Lightning try to keep a lid on final hype

LIGHTNING coach Noeline Taurua always thought the Sunshine Coast could give the inaugural Suncorp Super Netball finals series a shake. But not like this.

The Lightning are 60 minutes of quality netball away from winning a championship in the club’s first season when they take on the GWS Giants at Boondall on Saturday night.

Taurua is widely credited as the mastermind behind the Lightning’s shock surge into the decider.

She assembled a star-studded side with the backing of NRL powerhouse club the Melbourne Storm.

While she always envisioned a finals appearance, she feared a grand final may have been a bridge too far for the Lightning in their inaugural campaign.

“I thought we could do a top three or four finish, definitely,” Taurua said.

“I was pretty comfortable with that.

“But I thought it would be a huge squeeze to get to the grand final.”

Goalshooter Caitlin Bassett said the key for the Lightning will be “keeping a lid” on the emotions of grand final week.

“It sounds boring but we just have to take it day-by-day. We can’t focus too much on Saturday, get ahead of ourselves and potentially miss critical things we need to do in our preparation,” Bassett said.

“If you play the game in your head too early, you use up a lot of energy.

“I don’t want to be getting excited about it until Saturday morning so I’m keeping a lid on it.

“I’m not as stressed about it as I thought I would be which is a good thing.’’

Only Geva Mentor, Laura Langman and Steph Wood have played in top level grand finals before.

But the Lightning boast a combined total of 381 Test caps to call on when the going gets tough.

“It (a grand final) is unknown territory for a lot of us, including me but we can turn to the girls who have been there before,’’ Bassett said.