By Sophie Taylor
The Suncorp Super Netball season is already shaping up to be one of the best yet.
And if Round 3 is anything to go by, the competition is tight.
From extra time nailbiters, to intriguing coaching decisions, these are the five things we learned across Round 3 of Suncorp Super Netball action.
OVERTIME PROVES HOW CLOSE THE LEAGUE IS
Not just one, but two games went into overtime during a blockbuster round of SSN action.
The Adelaide Thunderbirds were forced to work for their win after an enormous start against the Sunshine Coast Lightning. Despite a 17-6 opening quarter, the Lightning rallied in a huge second half effort to draw level on the final siren.
Unfortunately for the Lightning, the Thunderbirds have experienced plenty of overtime situations in the last season – and despite Lightning leading at the midway point of the extra time, the Thunderbirds came home strong with a 6-1 final period to claim the points.
A different story played out between the Queensland Firebirds and NSW Swifts, in a clash that featured the Swifts come from behind to steal the win.
The Firebirds well and truly showed up against the Swifts, winning each of the first three quarters to hold an eight-goal lead at the final change.
However, the Swifts are not known for giving up – especially in Helen Housby’s 100th SSN appearance. The Firebirds held onto a narrow lead with less than a minute on the clock but could not retain possession against the fired-up Swifts as they levelled the score on the buzzer.
It was all momentum from there, with the Swifts’ smooth movement and confidence seeing to the Firebirds in the 11-15 extra time.
Lightning and Thunderbirds played out a thriller at UniSC Arena.CLUBS RALLY AGAINST HOME SIDES
Contrary to last week’s suggestion of the importance of a home crowd, it proved the opposite this week with all four winning teams getting wins on the road.
Both the Thunderbirds and Swifts got important overtime victories on the board, while the West Coast Fever overcame a slow start to defeat the Melbourne Mavericks and the Melbourne Vixens fired up early to clinch a 19-goal victory over the GIANTS.
The Vixens led by as many as 23 goals midway through the third quarter of their win over the GIANTS, having little issue with the tense atmosphere or continuous defensive effort.
Most importantly, they kept the GIANTS to single digits in both the first and second quarter which ultimately kept the home side from being able to wrangle back a lead with the Suncorp Super Shot.
The Thunderbirds went about their business in a similar way, and while the Lightning used the power of their home crowd to get back into the contest, it was not enough in a tight overtime period.
The Mavericks put everything on the line in just their second home match, flying out of the blocks against the Fever with an impressive 17-14 opening quarter effort.
The Fever are on an impressive run of form, though, and would not be kept down – fighting back in a huge 26-goal second quarter effort to take the lead.
While the Mavs weren’t quite able to work their way back into the contest from there, it was a much better showing from the new club as they kept the Fever on their toes with intriguing rotations and continued pressure across the court.
Sophie Dwyer was put through her paces in WA.NEVILLE’S MASTERMIND MOVE
Tracey Neville has made some big moves since being named head coach of the Mavericks late last year, but she made more than one big move on the weekend.
Neville is the first coach to utilise her eleventh player this season, bringing Shimona Jok into the mix for the first time this week and to huge success. While the introduction of Jok didn’t necessarily assist with the Mavs’ midcourt issues, it gave them a much clearer target to the post.
Ultimately, Neville’s decision to bring Jok into the squad this week wasn’t the surprise move – it was the rotation of Jok into goal keeper against fellow Jamaican tall timber, Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard.
This coaching decision, while bizarre to watch, was something that certainly challenged the Fever. Forced to adapt their game plan and feeding style, it took a moment for the visitors to adjust and gave the Mavericks fans a real show.
Most intriguingly, it’s worth watching what Neville does from here with her 11-player squad. Does Jok stay in the squad as a swing player and replace injury replacement Jessie Grenvold? Only time will tell.
FITZGERALD’S GIANT MOVES
GIANTS head coach Julie Fitzgerald is well known for not making a wealth of changes, but had to pull the pin on her starting seven after a six-goal opening quarter against the Vixens on Sunday.
Despite winning ball back, the GIANTS just could not convert and struggled to move the ball down court with 12 general play turnovers in the opening quarter alone.
The move that really tested the GIANTS was the swing of Origin Diamonds goal attack Sophie Dwyer into wing attack.
With Dwyer not having the intended impact inside the circle, the move initially appeared to be a clever one.
However, the move did not quite work in the GIANTS’ favour – instead allowing Vixens wing defence Kate Eddy to nullify the sharp shooter outside the circle.
Ultimately, it seemed like the GIANTS lacked direction inside the goal circle.
Young gun Matisse Letherbarrow more than held her own with 26 goals to her name, including six Suncorp Super Shots, as Jo Harten moved into goal attack – a role she revolutionised at the GIANTS over many years.
While Harten is a strong target, that move also didn’t prove too impressive for the GIANTS with Harten lining up against Jo Weston – a player who has come into the season revved up and ready to go after being sidelined.
Ultimately, this match left a lot to be desired from a very exciting and talented GIANTS group, who were well and truly run down by a rampaging and undefeated Vixens side.
Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard shot her 8000th national league goal against the Mavericks.STATS WRAP
Unsurprisingly, Fowler-Nembhard still tops the goals and attempts leaderboards after another huge round, reaching her 8000th SSN goal milestone in round three and taking her season tally to 183 goals from 186 attempts.
Fowler-Nembhard also leads the Nissan Net Points tally with 386, closely followed by Shamera Sterling-Humphrey with 320.5. Sterling-Humphrey holds top spot for both deflections (22) and intercepts (13), while Sarah Klau has taken top spot for defensive rebounds with eight – just one ahead of Sterling-Humphrey.
Alice Teague-Neeld has continued her excellent form to top the goal assists tally with 83, while Liz Watson takes top spot for centre pass receives with 75.
English duo Housby and Eleanor Cardwell both hold top spot in a Suncorp Super Shot leaderboard each, with Housby recording seven more this round to take her lead to 22, while Cardwell has made one more attempt than Housby and Harten with 26 attempts to her name.
Thunderbirds tall timber Romelda Aiken-George holds the attacking rebounds lead with 17 to her name.
