All George Fisher wanted to do growing up was follow in the footsteps of England netball legend Jo Harten.
Harten would have been smiling proudly watching footage of Fisher’s ANZ Premiership debut for the Southern Steel last Sunday with the 22-year-old turning in a virtuoso performance.
Fisher, who debuted for England in 2017 as an 18-year-old, made a dream start to her time in New Zealand. She led the way with 46 goals from 49 attempts (94 per cent) as the Steel stunned competition favourites, the Tactix, 54-36 in front of their Invercargill faithful.
On Saturday night she landed 42 from 42 in a losing cause against the Mystics.
Raised in the township of Hoddesdon (population: 20,000) in the southern county of Hertfordshire, Fisher lived just 15 minutes drive from Harten’s hometown of Harlow.
Ten years older, Harten was Fisher’s sporting role model as a youngster.
Shooting supremo Harten blazed a trail for English netballers like Fisher, spending five years in New Zealand in the former trans-Tasman competition with the Tactix (2012-13) and Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic (2014-16).
Fisher is treading the same path and hoped to develop her game and learn as much as Harten did.
Harten has been an England mainstay since 2007 and was awarded an MBE in 2020 for services to netball. She plays in Australia’s Super Netball for the Sydney-based Giants.
“I always aspired to be like Jo Harten and I remember turning around to my team-mate at one stage [as a child] and being like I want to be just like Jo, and she laughed at me and said you’ll never be like Jo Harten,” Fisher said.
“If I could tell my childhood self what I’m doing now she’d probably die of excitement.”
Competing professionally in New Zealand had been a long-term ambition for Fisher. Seeing fellow goal shoot Harten pave the way had provided her with plenty of inspiration.
“I’ve always aspired to be out here and having people like Jo Harten play in this league, who literally as a kid was my biggest idol, is crazy. She played out here and I’m like ‘Oh my God, I’m playing out here’.
“Coming from a similar area and being able to come out here it was amazing and made it almost achievable to me.”
Fisher hasn’t taken long to win over the Steel supporters.
