Australian · Bendigo, Victoria, Australia · Born 29 December 1986Australian shooter who represented the Diamonds for more than a decade and won major titles at World Cup and Commonwealth Games level.
Caitlin Thwaites was born on 29 December 1986 in Bendigo, Victoria, and began playing netball at seven before starting her senior career at 16 with the Melbourne Kestrels in 2002. She moved to the newly formed Melbourne Vixens when the ANZ Championship launched in 2008 and was part of their maiden premiership-winning side in 2009. In 2011 Thwaites joined New Zealand's Central Pulse, scoring 431 goals at 81.3 per cent accuracy that season, and became the only New Zealand-based player selected for the Australian Diamonds when she made her international debut in 2012. She won Commonwealth Games gold in 2014 and Netball World Cup gold in 2015, then added Commonwealth Games silver in 2018 before returning to Australian domestic netball with the NSW Swifts and later the Collingwood Magpies. Her standout individual season came in 2017, when she finished as the Super Netball league's top scorer with 594 goals at 92 per cent accuracy for Collingwood. Thwaites returned to the Melbourne Vixens for a final season in 2019 and retired from netball in 2020, having also represented Australia in volleyball earlier in her career.
Australian Diamonds shooter and World Cup winner
Career Honours
- Netball World Cup gold 2015
- Commonwealth Games gold 2014, 2022
- Commonwealth Games silver 2018
- ANZ Championship title 2009
Australian Athletes