Whenever Paige Hadley dons the red of the NSW Swifts or the green and gold of the Australian Diamonds she cherishes every moment after the hell she went through to wear those colours.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The new Swifts vice-captain will don the singlets of club and country in the next five weeks in a hectic period that includes the start of the inaugural Australian Super Netball season. The torturous knee injury that curtailed her year in 2014 thankfully now just a motivating memory.
Hadley is on the Sunshine Coast this weekend playing in the new-look Swifts' first official practice matches of 2017. On Thursday she'll fly to Perth with the Australian Diamonds, and from there to South Africa for two weeks and Britain for five days to play in the quad series.
By the time she lands back in Australia, it'll only be 10 days until the Swifts' season opener against the newly formed Giants.
The ruptured ACL she suffered early in 2014 cost her a spot at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, and a share of the spoils collected by the gold-medal winning Diamonds.
"Straight away when I did it I thought about that [missing the Commonwealth Games] and I thought 2018 is definitely where I want to be," Hadley said.
"2014 was pretty hard and it was pretty hard to watch and when the team was announced, not to be a part of the squad or anything with everything that happened was pretty hard to take.
"In 2015 I was able to come back for the first game and it kind of took me a while to build and then towards the end was the World Cup and it really came together for me, which was convenient timing.
"That World Cup was in Sydney, my home town, all my family and friends were there. I couldn't have asked for more of a fairytale ending to the 12 months of rehab.
"Every time I get into the green and gold I just feel more and more special. Having it taken away from you - you don't realise [what it means] until that happens."
Hadley was named vice-captain of the Swifts on Saturday, while long-time teammate Abbey McCulloch will skipper the team this season.
Three new teams have been formed for the forthcoming national netball league: the Sunshine Coast Lightning, the Giants in Sydney, and Collingwood. Each club has plundered two former Swifts: Caitlin Thwaites and Sharni Layton went to Collingwood, Stephanie Wood and Laura Langman to the Sunshine Coast and Susan Pettit and Kim Green are now Giants.
"It's definitely a new era," Hadley said. "We've obviously had a lot of changes this year, and coming into a new competition it's a nice time to start fresh with me and Abbey as leaders.
"The big names we've had at the club, like Pratts [Pettit] and that are gone, so it definitely does feel like a change.
"It's still the red Swifts. Me and Abbey have been here for a few years so we still just want to keep that going through the culture and the club.
'It's exciting. With our team, we're so young and a bit inexperienced, so I think we've got nothing to lose, really, coming up against the Giants. They have big names on paper. Sydney's absolutely going to love the rivalry that grows from the Swifts and the Giants.
"It's so exciting to be a part of. I'm only 24, so I've still got a long way to go. I couldn't have been born at a better time."
