Kristiana Manu'a (born 3 September 1995) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

-born

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

player in the

Suncorp Super Netball The Super Netball League (known predominantly by its sponsored name Suncorp Group, Suncorp Super Netball (SSN)) is a professional netball league in Netball in Australia, Australia. It superseded the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship, which also inc ...

, playing currently for the Sunshine Coast Lightning. Manu'a was born in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, the capital city of

, though moved with family to

Liverpool, New South Wales Liverpool is a suburb of South Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, south-west of the Sydney CBD. It is the administrative seat of the City of Liverpool and is in the Cumberland Plain. History Indigenous Before Bri ...

as a baby. She began her netball career back in New Zealand in 2015, playing for the

Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic are a New Zealand netball team based in Hamilton. The team were formed in 1998, following the merger of Waikato Wildcats and Bay of Plenty Magic. In 1997, Wildcats and Magic had been founder members of the Coca-Col ...

under head coach Julie Fitzgerald. Despite representing Australia at underage level, Manu'a was approached by Netball New Zealand officials to represent the New Zealand national team during her time at the Magic. She remained an Australian player however and made her debut for the Australian Diamonds in the 2016 Quad Series. Manu'a was set to play for Giants Netball in the inaugural season of Super Netball in 2017, though missed the entire season due to a ruptured Achilles tendon sustained in the off-season. She eventually made her debut for the Giants in the 2018 season before finishing with the club in 2021. In 2022 Manu'a returned back to New Zealand, joining the Central Pulse in the ANZ Premiership. Her strong form saw her named in the 2022-2023 Silver Ferns development squad. Manu'a took the court in the 2022 Cadbury Series, playing for the NZ A team across the series which included a Mixed Side for the first time alongside the NZ Men's team. She also was a member of the 2022 Fast 5 Ferns team that won a Bronze medal. In 2024, Manu’a joined the Melbourne Mavericks in their inaugural season during round 4 as a permanent replacement player for the injured Lauren Moore and remained as a training partner in early 2025. In March 2025, she signed with Sunshine Coast Lightning on a permanent replacement player contract for the 2025 Suncorp Super Netball Season. She replaced Ava Black, who suffered a ruptured ACL during pre-season training in January.

References

External links

Netball Australia profile

Suncorp Super Netball profile

Interview with Giants Netball player Kristiana Manu'a
– YouTube 1995 births Australian netball players 21st-century Australian sportswomen Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic players Giants Netball players Living people Suncorp Super Netball players Netball players from New South Wales Australia international netball players New Zealand netball players Netball New South Wales Blues players New South Wales state netball league players Central Pulse players New Zealand international Fast5 players ANZ Premiership players 21st-century New Zealand sportswomen {{Netball-stub