By Damien Stannard
Netty in a nutshell
It was fitting that the most improved player in 2022 Sasha Glasgow had the greatest impact on the grand final.
West Coast Fever’s Sasha Glasgow was a training partner under Dan Ryan at the Adelaide Thunderbirds in 2017 so it would be difficult to imagine anyone being prouder of her contribution to the club’s maiden premiership than the coach.
Glasgow was everywhere in a player of the match performance.
Her 12 points, including four Suncorp Super Shots, only begins to tell the story.
Sasha Glasgow embraces fellow shooter Jhaniele Fowler after their historic win. She added 26 assists and 28 circle feeds, a gain, and only conceded one turnover to mount an undeniable claim for grand final MVP.
The Vixens had no answer to her decisiveness, timing and variation which empowered the combination she has forged with Jhaniele Fowler.
Just last year she averaged seven points, 10 assists and 12 feeds per game, with even more improvement to come if the goal attack can reproduce those numbers more consistently.
“We couldn’t have dreamed of a better ending,” Glasgow told Fox Netball.
Bravo Dan
It took some time, but Ryan’s refreshing approach to the game has finally found a home.
The same coach who would often absorb bruises from his own players in opposed training sessions with the Adelaide Thunderbirds where he presided over 27 straight losses from 2017 to 2018, is now a premiership-winning tactician.
Of course, he inherited a talented team. But he also found ways to motivate a side that stumbled at the final hurdle in 2018 and 2020.
Not even coaching great Norma Plummer could haul West Coast to a title in her time at the club.
Ryan’s fingerprints were all over Alice Teague-Neeld’s move to wing attack, striking improvement from Glasgow, and the courage to either make a substitution or leave alone a line-up to figure things out for themselves.
He was unruffled during Jess Anstiss’s six-week absence and had to be overjoyed with her first-rate finals performances.
“I think they can get better,” he said.
“I’ve always known their potential was limitless and there are a lot of players still refining their craft.”
Where to now for Vixens?
Once the agony subsides for the Victorians, there will be some challenging questions posed over how they can regroup and grow.
They were the standout team for most of the season, and beat the Fever at home and away during the preliminary rounds.
Their netball, at times, was precise and chanceless, grinding teams into submission with short passing and ruthless defence.
That all disintegrated in the finals when they were crushed twice by the Fever and were saved from a straight-sets exit by an Emily Mannix intercept.
Superhuman co-captains Liz Watson and Kate Moloney looked mortal in the finals, and you could see the air escape the Vixens’ grand final fightback when Watson was called for an offensive contact penalty during the third quarter.
In her first season at a new club, and first back from knee reconstruction surgery, Austin’s influence will grow.
Whether her partnership with Mwai Kumwenda can take the group forward will be one of the burning questions facing the club leaders.
Another will address how they intend to win possession in the big games.
The Fever only won the gain tally 13-10, but there were periods early during the grand final when the Vixens’ defence could not get near the home side’s attacking feeds.
Killer stat – 10
Of all the numbers, rebounds were perhaps the most stark difference. With Jhaniele Fowler immovable beneath the ring, the Fever dominated the rebounds 10-3.
