Rudi Ellis experienced the two biggest joys of her life in the past seven months – just don’t ask which she loved best.
One was winning the Super Netball premiership with the Melbourne Vixens, the other was marrying her long-time partner, Tim English, whom you may also know as the Western Bulldogs’ star ruckman.
But as the 190-centimetre defender re-watched the grand final this week, she almost let slip that the ecstasy of the Vixens’ one-goal win over West Coast Fever last August was better than their wedding at her family farm in December.
Rudi Ellis watches the 2025 Super Netball grand final for the first time.Credit: Justin McManus
“This is the greatest night ever,” declared Ellis with tears in her eyes, as she watched players jump around in celebratory huddles after the siren.
There was a pause and a scramble. “I love our wedding night as well!”
“It’s the happiest I’ve ever been. In sport, you have such highs and lows, but it’s all worth it to have a moment like this.
“Thanks for letting me watch this.”
Ellis had not watched a replay of the grand final until now, preferring not to mess with her memories of the night. Sitting in a theatrette at the Vixens’ training base in Parkville, she was happy to watch the last five minutes with this masthead before their premiership defence begins against the Firebirds in Brisbane on Sunday.
The Vixens’ roster is almost unchanged, although Emily Mannix returns from parental leave after the birth of her daughter Mabel, and coach Di Honey takes over from Simone McKinnis.
For Ellis, who had a vital job to defend Fever’s star goal shooter and potential match-winner Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard, the goosebumps set in almost as soon as we press play on the replay.
She watches a Vixens timeout with about four minutes left on the clock, as the Fever rein in the lead. McKinnis tells the defenders to keep their “eyes up”, to look for the intercept.
Ellis couldn’t remember the instruction, but she carried it out to a tee, making a crucial intercept.
What was she thinking at that moment?
“Eyes up, get the ball,” Ellis said with a giggle.
What Ellis noted from the timeout was the impassioned words of skipper Kate Moloney, a leader loved for her speeches in the huddle.
“Our captain Kate is so good at pumping us up,” Ellis said as she watched Moloney shout to be heard above the crowd din. “[She’s the] best captain I’ve ever had with any team.”
Premiers of the best netball competition in the world: Vixens skipper Kate Moloney and departing coach Simone McKinnis.Credit: Getty Images
The Fever were minor premiers, but the match was played at Rod Laver Arena due to a controversial practice of Super Netball selling hosting rights to the grand final before the season, so the Vixens had a huge boost with the majority of the 15,013 fans cheering them on.
Amazingly, Ellis had forgotten a double-penalty called against her, which saw Fowler-Nembhard cut the lead to one goal in the final minutes.
“How did I get a contact here?” Ellis exclaimed. “Oh, another one. That’s a coach killer. Oh no. I don’t remember; it’s probably good to not remember that one.
“It’s moments like that where you are just trying to do anything [to stop the goal shooter].”
Ellis in full flight. Credit: Justin McManus
That Fever goal would be the last as the Vixens took possession and threw passes around until the final whistle – it’s a high-pressure act.
“In this moment, I was like, “Yep we’ve got it,” because the girls are so good at keeping the ball – it takes stacks of practice and shows the chemistry we had in the group.”
As the Vixens screamed and hugged, the camera switched from McKinnis, in her final game as coach, and her players, including long-time leaders Jo Weston and Moloney. Ellis runs in from defence, looking slightly stunned.
“You’ve made me cry,” Ellis said. “This moment, when we are all just hugging each other and celebrating, then we got to walk around and then go up into the stands to our families.”
The Fever are shown heartbroken but huddling together – Ellis has ties to them as she was on the team that won the title in 2022, although not in a starting role.
“I didn’t play as much with Fever. It’s different when you are a bigger part of the team,” Ellis said.
Vixens defender Rudi Ellis.Credit: Justin McManus
Life has been hectic since that night. The Ellis-English wedding – captured by Bianca Virtue Weddings – was an unforgettable day that fell just a week before the Longwood bushfire hit the areas around her family farm at Ancona, west of Mansfield.
And Ellis’ Instagram records appearances at the Australian Open, the Formula 1 Grand Prix, plus a pre-GP appearance with Oscar Piastri.
While English, a West Australian who signed a five-year extension to stay with the Bulldogs until at least the end of 2029, earns substantially more than Ellis, she has the bragging rights when it comes to Instagram followers with more than 33,000 compared with English’s solid 14,000.
The platform has become vital for her to promote sponsors and add to her income.
“It’s so important, netball is still growing and women’s sport is still growing,” Ellis said.
“It’s something I want to continue to grow and get better at. Tim is more reserved and likes to keep things private, and I totally respect that. We’re different in that sense.”
Ellis added that while she would love to see netball grow and allow players to earn more, there aren’t as many differences between the day-to-day experience of being a Vixens netballer or a Bulldogs footballer.
“Not really. Especially with Vixens, we are pretty well looked after,” Ellis said.
“Hopefully, one day with better broadcast deals, we can get paid more
“There is not that much of a discrepancy between us, outside of the salaries.”
As elite athletes, English and Ellis understand each other’s professional lives, and get to each other’s matches when they can. She was at the Gabba last weekend for the Dogs’ thrilling win over Brisbane, and will watch Saturday’s match on TV as the Vixens prepare for their season-opener.
“I love it,” Ellis said.
“Like anyone in any industry, it’s so good to have someone who understands what you do.
“It’s so good to have someone who can listen when you need them to listen and give you advice when you need that.”
The wedding, she said, was, “The best day of my life, minus the grand final… They are on par with each other.
Ellis at Vixens headquarters. Credit: Justin McManus
“It was so special having all of our favourite people in one spot.
“We were so lucky, the bushfires hit the week after on the farm. So we got incredibly lucky in still having a home, but secondly, being able to have everyone home when we did.
“Such a good day, so much fun and it went so quickly. We haven’t had time to reflect on it because it’s been such a crazy start to the year.”
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