Donna Wilkins

New Zealand shooter who represented the Silver Ferns and Tall Ferns, winning World Championship gold in netball and multiple domestic titles with Southern Sting.

Donna Wilkins (née Loffhagen) was born on 29 April 1978 in Christchurch, New Zealand, and made her mark early as a dual-code athlete, representing Canterbury in both netball and basketball as a teenager before earning selection for the Silver Ferns at just 18 in 1996. A tall, accurate shooter, she signed with the new Southland-based franchise in 1997 alongside fellow Silver Fern Bernice Mene, helping the team — first as the Southland Sting, then Southern Sting — win seven national titles across ten straight grand final appearances between 1998 and 2007. Wilkins won 56 caps for the Silver Ferns, taking silver medals at both the 1998 Kuala Lumpur and 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games, narrowly beaten by Australia on each occasion. She was also a genuine dual international, representing the Tall Ferns in basketball at the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games — top-rebounding at the 2004 Athens tournament — and captaining the basketball team to a further Commonwealth Games silver in 2006. In 2006 she came within six weeks of a WNBA contract during a trial with the Connecticut Sun. After retiring, Wilkins moved into coaching, working as a specialist shooting coach with the Mainland Tactix before being appointed the franchise's head coach ahead of the 2025 ANZ Premiership season.

• 1999 World Championship silver
• Commonwealth Games silver 1998, 2002
• Southern Sting domestic titles
• dual netball/basketball international