The decals remained in place, the lights stayed on and the centre passes flowed as expected in round three of Super Netball at the weekend, as the focus returned to action on the court.
Here are the big talking points out of the round.
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Wallam ‘wonder goal’ fires up Firebirds | 00:54
Bruce Almighty ‘shatters’ Nelson’s confidence
Fever captain Courtney Bruce’s shutdown job on Collingwood shooter Shimona Nelson was key to her side’s 80-53 thumping of the Pies in Perth on Sunday.
The keeper told Fox Netball at half-time she wanted to get into Nelson’s head early and “shatter her confidence a bit” and that’s just what she did.
Bruce got on top early, recording three gains in the first quarter, and despite not forcing a miss, kept the Jamaican to just seven goals, her lowest full-quarter total this year.
The Diamond defender’s dominance forced Collingwood coach Nicole Richardson to bench Nelson in the second and she didn’t bring her back on until the last quarter when the game was all but gone.
Bruce – who finished the game on the bench so Fever coach Dan Ryan could get all 10 out on the court – ended up with 10 gains, which included two intercepts and four rebounds. She did however also have four turnovers, an unusually high number. Nelson finished with 20/20 and two contacts.
Post-match, Ryan said his side had focused on how to beat Nelson.
“Shimona’s been one of the most in-form shooters (in the league) and we really approached it with that mentality … that we have to be on task, doing our own jobs against them, because of how much we respected how dangerous they were,” he said.
“For Courtney to get Shimona taken off very early on in the game is a huge credit to Courto’s presence, footwork and positioning, and also the unit’s work out the front. So that’s a huge win for Courto that I’m sure she’ll take a lot of confidence from.”
Ryan also praised wing defence Jess Anstiss. “Jess started on the front foot really well today, to win a couple of balls early in that first quarter. She put a lot of doubt into the Magpie feeders’ (minds) and also how they were playing across that transverse line.”
Not-so-super last five minutes hurts Giants
The Giants’ reputation as the “super shot side” might need a rethink after Julie Fitzgerald’s team failed to score – at all – in the last five minutes of Sunday’s match against the Vixens.
Scores were locked at 57-all when the siren sounded for the super shot period and Vixens fans braced for what Fox Netball commentator Bianca Chatfield called a possible “onslaught” of the long bombs, worth two in the last five minutes of Super Netball games. But it never arrived and the Vixens won 62-57.
Former Super Netball stats analyst Michael Hutchinson broke down how the final five minutes played out.
“Mwai Kumwenda scored five goals without a miss in the final five minutes, while the Giants failed to score at all,” he said.
“The Giants – as they’ve attempted before – tried to win the game on the back of the super shot. First it was a miss from Sophie Dwyer, then Jo Harten played around a penalty under the post, to miss a super shot as well. Next was a fumbled ball from Harten.
“Dwyer missed again with less than a minute remaining, as they trailed by three, which was rebounded by Emily Mannix. And that was the game.
“So, in the last five minutes, the Vixens had five attempts, and scored five goals. The Giants took the risk to score six goals from three shots, but couldn’t land one.
“It goes to show that ticking the scoreboard over is sometimes in your best interest,” Hutchinson said, also highlighting how well the Vixens were able to run down the clock in the dying minutes.
The Vixens, not regarded as super shot specialists, outscored the Giants in the super shot period across the contest 21-20.
After a third loss in a row, coach Fitzgerald couldn’t hide her frustration. “Look, I think tomorrow I’ll be able to find some more positives, but at the moment I’m just bitterly disappointed,” she said.
“But then I look and think of last week and the things that we had to work on and the errors that we made and we did really improve on that. Hopefully, the win is just around the corner,” she said.
‘Second phase starvation’ delivers for Thunderbirds
A masterful game plan, executed exactly, helped the Thunderbirds dismantle the Sunshine Coast on its home court to win 66-42 on Saturday night, a scoreline that somehow still flattered the Lightning.
Adelaide’s head coach Tania Obst and assistants Tracey Neville and Cathy Fellows clearly had a strategy to starve Lightning shooter Cara Koenen of second phase receives (SPRs). And it worked, holding the Diamond to just three SPRs in a half at GS, where she has averaged about four a quarter so far this season.
Former Super Netball sideline reporter Fiona Crowe said in addition to the coaching group, much credit belonged to wing defence Latanya Wilson.
“She was incredible, smothering Annie Miller and Steph Wood at wing attack on the centre pass,” she said.
“You add in the long arms of Tayla Williams and it caused all sorts of disruption outside of the Lightning circle. It disturbed their normal structures which include Koenen coming out of the circle to take those second phase balls.
“She was quiet on the stat sheet, but Wilson’s groundwork forced a big change at wing attack and created opportunities for her teammates to pick up ball,” Crowe said.
The Thunderbirds appear to have settled on a best seven, with Tippah Dwan at goal attack in front of shooter Eleanor Cardwell, Wilson pairing with Matilda Garrett and GD and Shamera Sterling at keeper, Williams in centre and Georgie Horjus at wing attack.
“(That) has meant they can start to nail their systems. They debuted a floating box-like defensive structure at the pre-season tournament and really nailed it in this game. It particularly suits Williams, who has a great ability to read the play,” Crowe said.
Netball Aus issues apology to Pies | 00:35
Scoreboard snafu mars big win for Swifts
The opening game of the round at Ken Rosewall Arena between the Swifts and Firebirds was all about numbers.
It was Romelda Aiken-George’s 200th match, a chance for both sides to secure four points for the first time this season and Firebirds shooter Donnell Wallam went close to breaking the record for single goals in a match.
But it was a different set of numbers, the score and clock, normally shown on the large in-stadium scoreboard that proved most controversial, as the display didn’t work for large portions of the game. It’s the second time this season there’s been issues at the Sydney arena.
At the weekend, players and fans could only see the score and time on small digital counters on the sides of the court.
The technical snafu came on the back of several other failures last round, including the decal debacle that delayed the Swifts’ match with the Thunderbirds at Netball SA Stadium, and a subsequent power outage at half-time that saw the game abandoned and declared a draw.
Swifts co-captain and game MVP Maddy Proud spoke about the issue after her side’s 74-71 win.
“There were a few times where we didn’t really know what was going on and what the time was,” Proud, who during the week was among several Swifts who publicly criticised how the Thunderbirds handled the decal issue, told News Corp’s Kate Allman.
“It’s hard with super shot time, and things like that, to not know the score. I was just glad we were checking the centre passes and making sure they were right,” Proud added, referring to the double centre pass controversy in the Vixens’ win over Collingwood last round.
