How it all Started:
In 1998, the then president of the Casey Netball region Mike Spain approached the Casey Regional Netball Committee who were based in Gippsland with a view to starting a State League Netball branch of the Casey region. But at that time, Casey were more focused on doing well in the upcoming Country Cup tournament and State League just wasn’t on the agenda.
Stage One:
So where to go to from here? After Mike’s initial knockback, he arranged a meeting with some of the 17 Under squad Casey parents including Heather McLeish from Drouin and Brian Jogoe from Pakenham plus others. It was all agreed for the need to create a platform for our junior and senior players in the Gippsland region to compete against the best players in the state.
The Birth of Storm - Eastern Storm State League Netball Club:
After the Country Cup, these same parents scheduled a meeting at Rod and Heather McLeish’s home in Drouin to discuss the formation of a State League Netball Club (Storm’s first committee was formed).
So our journey begins with the birth of Eastern Storm State League Netball Club.
In 1988, we entered our 17 Under squad in the Spring Season at the Old Royal Park Netball Stadium in Parkville. At that time, Netball Victoria controlled the 17 Under competition at Royal Park. We made the semi-final in our first season. Our goaler, Melissa English from Warragul, won the goal shooting average, shooting a staggering 96% for State League across all the grades including Championship.
Stage Two:
After the Country Cup victory for the Casey Senior Squad, Mike who previously approached Robyn Pymm to coach the Casey Senior Squad, approached Robyn again to be head coach for Eastern Storm. Robyn stated that she needed support and asked us to approach Betty Carroll, a former Australian player and former team mate of Norma Plumber. Betty agreed to take on the roll as Head Coach for Eastern Storm, with Robyn as coach of our Senior Squad.
Betty Carroll got to work very quickly, evaluating the talent within our junior groups with plans to expand our senior squads as well. She also commissioned the help of her son Chris Carroll and Anthony Vaughn, who at the time were both members of the Victorian Men’s Open Netball Squad. They came on board as specialist 17 Under Development Coaches. Chris and Anthony took our top 17 Under squad in Division One, to four consecutive grand final wins (Autumn and Spring Seasons at Royal Park) in 2000 and 2001. At that time, it was one of the strongest 17 Under competitions in the state.
Some of the players to come out of this squad were Briony Cargill who was one of the youngest players at 16 years to play for Melbourne Phoenix and Renae Hallinan who went on to play for the Melbourne Vixens and represent Australia playing for the Australian Diamonds in wing defence.
Jess Thomas from Drouin came from this same Storm Development Program. Jess who played in wing and goal defence went on to represent Victoria in every state junior squad from the 17 Under age group till she captained the all Australian 21 Under Squad.
Stage Three: Merger with Gippsland
In 2000, Eastern Storm State League Netball Club merged with Gippsland who were based in Leongatha and Korumburra Regional Gippsland, Victoria.
Gippsland had Championship Division in State League and Eastern Storm had lower divisions in State League with a large junior development base.
The Birth of Gippsland Storm:
The name of the club was then changed to Gippsland Storm State League Netball Club. Lisa Alexander (the current Australian Diamonds Coach) was one of the founding members of Gippsland. Lisa coached the newly merged club for the first twelve months. It was a difficult year with some of the Gippsland players retiring just before the merger. With that talent drain, there weren’t many victories in Championship Division that season. So the following season, Netball Victoria relegated our Championship Squad down to Division One State League.
It took several years of hard work to get back into Championship Division with a succession of head coaches. It wasn’t until 2008 that we eventually secured Championship Division again, with the focus drive of Simon O’Shanassy as Head Coach.
Simon’s story began back in 2005. His first goal was to put plans in place for the club to get back into Championship Division in State League. It took a series of steps which Simon will expand on when you read on.
Simon O’Shanassy Head Coach:
Simon’s dedication to the club has been extraordinary, his ability to take raw talented individuals and mould them into cohesive functional squad of talented netballers, within just a few weeks, has to be seen to be believed. As Head Coach during the last ten years, not only has he nurtured players but also junior coaches, many of whom were former Gippsland Storm players.
Simon’s Notes:
2005
2006
2007
2008
2010-2014
2015
Gippsland Storm Vice President: Brendan Murnane
Brendan’s daughters were selected and started playing for the club back in 2005.
Because of Brendan’s interest in the club and his corporate background, it wasn’t long before he was elected president.
His presidency came at a curtail time, many of the original committee member’s daughters had finished their run with the club and the remaining committee members were becoming burnt-out. So the injection of new blood with some of the junior parents putting up their hands and new leadership with Brendan at the helm, set the club up for another ten years of stability and growth.
But it wasn’t without its challenges, the biggest challenge came in 2008, missing out on a VNL licence. The general consensus within the Netball community was that it was a mere formality that we would secure one of the ten new VNL licences issued by Netball Victoria, given our strong development history and our regional significance.
Key Points:
When Netball Victoria notified us in late 2008, that we had missed out on the VNL licence, we were gutted and bewildered.
Putting this bitter disappointment behind us, as you read on there is always a silver lining to every story, with the merger in 2014 with Monash Central who have a VNL licence.
To form a closer relationship with Gippsland Storm they also changed their name to Monash Storm. So Storm lives on in the Victorian Netball League. This relationship gives Gippsland Storm a direct pathway for our players to enter the VNL.
Brendan's Notes:
Gippsland Storm Elite Development Netball Club has been a powerhouse on the Victorian netball scene since the clubs inception in 1998. A combination of Eastern Storm State League Netball Club and Gippsland State League Netball Club who were bought together to give the local regions players the chance to represent our area at the highest level possible.
We have seen may changes over the time not the least of which was the change from the old State League to the current VNL model. Storm was very successful in the old system working our way through the ranks to the Championship Division and developing many of Gippsland’s talented players along the way. Unfortunately we were overlooked when the VNL licences were released and many thought that would be the end for the Storm – how wrong they were.
We have not only survived but prospered – our focus changed to being the regions Elite Development Club for predominately the areas younger players and we began to supply many State level players to various VNL clubs – that however was nowhere near enough for the Storm.
We have recently formally aligned with Monash Centrals and as a nod to our rich heritage Monash changed their name to Monash Storm - a new ‘Super club’ was formed.
Straight up in the first full year of the alignment Monash captured the 2014 VNL Under 19 championship with many former Gippsland Storm players shining in the Premiership win.
This is just the beginning – with the regions very talented netballers and the great opportunities and coaching provided by the Gippsland Storm coaches and committee we continue to strive and exceed our stated goals of “Providing Gippsland’s most talented players the best coaching, training facilities and opportunities to develop players to their maximum potential.
In 1998, the then president of the Casey Netball region Mike Spain approached the Casey Regional Netball Committee who were based in Gippsland with a view to starting a State League Netball branch of the Casey region. But at that time, Casey were more focused on doing well in the upcoming Country Cup tournament and State League just wasn’t on the agenda.
Stage One:
So where to go to from here? After Mike’s initial knockback, he arranged a meeting with some of the 17 Under squad Casey parents including Heather McLeish from Drouin and Brian Jogoe from Pakenham plus others. It was all agreed for the need to create a platform for our junior and senior players in the Gippsland region to compete against the best players in the state.
The Birth of Storm - Eastern Storm State League Netball Club:
After the Country Cup, these same parents scheduled a meeting at Rod and Heather McLeish’s home in Drouin to discuss the formation of a State League Netball Club (Storm’s first committee was formed).
So our journey begins with the birth of Eastern Storm State League Netball Club.
In 1988, we entered our 17 Under squad in the Spring Season at the Old Royal Park Netball Stadium in Parkville. At that time, Netball Victoria controlled the 17 Under competition at Royal Park. We made the semi-final in our first season. Our goaler, Melissa English from Warragul, won the goal shooting average, shooting a staggering 96% for State League across all the grades including Championship.
Stage Two:
After the Country Cup victory for the Casey Senior Squad, Mike who previously approached Robyn Pymm to coach the Casey Senior Squad, approached Robyn again to be head coach for Eastern Storm. Robyn stated that she needed support and asked us to approach Betty Carroll, a former Australian player and former team mate of Norma Plumber. Betty agreed to take on the roll as Head Coach for Eastern Storm, with Robyn as coach of our Senior Squad.
Betty Carroll got to work very quickly, evaluating the talent within our junior groups with plans to expand our senior squads as well. She also commissioned the help of her son Chris Carroll and Anthony Vaughn, who at the time were both members of the Victorian Men’s Open Netball Squad. They came on board as specialist 17 Under Development Coaches. Chris and Anthony took our top 17 Under squad in Division One, to four consecutive grand final wins (Autumn and Spring Seasons at Royal Park) in 2000 and 2001. At that time, it was one of the strongest 17 Under competitions in the state.
Some of the players to come out of this squad were Briony Cargill who was one of the youngest players at 16 years to play for Melbourne Phoenix and Renae Hallinan who went on to play for the Melbourne Vixens and represent Australia playing for the Australian Diamonds in wing defence.
Jess Thomas from Drouin came from this same Storm Development Program. Jess who played in wing and goal defence went on to represent Victoria in every state junior squad from the 17 Under age group till she captained the all Australian 21 Under Squad.
Stage Three: Merger with Gippsland
In 2000, Eastern Storm State League Netball Club merged with Gippsland who were based in Leongatha and Korumburra Regional Gippsland, Victoria.
Gippsland had Championship Division in State League and Eastern Storm had lower divisions in State League with a large junior development base.
The Birth of Gippsland Storm:
The name of the club was then changed to Gippsland Storm State League Netball Club. Lisa Alexander (the current Australian Diamonds Coach) was one of the founding members of Gippsland. Lisa coached the newly merged club for the first twelve months. It was a difficult year with some of the Gippsland players retiring just before the merger. With that talent drain, there weren’t many victories in Championship Division that season. So the following season, Netball Victoria relegated our Championship Squad down to Division One State League.
It took several years of hard work to get back into Championship Division with a succession of head coaches. It wasn’t until 2008 that we eventually secured Championship Division again, with the focus drive of Simon O’Shanassy as Head Coach.
Simon’s story began back in 2005. His first goal was to put plans in place for the club to get back into Championship Division in State League. It took a series of steps which Simon will expand on when you read on.
Simon O’Shanassy Head Coach:
Simon’s dedication to the club has been extraordinary, his ability to take raw talented individuals and mould them into cohesive functional squad of talented netballers, within just a few weeks, has to be seen to be believed. As Head Coach during the last ten years, not only has he nurtured players but also junior coaches, many of whom were former Gippsland Storm players.
Simon’s Notes:
2005
- Started at Gippsland Storm as Co-Coach of the Division 1 State League team
- Took over coaching Division 1 side prior to commencement of season after Matt Lapsley withdrew.
- Went from 2nd bottom in 2004 to 4th placed in 2005, and a maiden finals appearance
- Lee Kitchin won State League MVP
2006
- Successfully challenge to have a Division 2 side in State League
- Went through the season only losing two games
- Win Premiership in Division, beating Ballarat by 20 goals
- Kylie Lush wins Hot Shot Award, shooting 87%for the season
- Un-successfully challenges to be promoted to the Championship Grade of State League
2007
- Misses out on a Back to Back Premiership by 1 goal in Grand Final to Bayside
- Extracts revenge on Bayside, defeating them to be promoted to Championship Division for 2008
2008
- Disappointing news for Gippsland Storm, with Netball Victoria announcing the introduction the newly formed VNL competition, and Gippsland Storm were not successful in obtaining 1 of the 10 available licences.
2010-2014
- Coach Storm's Open Team to Premier 2 Division Premiership at Waverley
- Coach Storm's Under 15/1 side to 7 of a possible 10 Premierships at Waverley
2015
- Coach Storm Under 15/1's to an undefeated season at Waverley (Now Winning 8 out of 11 Premiership).
Gippsland Storm Vice President: Brendan Murnane
Brendan’s daughters were selected and started playing for the club back in 2005.
Because of Brendan’s interest in the club and his corporate background, it wasn’t long before he was elected president.
His presidency came at a curtail time, many of the original committee member’s daughters had finished their run with the club and the remaining committee members were becoming burnt-out. So the injection of new blood with some of the junior parents putting up their hands and new leadership with Brendan at the helm, set the club up for another ten years of stability and growth.
But it wasn’t without its challenges, the biggest challenge came in 2008, missing out on a VNL licence. The general consensus within the Netball community was that it was a mere formality that we would secure one of the ten new VNL licences issued by Netball Victoria, given our strong development history and our regional significance.
Key Points:
- Our training base is at the Cardinia Life YMCA Pakenham. A convenient indoor location for players from the Gippsland to access training and the door step to regional Gippsland.
- We had and still have a very strong dynamic junior development program, one of the best in the state.
- We had proved to Netball Victoria that our development program had worked, with inspiration, dedication and hard work over five years; we had earned our stripes, worked our way back into Championship Division in 2008.
- In our submission there were many other points raised in support of Gippsland Storm being issued a VNL licence. The pre-eminent point being our regional significance, being positioned in the middle of the eastern growth corridor one of the largest growth corridors in Australia and at the doorstep of the greater Gippsland region.
When Netball Victoria notified us in late 2008, that we had missed out on the VNL licence, we were gutted and bewildered.
Putting this bitter disappointment behind us, as you read on there is always a silver lining to every story, with the merger in 2014 with Monash Central who have a VNL licence.
To form a closer relationship with Gippsland Storm they also changed their name to Monash Storm. So Storm lives on in the Victorian Netball League. This relationship gives Gippsland Storm a direct pathway for our players to enter the VNL.
Brendan's Notes:
Gippsland Storm Elite Development Netball Club has been a powerhouse on the Victorian netball scene since the clubs inception in 1998. A combination of Eastern Storm State League Netball Club and Gippsland State League Netball Club who were bought together to give the local regions players the chance to represent our area at the highest level possible.
We have seen may changes over the time not the least of which was the change from the old State League to the current VNL model. Storm was very successful in the old system working our way through the ranks to the Championship Division and developing many of Gippsland’s talented players along the way. Unfortunately we were overlooked when the VNL licences were released and many thought that would be the end for the Storm – how wrong they were.
We have not only survived but prospered – our focus changed to being the regions Elite Development Club for predominately the areas younger players and we began to supply many State level players to various VNL clubs – that however was nowhere near enough for the Storm.
We have recently formally aligned with Monash Centrals and as a nod to our rich heritage Monash changed their name to Monash Storm - a new ‘Super club’ was formed.
Straight up in the first full year of the alignment Monash captured the 2014 VNL Under 19 championship with many former Gippsland Storm players shining in the Premiership win.
This is just the beginning – with the regions very talented netballers and the great opportunities and coaching provided by the Gippsland Storm coaches and committee we continue to strive and exceed our stated goals of “Providing Gippsland’s most talented players the best coaching, training facilities and opportunities to develop players to their maximum potential.
2019 Camp Photos
Early Promotional video