Tippah Dwan took the competition by storm in her first season in the Suncorp Super Netball. From her debut in round one, it was evident that she was a special talent and a real asset to the Firebirds.
With her ability to convert her Super Shot attempts, Dwan helped the Firebirds in its rise up the ladder after finishing last in 2019.
And with all the fanfare around the Super Shot, it was almost as if Dwan became an overnight superstar in the making for almost two decades.
Dwan was known for taking the long bomb which is no easy feat, especially as it was her first year in the competition. From the get-go she had the confidence to take those shots – when all was said and done, Dwan had converted 46/86 Super Shots.
The Inner Sanctum spoke to Dwan about her first season in the competition and her ambitions in 2021.
It was a memorable debut season but for Dwan, a condensed season due to COVID-19 meant little rest time between games. Dwan said it was something that worked in her favour.
“I really enjoyed it, I thought having games close together made me not think about it as much which was a good thing for me. Just not to dwell on bad games and things like that, so I actually really enjoyed it and to get into things” Dwan told The Inner Sanctum
“[In terms of the Super Shot] I didn’t really think about it, I just thought that was a part of the job that I had to do, and we did a bit of practice and all our strategies in training, we had that strategy in place, which really cemented me and made me more confident to take those shots and then pick and choose when to take them, which was good.”
Throughout her first season, Dwan was able to look to Gretel Bueta (Nee Tippett) as a mentor. Bueta was able to help Dwan with settling into her first season at national level as well as instill the belief that she was capable of anything.
“She just gave me a lot of confidence; she was a big supporter of mine and she always believed in me that was her number one thing,” she said.
“When she was able to be on the sidelines I just went up to her straight away and ask her what I could do to make my game better, and that was really good for me and my confidence and hopefully that will go into this year where hopefully we can play together and see how that goes which will be very interesting.”
Looking forward to 2021, the Firebirds have started preseason for the upcoming season with Bueta set to return this season, as well as a familiar face returning to the Firebirds – two-time Firebirds Premiership player Kim Ravallion. For Tippah, it’s all about building those connections with Ravallion and Bueta.
“Gretel’s not back in camp yet, she’s been chilling with her new baby. Ravs been back she’s the same as she always has been, she’s so strong and it’s so easy to build connections with her too = I’m excited to keep building on it with her.”
The Firebirds had a great backend of 2020, with the team winning four out of their last 5 matches. Including a win over eventual premiers the Melbourne Vixens.
“I think just having a great back end of last season, I think this season we want to start off strong and we all have that belief we can do it. I’m really excited to start playing games and getting into things.”
