Goal shooter Muhluri Hlatshwayo says taking an opportunity to play in the Malaysian Netball Super League (NSL) was something she couldn’t miss out on.
Hlatshwayo is plying her trade in the Asian country for the second time after her debut in the 2025 season.
The Malaysia Netball Association launched the NSL in 2020 aiming to develop and grow the sport in the country. This year the league expanded the competition and added the NSL Regional Cup which will run towards the end of the regular season.
The 2026 season sees 16 import players from countries like Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Africa and Uganda, among others, who are tasked with elevating the standard of competition while helping improve the quality of local players. The league kicked off on 11 April and will run until 17 May.
‘FEEL LIKE HOME’
There are five South African players competing in the league, a number that has increased recently. Sigrid Burger, Jeanté Strydom, Mbali Diphoko and Reratilwe Tsotetsi are the other players in the league. Former Severn Stars’ player, Burger and former Southern Steel’s wing defence, Strydom are teammates at Kedah Sunshine while Diphoko and Tsotetsi play for Selangor Angels. Hlatshwayo says having other South Africans in the league makes it feel like home.
“It’s so nice playing against South Africans in the league. Seeing them makes it feel like home. It is a familiar feeling, seeing familiar faces that you know, that you have played with in the TNL or at Varsity Netball. It is the best feeling ever,” she explains.
The lanky shooter’s first season in Malaysia was a stunning one. Her stint saw her sink in 186 goals which helped her then side, Putrajaya Dynamites, secure a second-place finish in the 2025 NSL season.
The Dynamites agonisingly lost the final by a single goal, 45-46 to the KL Wildcats. Hlatshwayo hopes that this season will be better and she will be able to return to South Africa with the gold medal for her current side, the Pahang Tulips.
“My hope for us this season is to win the tournament because last year we almost won but lost by one. It was a painful loss. This year we are hoping to win the league. I decided to go back to Malaysia again this year was because I wanted to play in a professional league again. It was an exciting opportunity for me last year and I just thought I should go back. At home we only have the Telkom Netball League but don’t have a professional league yet,” she says.
SOCIAL MEDIA CONTACT
The Dynamites approached Hlatshwayo directly via a message on her social media account, the team showed interest and wooed her to the league. It took a bit of research and seeing a fellow South African, goal attack Adri Kannemeyer, in the league for her to take a leap of faith.
“I got a DM in 2024 from one of the managers of the Putrajaya Dynamites about coming to play in their league. I didn’t know anything about the league but I knew that Adri was playing in there. I did some research about the league, and then that is when I accepted the offer when I saw that it is kind of a big league,” she explains.
Malaysia is currently ranked 36th in the World Netball rankings, Hlatshwayo believes that there isn’t much of a difference compared to the South African competitions.
“I don’t think there is much of a difference because there are a lot of African netball players here. Most teams import players, mostly the goal keepers and goal shooters, from Africa, Australia and other countries. So the netball is more or less the same because you get defended by someone from Africa, someone that plays the same style of netball as you, as much as there’s an Asian style of netball in the midcourt. It is so hard to see the difference,” she says.
THE ULTIMATE GOAL
Although Hlatshwayo admits that donning the green and gold is the ultimate goal, she understands that the journey to representing South Africa at international level may take a while. The Malamulele native says she’s content with the direction that her netball journey has taken so far.
“I think my netball career is going great at the moment because the fact that I started playing netball in 2021 and I have achieved so much from then until now is a big achievement for me. I wouldn’t want it any other way. I just like how everything is unfolding, how everything is going. Honestly everyone hopes that one day they can play on a bigger stage like an international stage or a professional league in England or wear the green and gold but it is going to take time. There is still a lot I need to learn, a lot of other experiences to gain,” she says