Brice is yet to face the Vixens since her memorable preliminary final performance in last year’s inaugural Super Netball season, when she started in goal shooter and piled on 42 goals from 44 attempts to see her team home 65-57.
But she knows exactly what to expect from a Vixens side that sits just above her Giants in second place on the Super Netball ladder.
“We’ve had a look at some video today and we’ve different things that have worked in the past. I suppose it helps us that they haven’t really changed a whole lot from last season in terms of their team,” Brice says.
“We know they’re going to be strong, they’re not going to lose a lot of ball. They’re a team that won’t throw a lot of ball away.”
“They’ve got such strong connections between players on court, so it’s about shutting down those connections and we need to work on winning ball back in our attacking third and centre third, particularly going into Fever next week.”
Last year Brice filled the void left by goal attack Susan Pettitt’s move to wing attack late in the season, and in Round 4 last week she was called in to save the day for the Giants yet again, with her team misfiring in the first quarter at home against the Queensland Firebirds and trailing by three goals.
By half-time, Brice’s 12 goals from 14 attempts had helped wrestle the lead back from the Firebirds, and her 27 goals for the game allowed them to maintain their advantage through to the final whistle.
Brice says the Giants’ great strength is the number of different combinations they have at their disposal, which they’ll need if they’re to topple the Vixens on Sunday.
“Jules (coach Julie Fitzgerald), when she needs to change things up she’ll throw me out there. Sometimes it’s before half-time, sometimes it’s after half-time, sometimes it’s during a quarter but I pretty much need to go out there and do the job that she needs me to do and that the team needs me to do.”
“Mostly we’re trying to look at working in combinations. We have so many players out there and we’re such a versatile team that if something’s not working Julie can put a whole new team on and change the game up.”
Brice says that while she fully expects to be back behind Pettitt and English sensation Jo Harten in the goal shooting pecking order this weekend, she’ll continue to play her role if and when the team needs her.
“Obviously everyone wants to be a starting player in a team, but at the moment when I’m sitting behind two international shooters, I’ve got to take all my opportunities when I can. It’s great having Jo and Pratts there because I get to learn a whole heap off them, and then when Jules does give me the bib, just making it my own.
GIANTS Netball take on the Melbourne Vixens at Sydney’s Quaycentre on Sunday at 5pm AEST.
Watch it live on Telstra TV, or purchase tickets here.
