To all the young netballers who jump at the shooting bib (guilty) – think again!
Much of the talk around Nissan Net Points has been how low-scoring most of the wing defences have been, with the majority averaging well below 30 Net Points per game, while players in other positions are more consistently pushing up over 100.
Well, Melbourne Vixens veteran Renae Ingles just blew that out of the water, with 84 points earning her best-on-court honours against her old side, the Adelaide Thunderbirds.
It was the most Nissan Net Points scored by a wing defence this season – a whopping 37.5 points more than any other WD in any game from the first three rounds, and 55 points more than Diamonds wing defence Gabi Simpson has managed in her two games thus far.
Renae had two intercepts, three deflections with a gain, eight deflections with no gain and seven centre pass receives, in what was pretty close to the perfect wing defence game.
Ingles held Chelsea Pitman (23.5 Net Points) to five goal assists in the first half before she came off injured, and Chelsea was the wing attack for the Commonwealth Games gold medal team.
WD is a thankless task sometimes, so what is it that makes Renae so good?
It’s the work she has done before her player even knows where she is going. If you watch her carefully, while the ball is down the other end of the court Renae is already positioning herself where she wants her player to go, and if that WA isn’t switched on, she won’t even realise what Ingles has set her up for.
To follow that up, she allows the perfect amount of space between herself and her player to attack the ball. Too much space = free WA. Not enough space = contact. It really is a fine art and unbelievable footwork.
At this level of netball, contacting the body or overcommitting is a NO GO zone as you are leaving your GD and GKs high and dry out the back.
This is what all wing defences in Super Netball should be working towards and what all wing attacks should be wary of.
At the end of the day, even though Renae got a lot of positive turnovers herself, the thing that really impressed me is how much she helped her mate Jo Weston (63.5 Net Points) out at goal defence by shutting the Thunderbirds wing attacks down – Jo had five intercepts, which is high not only for herself but anyone playing in that GD position, with the exception of Karla Pretorius who is currently in a league of her own.
HOW GOOD CAN HADLEY BE?
The fight for the wing attack and centre positions in the Diamonds’ World Cup squad is getting hotter by the week.
And at this stage, it’s hard to see how you’d leave Paige Hadley out.
In Round 3 against the Fever, Hadley posted the highest Nissan Net Points score recorded by any player this season, with 134.5 points, courtesy of 27 goal assists, 42 circle feeds overall, an intercept, eight centre pass receives and five pickups.
Crucially, in four quarters of netball she had only three negative turnovers.
When it comes to choosing the Diamonds squad, players like your Paiges and your Maddy Prouds (78.5 Nissan Net Points in Round 3) have got to be right up there. They’re doing a really good job, they’re not throwing a lot of ball away at the moment and they work extremely hard with the amount of defensive pressure they put on.
To be honest, Paige used to be a bit of a hothead.
From being on her team, I knew she could be on fire, but also that others could get under her skin as she could get a bit bitey out on court, but we haven’t seen too much of that from her this year.
Whether that’s just because the Swifts are winning, I’m not sure, but it think she has matured this year in regards to playing the game for what it is and not getting too caught up in the scrap (also guilty!).
She’s always had that mongrel that every player needs about her but it was almost to the detriment of her performance, whereas this year she still has that mongrel, but also that calm head around what she’s actually doing with the ball and not making those negative turnovers and being calm and strong once she has the ball.
Paige and Maddy are more than happy to work the ball around between themselves until something opens up in the circle, and are being strongly supported on the centre pass with their mate Helen Housby, which allows them the time and space to get that deep second phase and work the ball to circle edge if need be.
To me, combinations are critical and to be fair I can’t really see the difference between a Moloney/Watson combination to Hadley/Proud combo. I’m really looking forward to that Vixens v Swifts battle in Round 5.
Lisa Alexander has some very tough decisions on her hands, but you know, Lisa, if you ever need help I’m here if you need!
