When: Saturday 28 July, 7pm (local time)Where: Perth Arena, PerthTickets: Purchase here Broadcast: Telstra TV and the Netball Live app, GEM in WA only
Last time they met in Round 7:
Melbourne Vixens (74) defeated West Coast Fever (60)
Match-Up
Vixens
Fever
Mins. in Possession
34
25
Gains
11
9
Intercepts
8
4
Deflections
7
11
Goal Shooting %
90
89
The Melbourne Vixens went at West Coast Fever from the very first centre pass and the Perth team couldn’t contain the onslaught.
VIDEO
Game talking points:
The Firebirds inflicted a season double over Fever when they beat them last weekend, which has loosened Fever’s grip on the minor premiership. They can’t afford another slip up here, as Giants Netball are waiting in the shadows ready to pounce.
Emily Mannix returns to the Melbourne Vixens’ 10 to add strength to their back line, especially given that they are up against the in-form goaler of the competition in Jhaniele Fowler. The defender has spent the last few weeks sidelined with a finger injury, but comes back into the Vixens’ fold just when they need her the most – following last week’s defeat to the Giants.
Simone McKinnis will be coaching her 100th game this weekend. A remarkable achievement, which quite fittingly falls on such a massive game in her Vixens’ career.
If Fever want to win…
Last weekend, the Giants turned over the Vixens because of their dominance of the mid-court. They shut down the creativity of Liz Watson by cutting off the supply to her. They defended tough, frustrating the Vixens’ goalers to the point where Kumwenda got given a warning for lashing out. Fever would have looked at that footage and adjusted their game plan accordingly. In attack, you can’t imagine the Perth team will look to do anything different to what has already brought them huge success already this season – allowing their goal shooter to smash nearly every scoring record in the book.
If Vixens want to win…
A high tempo with bags of energy is what helped the Melbourne Vixens destroy West Coast Fever at home back in Round 7, so they will look to do more of the same again this weekend. They needed a spark against the Giants last weekend, when they were trailing in the 4th quarter by one goal throughout – but nobody stood up and made it happen for the Victorian team. In these key end of season games, their big players will need to be counted when it really matters – late in quarters when points are on the line and a two goal swing could be the difference between playing in the final’s series, or watching it from home.
Key match ups:
While most weeks the focus is usually on the other end of the court and Jhaniele Fowler, the match up to watch this week will be between Stacey Francis and Courtney Bruce (Fever) up against Mwai Kumwenda and Tegan Philip (Vixens). The Vixens’ pair showed last weekend that they can be rattled when not given an abundance of scoring opportunities by Liz Watson. Kumwenda kept coming out of the circle, a point that was flagged to her by coach McKinnis during one of the timeouts, and Tegan Philip only shot at 77%.
