Thompson joins NQ after several years with Rugby Australia (RA) including most recently working as the national body’s Head of High Performance with a responsibility for the performance of all national programs outside of the Wallabies.
During his time in rugby, Thompson designed and executed the establishment of the Super W national rugby competition in 2018, a key step in Australia’s women’s team – the Wallaroos – rise to fifth on the world rankings.
Thompson combines a coaching background with significant experience in leading sports governance including leading the re-design of the National Player Contracting model for RA, leading to an agreement with the Rugby Union Players’ Association in regard to the sport’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Thompson said he was eager to bring his expertise into a new sport in netball and had a desire to establish and streamline the high-performance pathway for Queensland athletes from the earliest steps to the Queensland Firebirds, Suncorp Super Netball and beyond.
"The ability to align the pathways and align our netball Queensland community with the Firebirds is really important to me and so helping Bec (Bulley, Firebirds Head Coach) and Rose (Jencke, Head of Emerging Pathways) and their teams get success through embedding the Netball Queensland high performance trademark throughout the pathway,” Thompson said.
"Ultimately the Firebirds sit at the top of the HP tree but everything underneath it needs to grow that success there and then in turn that grows the success of the community game and everything else that’s covered in NQ’s Strategic Plan.
“What was exciting to me about the organisation was when you focus with a strategic plan around the growth and development of the game, without necessarily making high-performance the be-all and end-all, it gives high-performance and the Firebirds some real context that they’re there to help develop the game as well.
“I’m really looking forward to the role.”
NQ CEO Kate Davies said Thompson’s ability to speak the language of both the sporting and business sides of a high-performance environment perfectly suits his appointment to the role.
“This role is accountable for the success of the Emerging Athlete Programs and Queensland’s representative teams in the National Netball Championships and the Australian Netball Championships, through guiding the Head of Emerging Pathways as they lead a group to achieve consistent, sustainable individual and team success for Queensland representative teams at national and international levels,” Davies said.
“It is also accountable for the success of the Queensland Firebirds program, guiding our Head Coach Bec Bulley to develop a strong club culture where all staff, coaches and players understand and execute their role in the club’s success on and off the court.
“I am thrilled to have Adrian on board in this vital role and look forward to him making his mark with the high-performance pathway for netball in Queensland.”
