Bianca Lee Chatfield is a former Australian netball player. She played in the positions of GK, and GD. In 2001, she was selected for the Australian team as an 18-year-old, one of the youngest ever netballers to play for her country. She is a Commonwealth GamesGold and Silver Medalist, World Champion and played over 240 games for the Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne Vixens, captaining the latter for several years and winning six premierships - four with the Phoenix and two with the Vixens. In 2018, she became a contestant on an Australian home renovation television show, The Block, along with fellow netballer, Carla Dziwoki. Bianca currently works in the media space around sport and home renovating and the leadership space.
Career
Early career
Bianca Chatfield started playing netball on the Mornington Peninsula as an 11-year-old, and became one of the best netballers and leaders to represent her state and country. Her first international duties were for the Australian U21 team against Jamaica in the Caribbean. She made her Australian Diamonds debut as an 18-year-old in 2001, one of the youngest ever players to represent her country. However, she and the other young girls that made the team thought that their expectations since joining the team were not met, as the older girls saw them as a ‘threat’.
Professional career
Her elite career became evident when she was part of the Commonwealth Bank Trophy premiership-winning team, the Melbourne Phoenix in 2000 at the age of 16. She won premierships with the Phoenix in 2002, 2003 and 2005. In May 2011, Chatfield was presented with the Vixens' Most Valuable Player award after captaining the team alone following the Achilles injury sustained by fellow co-captain Sharelle McMahon. In 2008, Bianca was appointed vice-captain of the Melbourne Vixens and was made co-captain the following year, with the Melbourne Vixens winning the 2009 ANZ Championship title. She was a member of the silver medal-winning team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. She is also a world champion, representing Australia at the 2007 Netball World Championships in New Zealand. She also competed in the 2009 World Netball Series in Manchester, with Australia receiving the bronze medal. In 2010 she was dropped from the Diamonds and missed the 2010 Commonwealth Games. However, in October 2011 she and Susan Pratley were selected by new Australian head coachLisa Alexander as co-captains of the Australian FastNet Diamonds for the 2011 World Netball Series tournament in Liverpool, with Australia receiving the bronze medal. This was the start of her comeback with the Australian Diamonds where she fought her way back into the team and became an integral part of the starting lineup over several years.
Later career
In 2014 Chatfield captained the Melbourne Vixens to claim their second ANZ Title with a victory over the Queensland Firebirds. Later that year she was named vice-captain of the Australian Team to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games who went on to win gold in the final against New Zealand. After the Australian Netball Diamonds won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Chatfield announced that she was officially retiring from international netball but would stay on to play in the ANZ Championship. Chatfield ended her playing career the following year, after the conclusion of the 2015 ANZ Championship season.
