Ashlea Mawer was stuck in a loop at home in Tasmania. Work, netball, sleep, repeat - the same thing every day.
During her time in the Tasmanian Netball League (TNL), the goal shooter made her name as one of the best netballers in the state, perhaps even in Australia.
As a six-time TNL MVP, multi time Hot Shot winner and a premiership winning captain with the Northern Hawks, Mawer was very grateful for everything she’d achieved, but was after something more.
At the conclusion of another phenomenal season, Mawer received a call from Victorian Netball League (VNL) club Hawks Netball’s head coach AJ Ballantyne, wanting to recruit her over to Victoria, filling a spot left by goaler Kaylia Stanton who gave birth to her first child in May.
“I was like, why not? I'm 29 I might as well give it a go while I still can,” Mawer says.
So, she was off to the mainland as the new starting shooter for Hawks Netball.
“I felt at ease straight away,” she says. “It's quite daunting just picking your whole life up and moving states by yourself.”
“From the minute I was signed, everyone introduced themselves to me before I even got there. Some of the girls messaged me and asked if I needed anything, - they’d never met me before.
“The move almost felt way too easy, just because of how kind and thoughtful everyone was.”
Mawer says her now former team the Northern Hawks was rather accepting of the move as Mawer would remain a Hawk, just not with them.
The change from the Tasmanian game to the Victorian game was an instant eye opener, as Mawer had opportunities she never thought she’d get. One of them was playing against former Australian Diamond and Southern Saints coach Sharni Norder.
Training was more intense; the skill and physicality of opponents were challenging and the overall calibre of players in the VNL was something that attracted Mawer into really giving this change a go.
The formidable shooter currently sits third on the Championship division Hot Shot leaderboard, just behind the likes of renowned Emma Ryde and record-breaking Jane Cook.
“Things like that don’t happen at home,” Mawer says.
“The opportunities here are greater and the players are constantly developing.
“A lot of players grasp that and take it with two hands, and it's a lot more competitive because the population's a lot bigger. You come up against goal keepers every week that have played high level and that experience is invaluable.”
When reflecting on how netball in Tasmania has grown over the last couple of years, Mawer is just proud of how the pathway is evolving and how players like herself can travel interstate and thrive in competitions such as the VNL.
“The program they've got going there now, and especially for the girls that are coming through, is fostering that high performance pathway, which is what they're really after,” she says.
“They're so young, but they're still coming up against girls that have those massive opportunities when they do live on the mainland and are holding their own and performing well.”
In a historic moment for Tasmanian netball, Sophie Sherriff was named the joint 17/U MVP at the National Netball Championships in 2025, the first Tasmanian to be named MVP at nationals. Through a local partnership with the Melbourne Mavericks, community clinics are held across Tasmania with a game held in Hobart to provide exposure to local netballers.
Mawer’s excited to see young netballers in Tasmania flourish, with a hint of jealously as the shooter didn’t start taking netball seriously until a lot later in her journey.
Nevertheless, a humble Mawer’s legacy in Tasmanian netball will live on. She hopes that others can follow suit, push their netball to new limits and not be afraid to step outside the comfort zone.
“I don't think of myself as a pillar for Tasmanian netball. I would love for people to look up to me and want to strive for the best that they can possibly be.”
While Tasmania will always be home, Mawer continues to make strides in the VNL as one of the most dominant players in the league.
