as usual.

Sunshine Coast Lightning, desperate to remain in touch with the top four after three consecutive losses, finally got their stacked roster to click into gear. They took advantage of the depleted Vixens line-up to hand them their first loss, 66-56.

In Brisbane, the Queensland Firebirds held their annual Pride Match, wearing specially made dresses for the occasion. Even though it was a seventh vs eighth battle against the winless Giants, it was an important 71-64 victory to keep momentum ticking over in their hunt for fourth place.

On Sunday, the West Coast Fever celebrated Romelda Aiken-George's milestone 255th game. She now holds the record for most national netball league appearances across Commonwealth Bank Trophy, ANZ Championship and Super Netball.

Aussie Diamonds centurion Cath Cox had held the record for 12 years and neither legend could hold back tears in the post-match presentation.

Aiken-George is supposed to be watching from the sidelines, after calling time on her career at the end of last year. But she was lured out of retirement by fellow Jamaican Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard to be her replacement this year while she is on parental leave.

Aiken-George had already broken her individual record for goals in a game in round four, slotting 67 against the NSW Swifts in a 20-goal victory. So, what is the secret to her longevity? How is she still able to match it with the world's best in her 19th season? We'll delve into that.

Unfortunately for the woman of the moment, the Swifts were much improved in their second meeting, spoiling the party 63-57 as another team trying to make a late challenge for finals.

To finish the weekend, the Adelaide Thunderbirds were able to hold off a surging Melbourne Mavericks, 55-51, in what was the tightest game of the round. In doing so, they reclaim the top position the Vixens pinched in round six and are in the hot seat for the minor premiership.

If you missed it, don't worry — we'll get you up to speed with our Super Netball round-up.

Record-breaking Romelda

There wasn't a dry eye as Aiken-George thanked the people who have shaped her record-breaking career.

Marking her 255th national netball league game in a green dress was probably something the 37-year-old hadn't envisioned when she signed with her first Australian club in 2008 as a teenager. Or even when she fell pregnant in 2021 after remaining loyal to that same team for 14 years.

But the original import, who paved the way for other great Jamaicans, has now played for four clubs.

Back in 2007, it all started when then-head coach of the Firebirds, Vicki Wilson, turned on the TV to watch the Diamonds take on Jamaica in a two-match series in the lead up to the World Cup.

The 196cm goal shooter was relatively new to the international scene and was expected to face a baptism of fire against opposition captain Liz Ellis.

"She came on and took this amazing ball in the air," Wilson told ABC Sport.

"Then she took another magnificent high pass and you could see Liz wondering, 'What the hell just happened?'

"I think she got three or four that way. Her vertical ability was amazing, so that was when I thought, 'Oh, hello'.

"You could see she had potential."

Later that year, Aiken-George would spearhead Jamaica's attack at the major tournament in Auckland, clinching bronze alongside her sister Nicole just two days before she turned 19.

Wilson had a conversation with Netball Jamaica's president at the World Cup and Marva Bernard was very excited her bright young star was offered the opportunity.

The move was tough and Aiken-George felt homesick after leaving her family and moving abroad to start a new life. She has openly spoken about the culture shock she experienced in her first season and how she mostly stuck to what she knew at dinner time — chicken, corn and rice.

Wilson fondly remembers their one-on-one game analysis meetings, where the shy shooter would order fried eggs and chocolate thickshakes.

Ultimately though, Aiken-George's sacrifice and successful signing sparked a connection between the Australian league and Jamaican talent. Now there are six other Sunshine Girls signed across the Super Netball league.

"Marva knew, for Jamaica to be successful, that the girls needed to be in a daily training environment," Wilson said.

"I don't think even in her wildest dreams, though, that she would have thought of the impact Romelda could've had on the sport in this country and what it's done for their national team."

Aiken-George won three premierships with the Firebirds (2011, 2015 and 2016). Off the court, she obtained her citizenship, met and married husband Daniel and gave birth to daughter Gianna. In all that time, she only missed the 2022 season due to pregnancy illness.

But before she had even given birth, the club decided not to re-sign her for 2023, and it changed the course of her career. Had she not been cut from the roster, Aiken-George would've likely been a one-club player. Instead, she has moved interstate three times in four years.

The Swifts revived her love for the game, offering her a training partner contract to replace injured Trinidad and Tobago shooter Sam Wallace-Joseph. That year they finished runners-up by one goal. When Wallace-Joseph returned in 2024, Aiken-George moved to Adelaide, won a premiership with the Thunderbirds and was named grand final MVP.

At the end of 2025 though, her body felt like it had taken a beating. All those years playing at the top had taken their toll. Aiken-George retired and took on a coaching role at Ipswich Girls' Grammar School. Then she got the call from the Fever. Coaching would have to wait.

Turns out, despite the tired and sore body, Aiken-George still has what it takes. She sits fourth in the league for total goals (441). The holding shooter has also been given a licence by her new coach, Dan Ryan, to target super shots (3).

This is one example of the way Aiken-George has continued to reinvent herself. Although each opportunity has required her to move further and further away from her husband and home in Brisbane with a toddler in tow, each new environment under different guidance has unlocked skills and a different way of thinking. Each scary leap has led to further growth.

"Every game I feel like I gain more superpowers," Aiken-George said.

"I'm doing things that I normally wouldn't do."

"I still love competing … It's just this adrenaline, this fire that I want to get out there … I want to be better than who I was the last game."

So, what has Vicki Wilson made of it all, watching from afar, after signing Aiken-George on that rookie contract so long ago?

"She's no longer the shy, introverted teenager she was when she arrived," Wilson said.

"She is very confident and knows what she wants and what she brings to a team.

"It's been remarkable. The end is near and she knows that, so she's making the most of it."

Aiken-George laughed when asked if she'd continue with the Fever next season. She knows Fowler-Nembhard, aka, "the big dog" is coming back, and has hinted at an interest in coaching.

Wilson says her experience will be invaluable if elite level coaching is indeed her next step.

"Coaching is about developing relationships with your players and she has an understanding of what it's like to be the new kid on the block," she said.

"In an environment where you don't know anyone, she has the skills to be really welcoming and a great deal of netball knowledge."