Julie corletto biography

The Melbourne Vixens is Netball Victoria's representative team competing in Australia's national netball competition, Suncorp Super Netball.

The Vixens franchise was formed in 2007 during the establishment of a new Trans-Tasman competition, and first competed in the inaugural ANZ Championship season in 2008.

The club was an amalgamation of the two existing Victorian teams at the time - the Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne Kestrels.

Across the ANZ Championship's nine-year history the Vixens claimed two premierships, in 2009 and 2014.

Phoenix and Kestrels Netball Clubs

Prior to the ANZ Championship, the Commonwealth Bank Trophy was the premier netball competition in Australia. Two teams were operated by Netball Victoria - the Melbourne Kestrels and the Melbourne Phoenix.

Both teams hosted the cream of Victoria’s netballing elite. Names such Shelley O’Donnell and Simone McKinnis led the teams, who blooded new talent with names that are legendary in today’s netball world: McMahon, Chatfield, Browne, Corletto.

With the beginning of the new competition in 2008, the teams were merged to form what was considered the dream team: a blend of the Phoenix’s experience and success, and the new, up and coming talent of the Kestrels.

The letters PKNC feature on the back of each Melbourne Vixens dress, standing for Phoenix Kestrels Netball Club, celebrating our rich history of netball success.

Melbourne Vixens Club

The Melbourne Vixens has a proud history as one of the premier teams in Suncorp Super Netball (and previously the ANZ Championship), arguably the world's best netball league.

In 2015 the Melbourne Vixens Club was established as a way to recognise and acknowledge the athletes who have worn the Vixens dress with pride since the team was formed in 2007.

All players who have been contracted or taken the court for the Vixens have a number allocated to them, corresponding with their time in the team.

Melbourne Vixens Club Members

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Julie Prendergast, born 31st October 1986 is a recently retired Australian Diamonds Netball Player. Prendergast has been a member of the Australian Diamonds Netball team since 2007, and to date has won 3 Gold Medals at the 2007 & 2011 World Championships and the 2015 World Cup. She also won Gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In domestic Netball, Prendergast played her last season of the ANZ Championships in 2015 with the NSW Swifts. She retired at the conclusion of the 2015 World Cup Grand Final in which she played out the game with a broken foot.

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ABOUT JULIE

Australian international netball player

Julie Prendergast (born 31 October 1986) is an Australian international netball player. She played for the Australian Diamonds and NSW Swifts but has now retired. She usually played in the positions of goal defence and wing defence. Corletto is the younger sister of former AFL footballer Ian Prendergast and former Victorian State netballer Karen Dennis, (née Prendergast).

Career

Corletto started playing netball at aged 10 in her home town of Kerang. She made her Commonwealth Bank Trophy debut at the age of 16 for the Melbourne Phoenix, where her style of defence saw her named Netball Australia's best new talent. She was selected in the Australian open squad at the age of 17. In 2005 she captained the Australian U-21 team to a bronze medal at the World Youth Championships, while on the comeback trail from a stress fracture in her foot.

In 2007 Corletto was recruited from the Melbourne Phoenix to cross-town rivals, Melbourne Kestrels. Also that year, she was named in the Australian national team to tour England in a tri-series. However, after injuring her ankle in the first minutes of the season opener, the local derby between Phoenix and Kestrels, she was forced to pull out, with Melbourne Kestrels teammate Rebecca Bulley called up in her place. But a few months later Corletto went on to make a debut for Australia against Jamaica, and played goal defence during a subsequent Australian series win against New Zealand. In November 2007, she won her first ever world championship title, as the youngest member of the victorious Australian team.

In 2008 Corletto signed with the Melbourne Vixens to play in the new trans-Tasman ANZ Championship. She again played for the Vixens in the 2009. She capped off the 2009 season with the ANZ Championship premiership-winning Vixens, coming runner-up in the Vixens' Best & Fairest, and being awarded the Liz Ellis Diamond, the highest and most presti