TITLE DREAM ALIVE
Every club is still in the finals equation heading into next week, writes EMMA GREENWOOD
IF THE Super Netball season is a marathon, the eight teams are about to head into a week-long sprint that will make or break their finals dreams. Clubs will play three games in a week in the second condensed section of the season, with the midweek round injected to ensure the season is over before the Commonwealth Games.
Ladder leaders West Coast Fever and Melbourne Vixens can seal their place in the finals with a successful week. Queensland Firebirds and Giants can also put themselves in the box seat for a top four place.
In all but one season since the inception of the Super Netball competition, eight wins have been enough to send a team to the final.
With the Fever and Vixens having both notched six already, the next week could push them across the line.
How teams cope with travel, fatigue and recovery during the next week is likely to determine their fate in arguably the most even Super
Netball season yet. With every club still in the finals equation after eight rounds, here’s how the next week could determine their fate.
WEST COAST FEVER Current position: 1st
Draw rounds 9-11: Lightning (away, Saturday), Vixens (home, Tuesday), Giants (home, Sunday)
With their games spread over eight days and two matches at home, the Fever has one of the most friendly draws during the next week.
It will be a heavy favourite against the last-placed Lightning, which has been battling this season. But it’s their clashes against fellow topfour sides the Vixens and Giants – the only teams to beat the Fever in the opening round – that will determine whether they’re safe at the end of the week.
MELBOURNE VIXENS
Current position: 2nd Draw rounds 9-11: Giants (away, Saturday), Fever (away, Tuesday), Swifts (home, Saturday)
The Vixens can seal themselves a finals ticket by the end of the week, but they’ll have to be on song.
They hit the road to take on fellow top-four sides the Giants and Fever. While they beat both in the opening round, they did it at home. On paper, their match against the Swifts looks as though it should be a onesided affair. But the premiers found their mojo in the NSW derby at the weekend.
QUEENSLAND FIREBIRDS Current position: 3rd
Draw rounds 9-11: Magpies (away, Sunday), Thunderbirds (away Wednesday), Lightning (home, Saturday)
The Firebirds’ finals hopes could come down to their depth given their schedule of three games in six days, including two on the road. Coach Megan Anderson is likely to throw everything at the Magpies on Sunday, then call on a bench that includes former Diamonds squad member Kim Jenner, Australian development squad player Jemma Mi Mi and rising
star Mia Stower to get through games against the Thunderbirds and a home derby against Lightning.
GIANTS NETBALL Current position: 4th
Draw rounds 9-11: Vixens (home, Saturday), Magpies (away, Wednesday), Fever (away, Sunday)
The Giants have arguably the toughest draw, facing top-two teams Vixens and Fever, as well as the league form side the Magpies.
The Giants clawed their way into the top four at the halfway point of the season after being battered by Covid early in the year, while they lost two of their three games in the last condensed round as their players struggled to return to full health.
The Giants showed what they were capable of with a victory against the Fever in the opening half of the season, but lost the derby to the Swifts at the weekend.
ADELAIDE THUNDERBIRDS
Current position: 5th
Draw rounds 9-11: Swifts (away, Sunday), Firebirds (home, Wednesday), Magpies (away, Sunday)
After winning the first two games of the season, the Thunderbirds promised plenty but lost five in a row to limp to the end of the opening round. They bounced back with a victory against Sunshine Coast last week and will head into their clash with a resurgent Swifts with momentum.
With one of the competition’s best defensive line-ups, the Thunderbirds earn enough turnover ball to trouble any team, but have to convert it.
COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES Current position: 6th
Draw rounds 9-11: Firebirds (Tasmania, Sunday), Giants (Tasmania, Wednesday), Thunderbirds (home, Sunday)
The Magpies are taking games to Hobart and Launceston in Tasmania, which is great for the game in an area that could be a key expansion
market for Super Netball in the future. But with matches against topfour sides the Firebirds and Giants, the Magpies had better hope their efforts are repaid by vocal fans.
After a shaky start, including being hit by Covid in the last compressed week and having key players miss two games while in isolation, the Magpies have found their groove. They are arguably the competition’s form team.
NSW SWIFTS Current position: 7th Draw round 9-11:
Thunderbirds (home, Sunday), Lightning (away, Tuesday), Vixens (away, Saturday)
After losing dual premiership winner Sam Wallace to a season-ending injury in the opening game, the Swifts have taken time to adjust.
But they put themselves back in the finals frame with a derby win against the Giants at the weekend.
And the Swifts still have a chance to turn their season around. With three games in just six days – two of them on the road – they face a big ask, but they’ll view at least two of them as winnable.
SUNSHINE COAST LIGHTNING Current position: 8th
Draw round 9-11: Fever (home, Saturday), Swifts (home, Tuesday), Firebirds (away, Saturday)
The Lightning could be just a week away from notching up an unwanted first if they fall out of finals contention this week.
The most successful team in Super Netball history, the Lightning has never failed to reach the playoffs. But that record is in peril even though they remain a mathematical chance, level on competition points with the three teams ranked above them and only one win outside the four.
Their dreadful defensive record means that if they fail in tough assignments this week, their year will be as good as over.