Melbourne Vixens Win Unlikely Super Netball Premiership

The Melbourne Vixens are the 2025 Super Netball champions, sending coach Simone McKinnis out a winner in her final game with a 59-58 win over the West Coast Fever.

After winning each of the first three quarters and leading by five goals at the final change, The Vixens survived a late Fever charge to hold on and become just the second team to claim the title after finishing in fourth – following on from the Sunshine Coast Lightning in 2018.

It’s an incredible turnaround for a side that looked unlikely to make even play finals when they slipped to 2-4 before McKinnis dropped her coaching bombshell.

Furthermore, they trailled by double-digits in the fourth quarter of last week's preliminary final.

Vixens star Jo Weston said “I’m so happy we could send her out. It’s very rare you get fairytales like this".

Led by match MVP Kiera Austin’s supershots in the first half, it was the defensive work of Weston and Rudi Ellis in a dominant third term that set up the win.

A late Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard supershot gave the Fever a chance with less a minute to play - but the Vixens were too good in the dying stages to hold on.

The Vixens' one-goal victory seals the club’s second-ever premiership – remarkably also against the West Coast Fever back in 2020.

Melbourne had entered the grand final having lost their past two – against Adelaide last season and the Fever in 2022.

While it was jubilation for McKinnis and the Vixens, it was devastation for the Fever, who entered the grand final as red hot favourites riding a record-breaking 13-game win streak.