At 26, Georgia Tong has made it clear you can become a Silver Fern later in your netball career. Suzanne McFadden follows Tong's unorthodox path to wear the black dress.
When Georgia Tong made her unexpected Silver Ferns debut against England, there was a smattering of 50 people in the stands of the Christchurch Arena. One voice rang out above the rest.
Moments after the fulltime whistle blew in the final test of the Taini Jamison Trophy two weeks ago, Tong’s fiancé, Raniera Takarangi, performed a solo haka in her honour.
It was goosebumps stuff, that made everyone stop and watch. “And it was quite loud,” says Tong - his voice almost drowned out Dame Noeline Taurua’s post-match TV interview.
“But it was a very special moment. He’s very proud of me.”
Tong had found out the night before she was going to sit on the Silver Ferns bench for her first time, in the third and deciding test. Takarangi, a professional rugby player who’s just hung up his boots, jumped on a plane from Hamilton the next day.
“I said: ‘But the flights are $600’,” Tong recalls. “And his words were, ‘Why have money if we can’t spend it on something as important as this?’”
It was a decision neither will ever regret. With just five minutes and 50 seconds left on the clock, Tong took the court wearing her favourite goal keep bib - and became Silver Fern #180.
It was unexpected, because she’d only been called into the Silver Ferns squad the day before the team assembled in Christchurch – on standby in case the four Auckland players stuck in lockdown couldn’t make it south.
And she was still recovering from a fractured rib, likely suffered during her Magic season.
“It was so surreal. I felt like I was in a dream and I was suddenly going to wake up,” she says.
It was an unconventional way to make a debut in the black dress. Yet that’s been the story of 26-year-old Tong’s netball career.
She likes it that way: “Because I can tell a different story.
“When I was younger, being a Silver Fern was never my end goal. I just wanted to be the best I could possibly be. But the closer I’ve got, the more I realise I can actually do this. Now that I’ve done it once and not felt out of place, I’m going to give it my best shot.
“My next goal is to actually be named in the team, rather than as an injury replacement.”
And within a blink, she's made the squad for Silver Ferns series against Aotearoa Men starting this weekend.
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Tong started playing netball at the age of four and has been smitten with it ever since. But it was never the be-all and end-all for her.
She grew up playing in Auckland, but rarely made rep teams. She was a natural defender, but playing in the same age-group as future Silver Ferns Phoenix Karaka and Temalisi Fakahokotau, Tong lived in their shadows.
“I made an NPC squad at 21, but I pulled out to concentrate on study,” she says.
Tong has three degrees: a BA in psychology, a BSC in sports science and a Masters in sports psychology. One day, she plans to be a sports psychologist. But now – for the first time – netball is taking centre stage.
In late 2017, she moved to Hamilton to live with Takarangi, a halfback playing for Waikato. It was almost like going home – Tong descends from Tainui; her marae is Poihakena in Raglan.
The coach at her old Shore Rovers club called a friend, Mary-Jane Araroa, who was then coaching the Waikato BOP team in the Beko League, and told her about Tong.
“MJ said I should come and trial,” Tong says. “I didn’t make the team, but I was a training partner standing in for an injured player for six weeks. When MJ asked: ‘What do you want out of these six weeks?’ I said: ‘I want to be around longer than that and make it hard for you to drop me’. Another injury got me into the playing 10.”
The next season, she captained the Waikato side, and in 2020, she made the Magic.
“I credit a lot of my success to MJ, because she gave me a shot as a 23-year-old who’d never made a rep team and she’d never heard of. So many coaches wouldn’t have.
“It places a lot of value on the National Netball League, because it proves you can play at any age if you want to make it.”
Tong quickly forced her way into the Magic’s starting line-up with her speed, aerial attacking game and disruptive defence.
Because she’s always on the move, her height is deceptive. She may not tower at goal keep, but Tong is actually six foot tall – 183cm.
“I’m a centimetre taller than Jane [Watson] and Temalisi,” she says with a laugh. “I’m quite slight as well.
“Noels keeps reminding me to be myself and play the way that I play. I’m very mobile as a goal keep and I attack ball out of the circle. And I try to confuse space for the feeder and shooter. Taller shooters can’t hold me which puts their whole game off.”
At the end of a tough ANZ Premiership season for the Magic, where they won just one game, Tong found she’d fractured a rib. She still has no idea how.
“I might have cracked it in a game - I’m one of those players who ends up on the floor a lot,” she says. “Then I got a cold and had a few coughing fits.”
“Noels is really good at telling you what you want to hear. It’s like she can read minds."
Tong spent Level 4 lockdown nursing the injury, riding a watt bike to keep up her fitness. “The Ferns physio was saying ‘We’ll make sure you’re ready just in case you get a call-up’. And I was like ‘Yeah, that’s not going to happen’,” she says.
She had two 30-minute court sessions before she flew to Christchurch, after a month away. “It was actually a blessing in disguise, because it gave me a break from netball and a refresh.”
When the phone call came from Taurua the afternoon before the Silver Ferns went into camp, the first thing the coach asked Tong was how her rib was. She’d been cleared to play by a sports doctor, and told playing wouldn’t make it any worse – only delay the healing.
“At my first training, I found I wasn’t going out for any intercepts. So the next day I wore foam padding on my right-hand side and that helped me mentally,” says Tong. “I felt it a few times during the week but nothing too bad.
“I actually got a bit of a knock in the game, so it was a bit sore after that.” By then though, it didn’t matter. She could finally call herself a Silver Fern.
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Other players’ injuries have often opened the door for Tong. She joined the Silver Ferns development squad as injury cover this time last year, and played for NZA in the Cadbury Series.
It was Sulu Fitzpatrick’s knee injury before the third test against England last month which elevated Tong into the Ferns’ playing 10.
Before the game started, she’d felt “comfortable” in the warm-up team talk, delivered by first-time Silver Ferns captain Sam Winders – who’s also the Magic captain. And in those almost-six minutes on court, Tong felt safe knowing Winders was in front of her at wing defence.
Winders says she was “stoked” for Tong - nickname GT - a mature player who takes everything in her stride.
“That’s certainly what she’s known for in the netball world – she’s very professional and extremely reliable. You know she’ll get the work done and be there on time, and if she doesn't have the answers right away, you just know she’ll do the research,” says Winders.
“I think my brain works quite fast and so stuff comes out of my mouth without thinking much, especially on the netball court. And GT does an amazing job at filtering all the rubbish I have to say and just takes what she needs, gives me a thumbs up in reply, and that's all I need really.”
Tong reckons age has a lot to do with that (she turns 27 at the end of this month).
“It definitely helps that I’m a bit older. If I was 19 and had just been called in, it would be much harder. But I have a bit of life experience and perspective, so if I go on and don’t play well, at the end of the day, I’m okay,” she says.
“Noels is really good at telling you what you want to hear. It’s like she can read minds. Before I went on, she told me to play to my strengths and they had confidence in me.”
In her brief foray, Tong did as she was asked. She went hunting for a ball she saw outside the circle, and moved constantly, trying to confuse the English attack. But the Ferns couldn’t turn around a deficit (even though they’d led by 10 at halftime), losing 49-45.
She’d relish the chance to stay longer next time: “I’m one of those players who gets better the longer I’m on the court. I start to see the patterns in the shooters - I’m a defender who tries to con the feeder a little bit.”
That’s where her sports psychology comes to the fore (although she admits she’s not good at knowing which skills to apply to herself).
She’s open to playing further up the court, at goal defence and wing defence: “I feel my fitness is wasted at goal keep.”
The three-match Cadbury Series against Aotearoa Men, starting in Wellington on Sunday, may be Tong’s chance.
She was in New Plymouth for the weekend when Hamilton was plunged back into Level 3 lockdown. “I don’t have any of my gear, but I did bring my netball shoes. That’s all I need, isn’t it?” she laughs.
But if she doesn’t get another chance to pull on the black dress, Tong will be okay with that too.
“If I can walk away knowing I’ve done my best, if that one cap is all I get, then I’m still absolutely stoked with that. But I’m definitely going to try as hard as I can to get back there.”
* The Silver Ferns' three matches against Aotearoa Men in Wellington on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will screen live on Sky Sport 1 and on TVNZ2 from 7pm.
