Playoff dream is alive: skipper
FRUSTRATED Firebirds captain Gabi Simpson insists Queensland can still make a finals charge after their poor start to the Super Netball season continued with a 69-61 loss to the GWS Giants yesterday.
The Firebirds are secondlast on the ladder after falling to three defeats and a draw in the opening four rounds.
The Giants won all four quarters at the Queensland State Netball Centre to leave the home side empty-handed and desperately searching for a way to get their season back on track.
The Melbourne Vixens missed last year’s finals after having six losses, so the Firebirds need to walk the tightrope for the rest of the 2019 campaign to qualify for the top four.
Caitlin Bassett finished with a game-high 50 goals for the Giants, while the shining light for the Firebirds was again goal attack Gretel Tippett, who was unstoppable at the attack end with 41 goals from 41 attempts.
Romelda Aiken had an unhappy night in her return as a full-time goal shooter, with 20 goals from 28 attempts for the Firebirds, who had a fumbling and bumbling 24 turnovers.
Simpson – on a restriction due to the groin injury that sidelined her last week – described the mood in camp as “definitely frustrated”.
“At the moment we are playing mediocre netball so this is the position that we find ourselves in,’’ she said.
“We believe we can keep building and make sure we get to that top four. That belief is still there but, at the moment, it’s in our control.
“There’s something deeper that we’ve got to find in those pressure moments. We’ll just keeping looking forward, it’s definitely there.
“We haven’t lost hope at all. It’s still very optimistic.’’
Simpson was surprised the turnover count “was only 24”.
“The frustrating part is that it felt like we had the skill, we had the movement to be in that game, but little errors that we made ourselves is what gave them the upper hand at the end of each quarter,’’ she said.
“It didn’t feel like they had the upper hand on us. We gave them the upper hand.”