A final for the history books
NETBALL: You will not see a better game of netball, let alone in a grand final.
They said last year’s grand final could not be beaten. Those people were wrong.
It was said the NSW Swifts could not suffer a defeat any more painful.
Yesterday, that is exactly what happened as the Queensland Firebirds, for the second year in a row, crushed the Swifts 69-67 in the most unbelievable fashion – after extra-time – thanks to a clutch goal from Romelda Aiken.
Caitlin Thwaites scored a goal with four seconds remaining – the Swifts’ third of the last minute – in regular time to level scores before Stephanie Wood, with the final shot of extra-time, lipped out to put everyone’s jaw flat on the ground at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
The clock was then stopped, with the first team to go ahead by two goals crowned champions.
On this remarkable Sunday afternoon in front a crowd of vociferous fans, it was Aiken who delivered the killer blow to the Swifts in an even more painful fashion than last year.
Emotions spilled out on court as the Swifts players began to contemplate how it could have all gone wrong again.
The NSW Swifts blew a threequarter lead and were ahead for a good portion of extra-time before Aiken’s three goals to finish the game etched another a famous moment into the last chapter of the ANZ Championship.
Earlier, captain Kim Green showed her intent from the get-go as she orchestrated a turnover in the first phase of play to gift Thwaites the first goal of the afternoon.
The Swifts then raced out to a 6-2 lead within the first five minutes.
The Firebirds had a very clear game plan from the outset to serve Aiken with long passes to make the most of her height advantage over Sharni Layton.
While she was getting plenty of ball, her shooting was poor with just 63 per cent in the opening term.
It got as bad as 17/29 (59 per cent) but she improved to finish with a whopping 63 goals from 89 attempts (71 per cent).
It was clear Layton was getting under her skin.
After another couple of misses under the ring, the exuberant Swifts defender gave a thumbs up and a big grin to the Brisbane crowd.
To provide some context, Aiken had shot at 87.5 per cent this season before Sunday’s game.
The Swifts led at quarter-time 15-12, and coincidentally, were also up by three goals (14-11) in last year’s grand final before running out of petrol in sight of the finish line.
Queensland came out of the blocks with the first four goals of the second quarter – as well as three misses – to lead in no time, despite Aiken showing ongoing symptoms of a bad case of the yips.
The hosts’ two-goal lead at the main break was built on the back of Laura Geitz’s clinical work in defence.
It camouflaged Queensland’s erratic shooting that finished up at 69/100 compared to the Swifts’ 67 from 84.
In a hard-fought third quarter, Susan Pettitt put the Swifts ahead with 3:50 remaining in the term in what was, on a personal note, another exemplary display for a player who has given so much to NSW netball.