Netball Samoa has announced the arrival of a champion Australian team and Suncorp Super Netball Champions, the Adelaide Thunderbirds in Samoa.

Over the next nine days, eight members from the Thunderbirds squad, led by stars Matilda Garrett and Lucy Austin will be promoting netball excellence by delivering clinics for the local community in Samoa, according to a press release issued by Netball Samoa. Primary schools, clubs and high-performance teams will all experience the valuable teachings that these established Australian players can offer.

Netball Australia’s Kim Bailey will also be running the Netball Australia Foundation and Development Coaching courses as well as a bespoke Masterclass for identified coaches, which Netball Samoa says will greatly benefit the country's netball coaching community.

Former Miss Samoa, Haylani Kuruppu posted a photo of her with the Adelaide Thunderbirds players on Saturday and praised the initiative of bringing the Australian champions to pass on their skills to local players.

"Fa’afetai lava Pacific Aus Sports for bringing Adelaide Thunderbirds to beautiful Samoa! What a great initiative to have international players coach our local girls' and boys' skills and techniques to improve gameplay and development in the sport," said Ms. Kuruppu in her social media post. "Your presence has shown not only your love for the game but your love for our people."

Thunderbirds are one of Australia's most successful netball teams. Between 1997 and 2010 they finished in the top three of every regular season, and are the first and only team to win a Trophy at all three eras. They won their first two premierships in 1998 and 1999 during the Commonwealth Bank Trophy era, their third and fourth in 2010 and 2013 during ANZ Championship era, and their fifth in 2023 during the Suncorp netball era.

The visit of the champion Australian netball team would not have been possible without the support of the Australian Government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) through PacificAus Sports and Netball Australia, who said they are proud to offer their resources and expertise to support the game globally.

Currently, PacificAus Sports works with Netball Australia to actively support the national teams of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tonga to prepare for international competitions. Netball Fiji and Netball Samoa were both competitors in the Netball World Cup, held in England in July. Tonga and Papua New Guinea both played in the Pacific Games, also held in July in Samoa, finishing second and third respectively.