West Coast Fever 64 defeated Melbourne Vixens 57
At RAC Arena, Perth
West Coast Fever have booked their place in the Super Netball preliminary final, after a stirring seven point victory over the Melbourne Vixens. Two missed shots and a monster block will haunt goal attack Kiera Austin as her side fell away in the closing minutes of the match.
After losing four games in the past five rounds, Vixens’ coach Simone McKinnis rued her side’s exit from the finals.
Speaking to commentary she said, “It’s just those moments in the last quarter where it was there and we didn’t make it. It’s disappointing and it hurts, but I couldn’t ask for more effort.”
With the Vixens dumped from the Super Netball finals’ race, the controversial sale of the grand final will be thrust back into the spotlight. With hosting rights sold to Victoria, it will be the first time, outside the Covid hub years, that two interstate clubs will contest the decider on neutral territory.
In contrast, it was a strong outing for the Fever after their recent loss to the bottom ranked Magpies. Fever captain Courtney Bruce said a changed lead up helped get them over the line.
“Dan (Ryan) gave us Monday off to recoup and recover after a long trip to Tassie. We really had to look at ourselves and do a session with the team psych about finding that new level.”
Little separated Fever and Vixens during the season, and an indifferent run of form in recent weeks meant the match was expected to be a close one. And while it didn’t compare to the Thunderbirds’ sensational extra-time, come-from-behind win yesterday, the match kept a sea of green fans on the edge of their seats.
In a crisp attacking game, errors were few and defensive gains hard to come by. However, Vixens opened up the first break when several careless passes gifted them easy goals.
Fever shrugged off their slow start to finish with a remarkably low nine errors, as they continuously found an imperious Jhaniele Fowler under the post. The prolific Jamaican won MVP rights as she finished with a match high 55 goals from 57.
Vixens defenders were in the wars against her, with both Jo Weston and Em Mannix forced to the bench with an ankle tweak and blow to the face respectively. Both returned to the game, but not before Weston sent a scare through the Diamonds camp with the World Cup on the horizon.
Fresh off her national selection, Fever’s Sunday Aryang was in red hot form. She and her captain, Courtney Bruce, created aerial havoc combining for nine gains.
With the game on even terms and becoming heated, Vixens centre Kate Moloney copped a warning after a late hit on Verity Simmons. It was a timely reminder to all players to stay tidy, after yesterday’s game spiralled out of control on the back of some subpar officiating. Conversely, this match had a mammoth 141 penalties called as the umpires kept good order.
Vixens co-captain Liz Watson led her side with 50 feeds and 24 goal assists. Her opponent Jess Anstiss had a quiet game to celebrate her 100th national league match, but will take the victory.
The winner of next week’s preliminary final between the NSW Swifts and Fever will meet the Adelaide Thunderbirds in the Super Netball grand final.
WILL MINUTES MATTER FOR MUNDY?
With all Super Netball players off contract come September, the future of rising star Hannah Mundy is in the spotlight. Currently sitting behind the Australian captain at the Vixens, the wing attack has averaged just 25 minutes of court time per game this season. Touted as a future prospect for the Diamonds, will she move clubs in search of a starting seven position?
BENCH BUDDIES
Fever have barely touched their bench in 2023, with Emma Cosh (average 4.7 minutes per game), Rudi Ellis (5.4 minutes) and Kim Jenner (16.6 minutes) mostly glued to the pine. With a dearth of young, tall goal keepers in Super Netball, Ellis could potentially be hot property.
