Congratulations to the 2012 Telstra NetMum, Jillian Boyle from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland!

I had the hard task of being on the judging panel and there were so many fantastic stories about mums all around Australia going above and beyond to support the game of netball.

I loved reading about Jillian’s dedication to her five daughter’s netball careers, and how her car “opened like a canteen” to feed the masses.  I have to say Napoleon could have been referring to a netball team when he said “an army marches on its stomach…” keeping netballers fed and watered is an important part of the job for a netmum! I am eternally grateful for my mum’s efforts to keep my lunch box well-stocked when I was a young player.  I couldn’t have got through all of those netball carnivals without her culinary efforts!

So where will Jillian be heading to in order to watch the Grand Final? At the moment that is anyone’s guess.  This is the tightest finish ever to an ANZ Championship, so I can’t help Jillian out with her packing by giving her an idea of where she will be off to as part of her prize!

I think it’s a matter of have your passport ready, as the two top NZ teams of Mystics and Magic look capable of challenging for the title.  Will this year be the first time the ANZ Championship Grand Final is held in NZ? My tip is that could be case.  If not I think it will be the Melbourne Vixens or Adelaide Thunderbirds who will be flying the Australian flag.  But with two rounds to go and the Firebirds and the Swifts lurking in 5^th and 6^th spot anything can happen.

Wherever the Grand Final is played I am sure it will be a cracking contest.  I am really looking forward to meeting Jillian and sharing the excitement with her – she deserves nothing less as a reward for being such a great mum and our first ever Telstra NetMum!