It’s amazing watching our customers and their families grow over the years — and we’re proud to support a rising netball star among them!
It’s been a big year for Tayla Williams, daughter of long- time Ramsey Bros customer Anthony ‘Bags’ Williams from Balaklava in the Mid North. Tayla has had a stellar season with the Adelaide Thunderbirds, who won the 2024 Suncorp Super Netball Championship, marking their second consecutive title. They secured a thrilling 59–57 victory over the Melbourne Vixens, overcoming a tough start and clinching the game in front of a home crowd.
We’ve proudly supported Tayla since her days as a Contax player, and now with the Thunderbirds. We caught up with Tayla about her exciting journey to success …
Congratulations on an incredible season! How do you feel?
It’s amazing! I absolutely love the game and the team — and the success on the court has been built by what we’ve done off it.
We love the game and want to be there. We work hard to do it for each other — the family and fun element is something we’re really proud of as a club. It’s important across all grades of netball, and it makes you want to keep playing and want to be a part of it.
This season was a build to get to where we have over the last few years. It’s a really good group of girls, and we’ve worked hard on our on and off-court relationships, plus put in a lot of hard work in the preseason. It’s been a long build to get to this point, and being defending champs from last year, it was a different but exciting challenge — it was really cool to be part of it.
How has the Player Sponsorship helped you this year?
It’s been amazing. Individual sponsorship is a great way for businesses to support us with any kind of additional support that will benefit our program and ensure we can perform at that professional level. It allows us to continue what we’re doing on the court and supports us with things we otherwise couldn’t have or do without that sponsorship.
I’m very grateful that Ramsey Bros has sponsored me this year, but they have done that for a really long time in my netball journey. From 2016 to 2021, I played for Contax and Ramsey Bros was my Player Sponsor for all six years which was awesome! Having that support throughout Contax years has helped me get to where I am now.
I really love my country roots, upbringing and community support element you only get in regional towns. I’m so grateful for everything Ramsey Bros has done and continues to do for me.
What’s it been like playing at a different venue?
Being at the Entertainment Centre has been so exciting! The viewpoint is so much better, and we’ve gone from a capacity of around 3,000 at Netball SA to around 9,000 at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, which sold out a couple of games this season. It’s fantastic for the community and the sport.
And when I see the little girls supporting us with their signs, and how much they love it — win, lose or draw — it’s a pretty special feeling. I love it!
How did you get into netball?
My mum and older sister played for Hummocks Netball Club in the Pt Wakefield-Lochiel area, so naturally, I followed. After seven years there, a regional academy brought me to Adelaide and then I trialled the state team, Contax. I was asked to be a training partner with the Adelaide Thunderbirds for three years, and in 2022 I got my first full-time contract as a player.
Do you spend much time back on the farm these days?
A little bit … mainly in the off- season and pre-season, but in-season is pretty hectic. I recently took some of my teammates up there for a camp in the scrub and to show them around, and they loved it. Some of them are country girls and some are from interstate, but none of them grew up on a farm as such — so it’s all a bit different to what they’re used to.
I loved growing up on the farm, and I miss elements of it. I’m very grateful I had that and loved that I got to play country sport, which is different. Hopefully I’ll get back to that one day — a small country community is really special — there’s nothing like it.
Our biggest congratulations to Tayla and the whole Thunderbirds team on an incredible end
to a great year. We’re very proud to play a small role in it all, and we can’t wait to see what next season brings.
