When Green steps onto court in a Round 1 grand final rematch against the Sunshine Coast Lightning on Sunday it’ll be 14 months since she went down with the season-ending ACL injury, and the ensuing months have brought their fair share of doubts as to whether the 32-year-old’s body would ever allow her to climb back to the top of the sport.
So this is the full-stop from Green as she and her team prepare to atone for last year’s disappointing performance in the season decider: “Rehab’s gone really well. The great thing for me was not having a time restriction. As much as the pre-season was very long, I didn’t have the pressure of getting back within the 12 months, I knew that I had 12 months.”
There. Chapter closed.
In the last week Green’s attention has well and truly turned towards how her team will curb the potent Lightning squad, which retains premiership favouritism despite the departure of the team’s engine room, New Zealand star Laura Langman.
Green said she’ll be watching Saturday’s games with interest as she and her teammates try to work out how to approach league’s new rules – which award points for quarters won, as well as winning games – and use them to their advantage.
“We haven’t played it (under the new rules), so we’re all testing it in the first round. We get to sit down and watch Vixens and Magpies and get a bit of a glimpse into how they’re going to do it, which may give us some insight into some little tips we can do along the way,” she said.
“It’s going to make players a little more accountable on court, in terms of understanding where the team is at, at certain points. And that’s not just the leaders on court, that’s everyone. It’s going to be extremely testing to see which players don’t get so caught up in the game and actually understand that, ‘Oh gosh, we’re two goals down and we actually need to get those two goals in’.”
While it’s foreseeable that under the new rules other SSN teams will stick with the same seven players week, week out in a bid to extract every point possible from every game, Green said the Giants’ great advantage was that their best combination could vary from week to week or even quarter to quarter.
Jo Harten will likely – and deservedly – get the nod at goal shooter, but with 196cm target Kristina Brice a huge threat and with Harten able to swing into goal attack, the Giants are flush with options.
Likewise in defence, Sam Poolman and Bec Bulley formed a formidable pairing but last season, but with 22-year-old Kristiana Manu’a back in the fold after also rupturing her ACL last year, the team has multiple defensive weapons to throw at opposition teams.
“I know other teams will just play their starting seven and not play their bench as much … but I feel we’ve got a very unique situation where we’ve got 10 solid players and if we were to throw on another combination it changes the game but they’re also very experienced players as well,” Green said.
“We’re going to be able to play a different brand of netball if one isn’t working. I still feel like that’s an opportunity for us. I don’t think some other teams have that luxury.”
The Giants take on the Lightning at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on Sunday afternoon. Watch live on Sunday 29 April at 1.00pm AEST on Channel 9, Telstra TV or the Netball Live App. Secure your seat.
