She may be a championship-winning Queensland Firebird but Tonga captain Hulita Veve believes leading her country at next year’s World Cup will stand out as a career highlight.
Veve was influential last week as Tonga Tala went undefeated to claim the PacificAus Sports Netball Series on the Sunshine Coast.
The 27-year-old, who captained the Queensland Sapphires to bronze at the Australian Netball Championships in August, not only led her nation to glory but was named MVP following the grand final win over Samoa to cap a year where Tonga have gone from being unranked to now the world’s No.9 netball nation.
Tonga secured their ranking after July’s 2022 Oceania World Cup qualifiers, not only booking their spot in Cape Town next year but easily eclipsing their previous highest world ranking of 19th.
Having also won the PacificAus Series in Sydney in March, Veve has overseen an unbeaten year for Tonga which has her itching to see what the Pacific Island nation can achieve at their first World Cup.
“I've had a bit of success over my time,” said Veve, a member of the 2016 ANZ Championship-winning Firebirds team.
“But yeah, this would definitely top it to go to a World Cup and captain my country.
“It's pretty cool when I think about it because I've achieved everything that I dreamed of as a little girl and this one would definitely top it.”
Tonga will be joined at the 2023 World Cup by fellow Oceania qualifier Fiji.
Veve said the future was looking very bright for Pacific Island netball, particularly following the exposure to higher levels of competition through the partnership between Netball Australia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the PacificAus Sports program.
“I was born and raised in Australia. My mum's from New Zealand but my dad's from Tonga, so it's pretty cool that the girls have the option,” Veve said.
“It's just good to show people what they've got, for some exposure.
“To go on the world stage, I think it's pretty cool and a good way to show that.”
Having challenged her team to come through last week’s PacificAus Series undefeated, Veve says Tonga are aware of the step up that awaits at the World Cup but it’s also a challenge she says the team will relish.
“We just wanted to win every game to put us in good stead for the World Cup,” she said.
“To do that, and I think our closest game was 15 goals or something, was huge for us.
“We're super proud.
“We’re the number one Pacific team. We just want to take what we have to the World Cup and show it.
“It’s definitely going to be hard and we know there’ll be a loss in there somewhere – it’s a big challenge but I think we’re ready for it.”
