It was a café discussion with fellow Queensland Firebirds training partner Maddi Ridley which cemented Lily Gribble’s belief combining full-time work with growing netball commitments was worth it if it leads to one day playing in Suncorp Super Netball.
Gribble was coming off the back of arguably her best season of netball having played a leading role in the TAE Aerospace Ipswich Jets’ dominant HART Premier Netball League premiership, being named the Katie Walker Medallist as the league’s MVP and then being signed as one of seven training partners for the Firebirds’ 2025 SSN campaign.
That elevation to train with the Firebirds and be part of their pre-season under new Head Coach Kiri Wills had to be tempered with the fact Gribble would still be working full-time as an Account Executive with media agency OMD.
The demand on Gribble and Ridley – who debuted for the Firebirds during the 2024 SSN season – was a topic of conversation for both players early in the pre-season grind but one which brought with it clarity and commitment.
“It's a lot, but it's also exactly what I expected and it's exactly what I signed up for,” Gribble said.
“I distinctly remember going for a coffee with Maddi Ridley in October last year, and we both suspected there would be a few points in the first half of this year where we would think to ourselves, ‘oh my gosh, this is just too much’, or, ‘oh my gosh, is it still worth it?’
“We both agreed that we would just look back on that moment in that coffee shop and go, ‘this is what we wanted.’
“We knew what we were getting into. And I think that kind of separates the people that can from the people that can't.
“It's the people that just go, ‘no, I know this is worth it, and it's what I want to do’, and they just stick to it.”
The support of her employer has played a big role in Gribble taking the next step in her netball career – a relationship she describes as “open and honest” with a balance of give and take that is crucial to combining her on and off-court demands.
Wearing the Firebirds’ purple dress in the SSN remains the ultimate goal, although not one she necessarily believed could be a reality as a young fan looking up to female athlete role models such as Laura Geitz.
Like many children growing up, Gribble dabbled in other sports – including basketball like her former NBL-playing father Luke – but netball was the sport that captured her heart.
“Netball - I just loved it - and I think that I particularly had lots of female athletes that I looked up to in netball,” she said.
“I always was such a fan of the Firebirds … players like Laura Geitz that I was such a fan of and I wanted to be like.
“My parents saw that passion and helped me to achieve my goals there.”
Having come through that pre-season with the Firebirds, Gribble is now fully focused on delivering for the Firebirds Futures during their Super Netball Reserves campaign – which continues with a double-header at Nissan Arena this weekend against GIANTS Netball and the Adelaide Thunderbirds.
A first-up loss to the Melbourne Mavericks in Waverley last weekend hasn’t diminished Gribble’s desire to keep turning heads, as she continues to seek her drive to one day achieve her ultimate goal.
“It's the highest level of netball that I get to play during my year, pending any opportunities with the Firebirds,” Gribble said.
“The opportunity to verse interstate opponents and test your skills on these players who you might never have even met before, that's very different from playing in the State League, obviously, where everyone knows who you are, what your strengths are, your weaknesses are.”
The Firebirds Futures play two home matches as part of the second weekend of the Super Netball Reserves, facing GIANTS Netball on Saturday at Nissan Arena from 7.30pm before taking on the Thunderbirds Futures at Nissan Arena on Sunday from 12pm. All Firebirds Futures home matches will be live streamed via NetballQTV. Visit NetballQTV.com.au for more information.
