Aiken, who got married in September of last year to former Australian basketballer Daniel George, is just two matches shy of 200 appearances. The goalshooter is now in the early stages of her pregnancy but still has her eyes set on the milestone when the season gets underway on March 26.
Aiken, at this point, remains an active member of the roster and the club has confirmed they have no plans to replace her. Despite what is often described as the rough and tumble nature of the Suncorp Super League there is no policy preventing pregnant players from taking part in the competition.
“Romelda’s baby news is brilliant, and the club has been fully supportive of her playing right through until she’s ready to step away,” Firebirds CEO Kate Davies told The West Australia.
“Romelda was fully intending to play at Team Girls Cup, but due to COVID-affected complications, particularly around dehydration, it was deemed unsafe, seeing her ruled unavailable,” she added.
“Romelda is still fully contracted as part of our 10, and hence the club has no ability or desire to name a replacement until she formally withdraws from the team.”
Aiken-George, a stalwart in the netball arena, brings an impressive track record, having participated in 214 national league games and contributing significantly to Jamaica's national team for over a decade.
Her illustrious career commenced in 2008 with the Queensland Firebirds, where she played a pivotal role in securing three premierships and clinching consecutive MVP trophies. Aiken-George, known for her dominance on the court, joined the New South Wales Swifts in 2023, filling in for the injured Samantha Wallace and showcasing her prowess with a notable 847.5 Nissan Net Points.
The prolific goal shooter boasts an array of accomplishments, including holding the record for the highest number of goals in a grand final with an impressive tally of 63. Additionally, she etched her name in Suncorp Super Netball history by becoming the first player to score 3500 goals.
Joining Jamaican teammates Shamera Sterling and Latanya Wilson on the Thunderbirds roster, Aiken-George's arrival is anticipated to fortify the team's attacking prowess for the upcoming season. Thunderbirds High Performance Manager Pitre Bourdon expressed enthusiasm about the newest addition, highlighting Aiken-George's experience and scoring consistency.
"Romelda has been a shooting force in the game for over a decade, as evidenced by her stellar performance in the 2023 season," Bourdon commented. "Her wealth of experience will be invaluable to our relatively young attack end, and we eagerly look forward to welcoming Romelda into the Thunderbirds family for the 2024 season."
Aiken’s 45 goals helped the Queensland Firebirds defeated league leaders Melbourne Vixens 64-58 in a hard-fought game at the Cairns Pop Up Arena on Sunday. Her teammate Tippa Dwan also scored 13 goals in the victory.
Aiken’s 45 goals came from just 51 attempts and saw the Firebirds lead 18-12 at the end of the first quarter. However, it was the defensive efforts of Tara Hinchliffe and Kim Jenner that led to the win.
The Vixens who were losing only their second game of the season rallied to win the second quarter 19-17 cutting the Firebirds lead at half time. The teams scored 13 goals each in the third but the Firebirds outscored Vixens 16-14 in the final stanza to hold on for their fifth win of the season.
At the same venue on Saturday, Samantha Wallace scored 25 goals and her teammate Helen Housby 22 as the New South Wales Swifts pulled off their eighth victory of the season, defeating Adelaide Thunderbirds 57-54 in a nail-biter.
The Swifts got off to a fast start and led 19-12 at the end of the first quarter. However, the Thunderbird rallied to take the second 16-12 and headed into the break trailing by just two goals.
The Thunderbird carried that momentum into the third quarter outscoring the Swifts 15-12 while taking a one-point lead into the final quarter.
However, the Swifts managed to battle back to outscore the Thunderbirds 15-11 and eke out a close victory.
Jhaniele Fowler was the high-scorer on the weekend with 62 goals as the West Coast Fever battled to a 71-66 victory over the Giants.
All 62 goals were crucial for the Fever who had to battle back from a three-goal deficit at half-time having lost the first quarter 15-17 and edged out 18-17 in the second as Jo Harten and Kiera Austin’s 24 goals apiece threatened to run away with the game.
However, the Fever took the lead in the third quarter, which they won 21-15 and then outscored their rivals 18-16 to close out the close encounter.
Despite the win, the Fever remains third in the standings with 34 points.
The recalled Abbeygail Linton is the other 'newcomer' in the team that will led by Romelda Aiken-George with Adean Thomas as her vice-captain. Notably, the team will be without veterans Jhaniele Fowler, Latanya Wilson and Shamera Sterling.
Dixon, who represented England at the U21 level will be making her Sunshine Girls debut after expressing an interested in representing Jamaica for some time, Netball Jamaica Vice President Simone Forbes explained to Sportsmax.TV. She qualifies to represent Jamaica via her grandmother, who is Jamaican.
She has played for the Leeds Rhinos and Super Netball League outfit Loughborough Lightning in the United Kingdom. Standing at 1.80m (5’ 11”), the soon-to-be 26-year-old Dixon can play as goal-shooter, goal-attack and wing-attack.
Linton was selected in the Sunshine Girls squad that played against New Zealand in 2016.
The remainder of the team is comprised of Gezelle Allison, who returns to the set up after giving birth to her first child earlier this year, Theresa Beckford, Amanda Pinkney, Crystal Plummer, Kimone Shaw and Abigale Sutherland.
Fowler, 31, has scored more goals than any other player in the league by some way, having sunk 910 goals from a league leading 967 attempts so far this season. It is the third consecutive season that the towering Jamaican shooter was dominating in the number of goals scored. She also had 66 offensive rebounds, second to Romelda Aiken's 110.
Aiken, who plays for the Queensland Firebirds, was some distance behind with 583 goals as Caribbean athletes asserted their dominance in this category. Trinidad and Tobago’s Samantha Wallace of the dethroned champions New South Wales Swifts, was third in the standings with 522 goals.
Fowler was also heads and shoulders above the rest in net points, the definitive measurement of player performance.
Every time someone scores a goal, blocks a pass, gets a defensive rebound, they get points. The bigger the impact, the bigger the points. If players make mistakes or cause turnovers, they lose points. At the end of the game, each player receives an individual net points score, which represents their contribution to the match.
During the season, Fowler accumulated 1740 net points, more than 500 more than compatriot Shamera Sterling of the Adelaide Thunderbirds, who amassed 1174 net points. Kate Moloney of the finalists, Melbourne Vixens was 700 points back with 1040.
Sterling, who led defensive rebounds with 37 also had the third-best number of intercepts with 37, trailing Kate Pretorius of the Sun Coast Lightning, who had 43 and Courtney Bruce of the West Coast Fever with 42.
Sterling compatriot Jodi-Ann Ward was fifth with 29.
Sterling also had 104 deflections, second most in the league.
The weekend results mean that Romelda Aiken George’s Swifts will take on Shamera Sterling’s Thunderbirds at Qudos Bank Arena on Saturday, June 24, the in the first of two semi-final clashes. The winner will face victor of the West Coast Fever/Melbourne Vixens clash at the RAC Arena on Sunday, June 25.
On Saturday, league leaders New South Wales Swifts fell victim to the Adelaide Thunderbirds who won the electrifying encounter 60-57 at the Ken Rosewall Arena. Thunderbirds led 32-29 at half-time but by the end of the third both teams were locked on 42 points apiece heading into the crucial fourth quarter.
Thunderbirds edged it taking the quarter 18-15 to seal victory.
Eleanor Cardwell scored 25 goals and Lucy Austin 16 for the Thunderbirds, who moved back into second place with their ninth win of the season and broke a nine-game winning streak by the Swifts for whom Romelda Aiken George scored 27 which included her 8000th goal in the league. Helen Housby supported with 11 goals.
Defending champions West Coast Fever slipped back to third after going down 65-62 Collingwood Magpies at the Silverdome to record their fifth loss of the season.
In her last match as a Magpie, Shimona Nelson scored 51 goals which proved to be enough to overcome the 53 scored by Fever’s Jhaniele Fowler and help script the franchise’s fairytale ending.
Meanwhile, the Sunshine Coast Lightning burned the Queensland Firebirds 66-60 and GIANTS defeated Melbourne Vixens 60-57.
The Firebirds got off to a flyer winning the first quarter 20-13. However, the Lightning rallied to win the second quarter 19-17 and close the lead to just five at the half.
The Lightning emerged from the interval with renewed vigour dominating the third quarter 23-15, taking a three-point lead into the final quarter. They would extend the lead to eight by the time the final whistle was blown.
The Firebirds lie sixth on the eight-team table with 18 points after suffering what was their seventh loss. The Sunshine Coast Lightning are second with 32 points.
Meanwhile, in a battle among Caribbean queens, Trinidad and Tobago’s Samantha Wallace was perfect from the field but it was not enough for the New South Wales Swifts, who lost 80-71 to the West Coast Fever on Saturday.
Wallace was 25 for 25 and teammate Sophie Garbin 13 from 18 but the Swifts were unable to overcome the Fever that were powered by Jhaniele Fowler’s 68 goals from 71 attempts in the match played at the Nissan Arena.
At the end of the first quarter, the Fever led 25-15. However, the Swifts were a lot better in the second quarter when each team scored 16 goals.
The Fever opened up the lead by two goals in the third winning the quarter 22-20. However, the Swifts produced a strong finish to win the final quarter 20-19 but it was not nearly enough.
Their seventh win of the season since the resumption, means the Fever have 30 points for third place, two ahead of the Swifts with two rounds to go.
The Melbourne Vixens leads the group with 42 points.
Wallace’s 43 goals came from 45 attempts as the Swifts outscored the Magpies 19-15 in the second quarter to take a four-goal lead into half-time. The first quarter ended 14-14.
Led by Nelson, who had 43 attempts at goal and Gabrielle Sinclair, who was perfect from the field for her six goals, the Magpies closed the gap when they outscored the Swifts 15-12 in the third quarter to keep things close.
However, the third-place Swifts rallied to score 17 goals to the Magpies’ nine to close out the match and seal their third victory of the season.
In the other match played today, Shamera Sterling pulled in two rebounds but had 17 penalties as the Adelaide Thunderbirds lost 58-59 to the Sunshine Coast Lightning. It was their fifth loss on the trot and remain anchored to the bottom of the table.
Lenise Potgieter led the scoring for the Thunderbirds with 34 goals and Georgie Horjus had 20 but Cara Koenen’s 26 goals and Steph Wood’s 16 enough to emerge one-point victors.
On Saturday, the Melbourne Vixens ran out 66-64 winners over Queensland Firebirds, their first win of the season.
The Vixens were near-perfect shooting as Mwai Kumwenda scored 27 goals from just 28 attempts and Rahni Samason scored 19 from 19.
Meanwhile, Romelda Aiken scored 39 goals and Gretel Bueta 16, as the Firebirds lost their fourth match in five games.
She shared the news on social media early on Friday.
“Welcome to this crazy world our beautiful baby Gianna George. We’re so in love with you,” she posted on Instagram.
The post drew reactions from a number of former players including now retired Jamaican player Vangelee Williams, who posted “She’s adorable Diddy. Congratulations to you both.”
Australian player Nat Medhurst, herself a mother said, “A massive congratulations Diddy and Dan. Welcome to the world, Gianna. Lots of love to you all.”
England player Helen Housby was also among those who offered congratulatory messages to the new mom. “Congratulations guys. She’s gorgeous!”
Romelda and Dan, a former basketball player turned businessman, were married in September 2021 at the conclusion of the Suncorp Super Netball Season and have now started to build a family.
Aiken has been playing professional netball in Australia since 2008 when she was signed by the Queensland Firebirds and has won three titles with them. She became an Australian citizen in January 2020.
The almost two-metre tall shooter officially became a citizen of the Land Down Under at her Queensland Firebirds home ground, Nissan Arena on Sunday.
“I am very excited about it. It’s a different opportunity and I cant wait to see what comes of it,” said an enthused Aiken.
“I’ve been lucky enough to have been a part of something so amazing, to be a part of the Firebirds for so many years. They took me under their wings from the first day I got here and I think it’s a massive opportunity, again, to find my spot in the country.”
The 31-year-old Sunshine Girl signed for the Queensland Firebirds in Australia’s ANZ Championship in 2008 and 12 years later has become the team’s longest-serving player. She won two championships there and was the MVP in 2008 and 2009.
In 2014, she became the first player to score 3500 goals in the ANZ Championship.
Aiken’s sister, Nicole, a former Sunshine Girls defender, announced the move on her Facebook page and the news was ‘liked’ by several members of the Sunshine Girls for whom Aiken has played since 2005.
Former Netball Jamaica president, Marva Bernard, also welcomed the news.
Playing for Jamaica, Aiken won bronze medals at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games and silver medals at the Netball World Championships in 2007 and the Fastnet World Netball Series in 2009.
The question remains, however, whether she will continue to represent the Sunshine Girls whom she last played for last July during the 2019 Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England.
