Heading into her 10th season for the Northern Mystics, Michaela Sokolich-Beatson will once
again lead the defending Champions into the new ANZ Premiership competition.

Starting with the Mystics in 2016, Sokolich-Beatson has shown herself as a natural leader,
both on court, with her amazing arsenal of skills, as well as off court with her respect for and
from players and management.

Being renamed captain means a lot to Michaela, “It’s a privilege that I am trusted to lead this
team and that I get to do it again. My time at Mystics I’ve had such amazing people lead the
team and to be added to that group of people is such an honour.”

Following in the footsteps of previous Mystics leaders and fellow defenders, Sulu Fitzpatrick
and Phoenix Karaka, Sokolich-Beatson admits, “It’s actually such a hard job being a leader
and one of the things that I’ve learnt from previous leaders is keep being yourself, because
you have been chosen for this role for a reason”, adding, “watching other leaders handle
situations and the way that they dealt with it and the way they that they spoke to the team,
I’ve think I’ve been able to take some of that into what I try and do.”

The 2025 Mystics squad is a mix of old and new players, which gives Sokolich-Beatson the
support that she needs at the helm, with Elisapeta Toeava and Tayla Earle rounding out the
leadership group.

Having been with the Mystics since 2013, Toeava’s blood runs blue and Sokolich-Beatson
says, “Peta helps me with the vibe and the feel of the group, she can sense when
somethings not quite right… she’s also good at the on court stuff, in the moment, the leading
of the attacking end, the leader of our unit, she’s really good in that space.”

“Tayla’s a bit more like me, takes care of more of the off court stuff and is really good in that
space, and she’s good at getting things done, keeping us to task… so I think that’s a nice
balance between the on court and the off court stuff.”

With only 7 days until the start of the season Sokolich-Beatson can’t wait for the team to take
the court and says that there is a lot for Mystics fans to be excited about, “expect to see a
normal Mystics style of play which is fast, flat ball, the ball moves and our style of play hasn’t
changed but you expect to see more people on the court, more interchanges, people playing
across multiple positions in one game ….. I think we’re going to bring a really exciting brand
of netball to the ANZ Premiership, which I think we do already, but I think it will be on another
level this year. “

Round 1 – Sunday 11th May
Eventfinda Stadium, North Shore
4pm