But there’s more than a hint of truth in her light-hearted jibe.
With premiership points on the line for each and every quarter under the new Suncorp Super Netball ladder system, most teams have stuck with what they believe is their strongest seven for all four quarters during the three rounds thus far.
The Swifts, however, have defied that trend, and with sparkling results.
Coach Briony Akle has been prepared to change things up and back her youngest charges to come on and have the same impact she’d expect from more experienced campaigners, and the players have more than repaid her faith.
Young defender Kate Eddy and goal shooter Sophie Garbin were called into action late in the game in Round 1 and both were instrumental in the Swifts overhauling the Firebirds to record a memorable one-goal win.
Midcourter Claire O’Brien started on the court for the Swifts in Round 2 against the Vixens, and Akle again turned to Eddy and Garbin in the third quarter of the home derby against GIANTS Netball in Round 3, with both players pivotal in overhauling a three-goal half-time deficit and pulling off another one-goal victory.
Garbin played down her captain’s words as a bit of light-hearted fun but said there was a ring of truth to what McCulloch said about the Swifts’ wealth of options off the bench.
“That’s just a bit of banter, to be honest,” Garbin laughed.
“I think Fever had bit of a laugh about that, coming back with a video (rebuttal). I think she (McCulloch) was saying we’re a bit more unpredictable because we have made changes and they have worked for us.”
Garbin said Akle had delivered on her promise of injecting fresh legs and a new dynamic throughout games as required, with all 10 players considered legitimate contenders for court time each week.
“Briony talked about that through the whole pre-season. She was saying she’s willing to put anyone on court and she’s confident in anyone,” she said.
“It’s only Round 3 and she’s already proven that she will put anyone on and last week rewarded Claire O’Brien with the start. Kate Eddy’s been coming on and absolutely smashing it, so I’m excited to see what she can do this week as well.”
The Swifts might well need every last resource on Saturday afternoon when they take on league leaders West Coast Fever on their home court in Perth.
Garbin said the Swifts are acutely aware of the danger posed by Fever goal shooting sensation Jhaniele Fowler, who has netted 167 goals in her first three games, but are taking heart from the job Sunshine Coast Lightning keeper Geva Mentor did in restricting Fowler’s impact to 44 goals last weekend.
“Coming off the win against the Giants we’re pretty confident but we’ve also got our processes in place that we need to do.”
“It was nice to watch them against Sunshine Coast Lightning and watch what Geva Mentor did on Fowler. That obviously helped us a lot, so thanks Geva for those tips,” she said.
The crowd and the court won’t be foreign for Garbin, who hails from Perth and only moved to Sydney late last year to take up her opportunity with the Swifts.
She said it will be a memorably homecoming and is confident she and her teammates will enjoy their share of support.
“I’m really excited actually, obviously going home and hopefully playing in front of a few Swifts supporters for me. It will be good, we’ve been doing a bit of video on them (Fever) and we’ll just going about our own business.”
The Swifts take on the West Coast Fever at HBF Stadium on Sunday at 1pm local time (3pm AEST). The match will be broadcast live on GEM (Perth only), Telstra TV and the Netball Live app.
Written By: Adrian Ballantyne
