IT’S a defensive partnership that has proven itself in the HART Sapphire Series, now Remi Kamo and Ruby Bakewell-Doran can’t wait to get the band back together at the Queensland Firebirds.
Kamo and Bakewell-Doran experienced premiership-winning success as teammates at the ACU Brisbane North Cougars before the latter’s rise into the Firebirds’ fulltime contracted list last year broke up their partnership.
Much to Bakewell-Doran’s delight however, Kamo will join her on court for the Firebirds this year after securing her own fulltime contract for the 2023 Suncorp Super Netball season.
It’s a dream come true for the 28-year-old, who represented Queensland at 17U and 19U level before stepping away from the game.
“When I was about 15 to 17 I got a little bit jaded around that age because I was so busy,” Kamo said.
“I did the International Baccalaureate so my load academically was really intense and then I had four or five netball teams during the season and I got to the end of Year 12 and I was like ‘I’m too fatigued, I can’t manage all of these things’.”
Lured back to netball by former high school coach Amanda VanderWal to play for the Cougars, Kamo not only rediscovered her love of the game but would go on to form a formidable pairing with a young up-and-comer in Bakewell-Doran.
Signed by the Firebirds for the 2022 season, Bakewell-Doran ended a breakthrough year as an international player after debuting for Australia during the Constellation Cup against New Zealand.
Seeing Bakewell-Doran in a gold dress was no surprise to Kamo however.
“She's extremely impressive,” Kamo said.
“It's funny because I think even before she went up to SSN, me and my partner had this conversation where we're like, pretty sure Rube's going to play for Australia, right? We always thought this because she's just so good.
“She's so clever. She's so motivated and committed … even when she was coming through Cougars, she just elevated so quickly and everyone was just like, 'wow, how are you like this?'
“She's a star. Very proud of her.”
Reunited, the pair are now excited to see what they can bring against the world’s best attackers in the SSN.
“Remi is so calm and collected at the back and I'm the one who is getting angry and getting frustrated because that's how I win ball, when I'm sort of amped and she calms me down,” Bakewell-Doran said.
“We've got this really good balance which can be hard to find. It's pretty cool.
“The fact that we have won some pretty awesome games together, there's a lot of trust there as well that I know that she will have my back in the hardest moments.”
