One of the finest NSW netballers to ever grace the court, Mo’onia Gerrard was born in Bathurst in 1980 and made her elite debut with the Sydney Sandpipers in 1999 in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy.
Having won numerous awards at that club, including Best New Talent (1999) and the Players’ Player Award (2003) it was subsequently with the Swifts where she really came into the limelight.
Under the tutelage of Julie Fitzgerald at the Sydney Swifts from 2004 to 2007, Gerrard went on to win three Premierships, as well as make her debut for the Australian Diamonds in 2004.
The 134th player to don the famous Diamonds dress, Gerrard was a key member of the Australian teams which won the 2007 and 2011 Netball World Cups, while she also won Commonwealth Games silver in Delhi in 2010.
From 2008 to 2010 Gerrard left NSW to ply her trade in South Australia with the Adelaide Thunderbirds, going on to win another Premiership in the form of the 2010 ANZ Championship.
She returned to NSW to link up with the Swifts again in 2011 (by that time known as the NSW Swifts), and helped them into another Finals campaign.
Of Tongan decent and from a very talented sporting family (her brother Mark Gerrard represented the Wallabies in rugby union), Gerrard was also the recipient of prestigious awards such as the 2008 Liz Ellis Diamonds and the 2010 Australian International Player of the Year.
Never one to forget her roots, Gerrard has done amazing work in the community with the Australia Post ONE Netball Program, Netball NSW’s Oceania Cup and Mo’onia’s Cup in conjunction with Tonga Netball.
She has also been involved with NSW competitions such as the DOOLEYS State & Metro League, the Netball NSW Premier League and provided specialist coaching for the NSW Swifts, NSW State Teams and Australian underage squad camps.
Gerrard has since coached elite netball in the English Superleague with the Severn Stars and in 2016 received an Order of Australia Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her services to netball and the community.
In 2023 she represented Tonga at the Netball World Cup in Cape Town
It was our great honour to induct Mo’onia Gerrard into the Netball NSW Hall of Fame at the 2018 Netball NSW State Dinner.
