Kaylin's climb: Our first signing shoots us to the grand final

In 2022, when it was announced that Bond University Bull Sharks would re-enter a Sapphire side to the 2023 Hart Premier League competition, Kaylin van Greunen – then just 17 years of age - was the very first player to sign on. 

Now, just three years later, the Bull Sharks have risen from wooden spooner to their first ever grand final, and van Greunen’s emergence as a genuine star of the competition has played a critical part in what has been an extraordinary sporting revival.

“It was a trust thing,” the impressive goal shooter says of her decision to join Bond.

“I thought familiarity would bring out the best in me.”

A proud Darling Downs product, van Greunen honed her skills in Highfields, just north of Toowoomba. 

Bond’s connection to Highfields District Netball Association link is a strong one. 

Bull Sharks Head of Netball, Kim Boland, coached there and Bond's Sapphire coach, Bec Stower, has a long-standing attachment. 

Both oversaw van Greunen's junior netball development at various stages.

When she emerged as a rising star in Queensland’s 17U and 19U programs, she once again fell under Stower’s wing. 

“Bec’s always been a terrific mentor,” van Greunen says. 

“She’s firm but always fair and she absolutely knows how to communicate with players to get the best out of them. 

“I’ve known her to be like that since I was very young. I’ve always responded really well to the way she teaches the game.”

So, when a chance to take her netball to the next level emerged, van Greunen didn't overthink it 

“I’d been playing Ruby level at Darling Downs Panthers, but I was super keen to make the step up to Sapphire,” she says. 

“Because of my relationship with Bec, it made sense for me to go to Bond.

“She’s kind of like a second mum to me.

“I really didn’t think twice about it to be honest.”

By then, Van Greunen had developed a mature skill set to match her enviable height and strength. 

She could easily have made a home at any of the other franchises so to sign on as a Bull Shark was a wonderful show of faith. 

Her decision paid quick dividends. 

Not only has she featured in state and national level squads since arriving on the Gold Coast, but she’s starred at Super Netball Futures level for Sunshine Coast Lightning Reserves. 

She’s now enrolled at Bond University studying a Bachelor of Health Sciences. 

“I was still at school when I started playing here. Over time the idea of studying here grew on me.

“I absolutely love it.

“I’m actually thinking of taking on a Masters of Dietetics and Nutrition Practice once I’m done with Health Sciences.”

Van Greunen arrived at Bond at a tumultuous time. 

A year earlier, Bull Sharks Netball was in all sorts of strife. 

Off-season doubts about Bond’s ongoing commitment to the sport had fuelled a player and coaching exodus. 

The Gold Coast Titans sniffed opportunity to expand their sporting footprint and launched their own teams. 

Questions swirled about whether the Gold Coast could sustain two elite franchises. 

As it turned out, Bond wasn’t quite ready to let go.

At a minute to midnight the franchise that had nurtured the likes of Ashleigh Ervin, Ava Black, and Maddi Ridley towards Suncorp Super Netball starting squads decided to have another crack.

Compiling a top-level Sapphire team so late was a bridge too far, but Bond did hobble together a Ruby side. 

They didn’t win many games against higher-credentialed and far less hastily assembled opposition, but they played a fast transition style, took pride in one-percenters, and defended until they dropped. 

In hindsight, it proved a portent to the sort of netball that is now the Bull Sharks trademark – the kind that requires the slowest to outwit the quickest, the shortest to play fearlessly against the tallest, and the team to always rise above the individual. 

The following year the Bull Sharks’ returned to Sapphire level netball. 

They toiled bravely but were outsized and outclassed.

It was a hell of a lesson into what was needed to compete at a brutally competitive elite level of the sport that for some reason never seems to get the credit its due. 

In 2024, those who remained on the Bond roster came back fitter and stronger. 

Mia Stower, daughter of Bec, was a crucial signing. 

She’d been reacquainting with basketball as a Toowoomba Mountaineer in the Queensland State League after she was let go – some say far too early - by the Queensland Firebirds. 

Not only did she quickly re-establish her love for netball in Bull Sharks colours, but her professionalism, experience and poise instantly raised the bar for those around her. 

At season end - and for the first time ever - Bond’s Ruby and Sapphire teams found themselves in finals. 

Neither team won through, but their rise was remarkable, and the experience delivered a palpable sense of belief. 

And others noticed too. 

A jam-packed Bond Cubs program had junior netballers proudly wearing blue and gold training singlets, multiple Bond teams lined up in Elite Premier League and Greater Brisbane Netball League competitions, and trial registrations for U16 and U18 State Titles squads were off the charts.  

And upcoming elite players like Kirra Tappenden - who’d forged a relationship with Coach Stower as a Queensland underage representative – showed an interest.  

Not only was she drawn to Stower, but she liked the idea of studying and playing. 

The Bachelor of Psychological Science student now lives with van Greunen on campus.

In 2025, the Bull Sharks Sapphire squad has stepped it up a notch. 

With eleven wins and a draw from 14 matches, they claimed second spot on the ladder after the home and away season. 

But in last Sunday’s preliminary final they came of age. 

Having dropped their opening semi-final to Kedron-Wavell Cougars the week before, Bond had to overcome Sunshine Coast Thunder to win through to the decider.

The Bull Sharks had never beaten the Thunder since their return to the Sapphire stage. 

The game was an arm-wrestle from the get-go.

The Sunshine Coasters held a slender lead heading into three quarter time. 

On the resumption, the Bond machine clicked into gear.

Van Greunen reckons she can pinpoint the moment the game was won. 

“We called a time out early in the last quarter just when we hit the front,” she says. 

“Soph [Westover, Bull Sharks’ captain] just said ‘embrace the pressure, enjoy it, play with a smile on your face and rise to the moment. 

"You could just tell we were going to be okay. 

"There was no way we weren’t going to get over the line.”

Tehya Hyssett, promoted from last year’s Ruby squad, played a whale of a game. Alongside her in the defensive circle, Maddie Ryan feverishly scrapped and hassled. Jayden Molo was enormous in wing defence. Sophie Westover, Mia Stower and Sasha-May Flegler were everywhere.

On the bench, having already played their parts, Lauren Aubrey, Kirra Tappenden, and Georgia Bodle, were cheering every moment and willing their teammates home. 

It was fast and furious and hallmarked by selfless, gut-busting effort.

And all the while van Greunen, pummelled from pillar to post by an increasingly desperate Thunder defence, stood immovable and resolute.  

She calmly slotted the game-winner in the final minute to put the Bull Sharks out to a relatively safe two goal buffer. 

And now they have just one game to go. 

Van Greunen says the team knows what it needs to do to scratch out one more win.

"All year we've talked about being in a bubble where we stick to doing things our way and where we don't let umpiring calls, or outside noise or physical stuff bother us. 

"If we keep doing things our way and focus on controlling the bits we can control, then we'll be at our best."