Super Netball's 2026 First Nations Round will be played across Rounds 11 and 12 under the title 'Giv'ir Wun'bumba' — the Kabi Kabi word for 'believe' — with all eight clubs in custom Indigenous-designed dresses, the league's match ball carrying the round's central artwork, and every fixture streamed live and free on Kayo Freebies.
The round is aligned with National Reconciliation Week, which runs from May 27 to June 3, and will tip off on Saturday, May 23. The theme for 2026 is 'All In', a framing the league has used to signal that the work of reconciliation is shared rather than the responsibility of First Nations participants alone.
The creative anchor is artist Zartisha Davis, a Kabi Kabi woman whose 'Giv'ir Wun'bumba' design will appear on dresses, balls, centre circles and broadcast graphics across both rounds. The artwork draws on shell middens, kangaroo and emu imagery, and figurative depictions of athletes and staff, with the shell middens symbolising community, gathering, stewardship and caring for Country.
"It's such an amazing opportunity for any Indigenous person to be able to showcase their art on such a high level," Davis said. "It inspires the next generation, which is what it's all about — getting them to be interested in art and storytelling."
For Davis the shell-midden motif carries a particular weight. "Sharing stories that have been possed down by my family, especially with the shell middens," she said. "It's community, it's gathering, it's sharing."
The league's framing of the round has been more explicitly civic than in earlier editions. Ali Tucker-Munro, a Kamilaroi woman who serves as Netball Australia's General Manager First Nations, said the timing — alongside the national week of reconciliation — was deliberate. "National Reconciliation Week reminds us that advancing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' rights is not solely the responsibility of First Nations people," Tucker-Munro said. "First Nations Round offers an opportunity for the netball community to come together, reflect, and recognise each of our roles in achieving reconciliation."
The round's broadcast strategy is one of the practical step-ups for 2026. All First Nations Round matches will be available live and ad-free on Kayo Freebies, the free tier of Foxtel's sports streaming platform. The decision aligns with the broader broadcast deal struck earlier in the season, which restored a free-to-air pathway for Super Netball and which the league has been using to grow audience for marquee themed rounds.
Indigenous players currently in Super Netball squads include Donnell Wallam at the Sunshine Coast Lightning, Lightning teammate Leesa Mi Mi, and Scarlet Jauncey, the West Coast Fever reserves captain who became the first Indigenous under-21s World Youth Cup representative in two decades.
'Giv'ir Wun'bumba' will not have a single match-up the casual fan will circle as the round's defining game. The point of the exercise, by the league's own framing, is the round itself: every fixture in dress, on a ball and on a court carrying Davis's artwork, with every player in Indigenous design for two weekends of Australian netball's calendar.
