Giants back to best for Lightning
NETBALL: Captain Kim Green hopes to have the entire Giants roster fit and healthy for the first time this month in Sunday’s crucial Super Netball preliminary final against the Sunshine Coast Lightning.
Green said a nasty flu had swept through the team in recent weeks, affecting numerous players including shooter Jo Harten, new Diamonds squad member Jamie Lee Price, fellow midcourter Serena Guthrie and defender Kristiana Manu’a.
“Everyone has been sick. I think this is the first week in a while we have all be well,” Green said. “When I’ve been going to sit next to someone I’ve been asking them if they are sick or not and moving away if they are.’’
Green refused to blame illness on the Giants squandering their chance to advance directly into the grand final with a win at home over West Coast Fever last Saturday.
“We put ourselves in that position,’’ Green said. “We don’t play like that normally.
“We just have to get over it, learn from it and move on.’’
The 63-57 loss to Fever set up the Giants’ preliminary final with Lightning at Qudos Bank Area on Sunday.
Lightning thrashed the Giants 65-48 last year to claim the 2017 Super Netball crown.
But this season the Giants avenged the loss with a 54-51 win in round one and then drew 54-54 with the side in round eight.
Meanwhile, Serena Guthrie has announced she won’t be returning to the Giants next year.
The England mid-court star is the second Giants player to reveal she won’t be at the club in 2019.
Shooter Susan Pettitt will retire at the end of this season.