Court By Surprise Katrina's Silver Lining

The captain is feeling fantastic!

- Kelly Bertrand

As our photographer aims a camera, Silver Ferns captain Katrina Grant tilts her head to the side as directed and lets out a loud, happy hoot of a laugh – one netball fans would have heard many times in post-match interviews.

But it’s only when she catches sight of her partner Joel Rore entering the room in a dapper suit that her eyes light up and her smile grows even wider.

“Come here, fiancé!” chuckles Katrina, 31, pulling a rather shy, reluctant Joel, 26, into the shot and giving him a squeeze.

Until Joel popped the question during a romantic sunset dinner in Fiji in April, there hadn’t been many reasons for Katrina to laugh this year, with the Ferns veteran battling through one of the most challenging periods of her netball career.

Following the gruelling Commonwealth Games campaign that saw the squad place a disappointing fourth, the star defender was feeling “the lowest of the low”, but when her partner of two years got down on one knee to ask her to marry him, she says it was the “highest of highs”.

“It was great timing!” Katrina grins, holding out her hand to reveal a stunning diamond and white gold ring. “To go from the Commonwealth Games to that, it was just amazing.”

Little did Katrina know that Joel had actually been planning his idyllic island proposal since January, when the couple booked in their post-Games break.

The builder explains, “Fiji is a pretty special place for us. It’s where we had our first holiday together, so I knew I had to do it.”