By Philip Jurkovsky
Only one more game remains in this mercurial season, as the GIANTS claimed a spot in the 2021 Grand Final with an impressive win over the Fever on Saturday.
The scoreboard doesn’t give justice to the victors who were in total control of the match until a Super Shot flurry provided the Fever with a far more attractive score line.
Here is how the action played out.
PRELIMINARY FINAL
GIANTS Netball (64) defeated West Coast Fever (61) at USC Stadium
This match had all the makings of an instant classic, however, fans would been left feeling somewhat disappointed that it didn’t live up to expectations. This was mainly due to the total ascendancy the GIANTS had over their opponents right from the first centre pass.
The Fever only held the lead for 40 seconds across the entirety of game, before the GIANTS took full control over the play.
Considering the results in last week’s Semi-Finals ― which saw the GIANTS suffer a heartbreaking one point loss to the Swifts and the Fever producing a commanding win over the Lightning, it was surprising to see that the GIANTS were full of energy and the Fever were out on their feet.
Typically when a team loses in such a disappointing fashion, it is not unusual to see a dispirited performance the following week. But, to the credit of the GIANTS’ players and coaches, they put aside last week’s result and used it as fuel to come out strong in the Prelim Final.
Amy Parmenter set the tone early for her team with some inspirational individual efforts in the opening quarter.
In my preview to the Preliminary Final, I mentioned how important it would be to reduce Verity Charles' impact on the match if the GIANTS were to have any chance to win this.
And Parmenter did exactly that..
Charles led the league in goal assists and feeds this season and has been the x-factor for this rampaging Fever outfit all year. Charles’ athleticism and ability to read the game has allowed her to form an unstoppable connection with Jhaniele Fowler in 2021. Well, unstoppable up until Saturday’s Prelim.
Parmenter was doing everything in her power to disrupt Charles and it certainly worked, keeping her opponent to only 13 Nissan Net Points (her lowest total since Round 2).
The GIANTS’ WD finished the match with five gains, four interceptions and four deflections, while forcing Charles to commit a game high seven turnovers.
Jamie-Lee Price was as cool, calm and collected as you would want your Centre to be. Price controlled the game from the get-go and used her physicality and smarts to play the game on her terms.
The Fever tried putting Charles into the Centre position in the third quarter to match Price’s output, but it was to no avail, with the latter finishing with a game-high 84.5 Nissan Net Points, along with 31 feeds, and 19 goal assists.
Putting aside their spirited final five minutes, the Fever just couldn’t get their flow right.
Fowler had one of those games where nothing would click. This was mainly due to the herculean showing from GK Sam Poolman, who was given the toughest task in netball ― defending Jhaniele Fowler.
This was one of those performances where the statistics don’t tell even half of the story. Poolman only finished with two gains and one deflection for the entire game, yet had arguably the biggest influence on the result.
Poolman was disrupting Fowler’s every move inside the circle which was creating hesitation and uncertainty in her game. The star shooter was opting to leave the goal circle to create space for herself, playing right into the GIANTS’ favour. Having the most dominant shooter in the competition away from the post took away Fowler’s physicality and her ability to use her strength to catch feeds lobbed in over her opponents.
Poolman was named the Player of the Match after keeping Fowler to only 41 goals, as well as forcing six turnovers and nine penalties.
Australian netball is in very good hands with Maddie Hay and Sophie Dwyer both having outstanding games again. You could forgive the pair for shying away from such an important game with so much on the line, but the rookie duo performed like seasoned veterans to help their team clinch a spot in the Grand Final next weekend.
Dwyer did it all on Saturday, including putting the finishing touches on the GIANTS’ Prelim victory.
The Fever will be disappointed to end their season in that manner after being the best team all year. To save your worst performance for the Preliminary Final will definitely leave a sour taste in their mouths, but something they can use as motivation for next year.
And considering they will begin the season on level playing terms, the Fever will be confident that they can bounce back and go one step further in 2022.
The GIANTS will now face the Swifts in the 2021 Grand Final next Saturday at Nissan Arena, in an all-NSW matchup that will no doubt be one to remember!
