Australian-Tongan athlete, Mo'onia Gerrard has been appointed as the new head coach of the Worcester Servern Stars, an English professional netball club participating in the UK based Netball Super League Tournament.

She was announced as head coach by the Servern Stars yesterday. Mick Donovan, the club's Franchise Director stated, "We are absolutely thrilled to be able to announce that Mo’onia will be the Severn Stars Head Coach and believe it really sends out a clear message about our ambitions to succeed in netball’s top flight, whilst also bringing an ambassador to our local netball communities."

Upon being announced, the 35 year-old Australian-Tongan said “Being appointed the Stars head coach comes with great responsibility to breed and develop the south-west/Midlands players in England. It's also exciting for me to get amongst the English culture and migrate my Australian approach to the England style.”

As a former Australian National representative Mo’onia played 68 test matches for Australia and was a member the Australian team that won the 2007 Netball World Cup. She played more than 182 national league games for the New South Wales Swifts and Adelaide Thunderbirds.

Mo’onia is better known in Tonga, however, for her commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles as well as developing the sport of netball. In 2009, she helped started the “Mo’onia Cup”, an annual Netball tournament in Tonga. Mo’onia has since become a sporting role model for aspiring Tongan female athletes.

Mo’onia is the sister of Mark Gerrard, Australian professional rugby player and former Wallaby.