Round 7 could hardly be more compelling than a clash of two Jamaican Titans, a Melbourne derby and two Queensland-NSW grudge matches.
Burning question
Team Fowler or Team Sterling?
Sporting contests are rarely about one player or even one contest, but if there was a case for a match-up to decide an outcome this will be it.
West Coast Fever shooting machine Jhaniele Fowler and Adelaide Thunderbird Shamera Sterling – they lead the Nissan Netpoints standings - are the two most influential players in Suncorp Super Netball right now.
There is a powerful argument for Melbourne Vixens co-captain Liz Watson, and she has hauled her team from last in 2021 to first in 2022, but she’s hardly done it alone.
The fortunes of the Fever and the Thunderbirds have teetered on their Jamaican prime movers.
Without Fowler’s 57 points per game average this season it would be difficult to imagine the Fever sitting second on the ladder ahead of this game in Adelaide. When she dips below 50, as she did against the Vixens’ Olivia Lewis in Round 4, the Fever tend to lose.
Sterling knows her Sunshine Girls teammate better than most.
She will know the key is to play in front and there are few defenders in the world who share Sterling’s footwork and sublime anticipation.
Sterling has kept her side competitive in 2022. But as the Vixens demonstrated last weekend, short, flat passes can make her look human.
On their last two meetings Fowler narrowly finished on top. In Rounds 4 and 11 last season she shot a combined 112 goals against the Thunderbirds.
Sterling did have some success in the earlier game with five gains.
High stakes
Saturday’s clash at Nissan Arena is a banana skin game for coaching rivals and former teammates Megan Anderson (Queensland Firebirds) and Briony Akle (NSW Swifts).
The Firebirds are a chance of creeping into second or they could almost slide out of the top four.
Akle’s team risk falling to last on the ladder.
At every turn this season the Swifts have smiled and battled on. Few players embody this attitude better than rookie Sophie Fawns.
During the past two rounds Akle has tasked her with specific roles and the teenager has grinned the whole time.
Fever captain Courtney Bruce treated her like a ragdoll at times under the post and Sunshine Coast Lightning defender Kate Walsh also dished out some rough treatment.
And still Fawns created space for teammate Helen Housby.
“She’s like a kid in a sandpit,” Swifts captain Maddy Proud said.
“You could see the mood after Sam Wallace got injured and it was pretty down. But Sophie came in and brought a lot of energy and it’s incredible she’s been able to do that.”
Bogey game
The Giants are riding an imperfect 10 ahead of their Round 7 meeting with the Lightning.
Only one victory against the Sunshine Coast is the lamentable tale from their last 10 clashes, a sequence dating back to the Lightning’s 2017 grand final success.
It looms as the match of the round, with the winner to rest in the top four at the end of the weekend.
Both sets of shooters are in form, with Giant Sophie Dwyer and the Lightning’s Cara Koenen demonstrating why they are in Commonwealth Games reckoning with stunning performances in Round 6.
Koenen’s baseline movement has always been an asset but she has improved dramatically in the air.
“That was feedback from us and the Diamonds, that that was an area to work on, and she’s absolutely delivered,” Lightning coach Kylee Byrne said.
“When that gets taken away, she’s got that movement as well. She’s now a goal shooter with lots of tools.”
