Two chase super start
THE mid-court battle looms as a key to success in today’s Super Netball season opener as Melbourne’s two teams look to put last year behind them and start the new campaign in style.
Melbourne Vixens and Collingwood Magpies will face off at Hisense Arena today in a derby dubbed “The Battle”, both hungry to get a win after finishing with finals losses last year.
The Vixens won both games between the teams last season in Round 1 (58-55) and Round 7 (60-56) but the Magpies enter the third instalment as a narrow favourite.
Magpies coach Kristy Keppich-Birrell said her side had enormous respect for the Vixens but believed it could get an opening win with a strong mid-court performance.
“They’re a brilliant team. They’ve got a really low error rate in the way they play and their team cohesion is high. They’ve had players who have played together for a really long time through the pathways,” Keppich-Birrell said.
“The key thing is the midcourt match-ups. You’ve got ‘Ravi’ (Kim Ravaillion) against (Kate) Moloney and ‘Braz’ (Ash Brazill) against Lizzy (Watson). It’s like a battle of the Diamonds in Victoria, so I think that’s going to be where it’s won and lost.”
The Vixens’ key strength last season was its attacking end, with Mwai Kumwenda and Tegan Phillip proving a power combination.
Kumwenda scored 598 goals at 93 per cent last year to be named goal shooter in the competition’s Team of the Year and coach Simone McKinnis said the Malawi import was only improving.
“I know she has been around playing for Malawi for a while and over in New Zealand, but it was a pretty big year for her in terms of her learning and she’s never played in finals before, so that was a huge experience for her,” McKinnis said.
“I think she can and has got better with what she does. While we love the unpredictability, she’s working across goal attack and goal shooter and getting some variability.”
She said the Magpies’ addition of former Adelaide captain Erin Bell made a strong side on paper look even stronger.
“Probably the unknown for us is Magpies with Erin Bell in the team and what that looks like,” she said.
“But we have to be winning across the court to be any chance.”