By Paddy Regester
Indigenous Round is always an incredible week, and this year’s one was no exception.
Being able to celebrate our amazing Aboriginal culture in Far North Queensland with the intensity of late season Super Netball was unforgettable.
Let’s go through all four games.
Magpies find something to Bragg about
The Lightning did exactly what they needed to do against the bottom of the ladder Magpies on Wednesday night in Townsville.
They jumped out to an early lead, held the Magpies at arm’s length for the rest of the game and walked off the court with a ten-point win and second place on the ladder secured for at least one more week.
For the Magpies, it was their tenth straight loss and their 12th for the season. But it was one the team can take plenty away from.
With the Browne sisters and Ash Brazill missing games this year, we’ve learned that the Magpies midcourt depth is strong, particularly at Wing Defence where Mel Bragg is beginning to emerge as a player to watch.
The 25-year-old made life tough for the Lightning attack all night and filled up the stat sheet with four intercepts, five gains and seven deflections.
Together with a Molly Jovic and a health Kelsey Browne, this is shaping up to be one of the better young midcourt groups in the league in 2021.
Fever fells GIANTS
I tell you what, when Kiera Austin scored fived minutes into the third quarter to give her GIANTS a 43 to 37 lead over the Fever, I was believing in miracles.
25 minutes later, the game, and the GIANTS improbable finals run, was over.
The equation was simple for the fifth placed GIANTS coming into Round 13; beat the Fever to potentially setup a winner-takes-fourth showdown with their cross-town rival Swifts the following Sunday.
And, like I said, that was looking like it could happen when they stretched the lead to six early in the third.
From then on, it was all West Coast, who outscored the GIANTS 34 to 23 to finish the game.
They were led by their big three contributors. Jhaniele Fowler was immense, scoring 64 points from 66 attempts, Verity Charles is continuing to put together what has to be the best season of her career and Courtney Bruce had a lazy 12 gains, two intercepts, nine deflections and 7 rebounds.
This team is flying and a win against the Thunderbirds and a Lightning loss in Round 14 would see them finish second on the ladder and primed for a big run.
For the GIANTS, it’s back to the drawing board.
Survival of the Swiftiest
After the GIANTS loss earlier in the day, the Swifts came into this match against the Thunderbirds knowing that their place in the top four was safe.
And, besides a red-hot start and composed finish, they played like that for much of this game. They did just enough to get the job done and keep in the battle for second place with the Lightning and Fever.
They just have these moments where they go off the boil and their scoring dries up completely. In the second and third quarters, the Thunderbirds outscored them 31 points to 23 – 23 points in two quarters!
Not to take anything away from the Thunderbirds defensively, but you’d expect an attack end which includes Sam Wallace, Helen Housby and Sophie Garbin to be able to put up more than 11 and 12 points in two quarters of netball.
Staying on the Thunderbirds, it was another strong showing from all the usual suspects. Lenize Potgieter scored 33 points from 34 shots, Georgie Horjus and Maisie Nankivell both worked tirelessly all game and Shamera Sterling and Layla Guscoth strangled the normally free-scoring Swifts.
While they certainly aren’t playing the best netball they possibly can, write off these Swifts at your own peril. Now that they have locked up a spot in the finals, they can focus entirely on defending their title.
Firebirds the next big thing?
When Firebirds defender Kim Jenner stepped in-front of a Jo Weston pass five minutes into the third quarter with the scores tied at 37 apiece, a thought hit me - are the Firebirds the next powerhouse of the Super Netball league?
Look down the list and it certainly reads like a team that can challenge for titles sooner rather than later.
Romelda Aiken is back to dominating defensive ends and has scored 535 points for the season, second best in the league. 20-year-old Tippah Dwan is one of the most exciting shooting prospects in the country and how she’s used once Gretel Bueta returns should have Firebirds fans pumped.
Mahalia Cassidy has bounced back from her knee injury in a big way, emerging as one of the best mids in the competition. Lara Dunkley and Jemma Mi Mi are both strong up-and-coming attacking mids. And Gabi Simpson is… Gabi Simpson!
And the defensive combo of Jenner and Tara Hinchliffe continues to develop into something incredibly special.
What do you think? Are the Firebirds the next powerhouse of Super Netball?
Game on the line? Find these guys
This week Dr Aaron Fox and the team at Deakin University’s Centre of Sport Research looked at who the most ‘clutch’ shooters have been across the 2020 season after 13 rounds.
They calculated shooting statistics in the final five minutes of a match when the margin was less than 5 points. And they also looked at ‘game-tying’ or ‘go-ahead’ shots attempts during this period.
- Romelda Aiken (17), Jhaniele Fowler (18) and Cara Koenen (17) have attempted the most shots during the ‘clutch’ period. Both Fowler and Koenen have only missed one of these shots each, with Fowler having the higher shooting percentage of 94.4%.
- For Suncorp Super Shots, Jo Harten, Gabrielle Sinclair and Georgie Horjus lead the league – each having taken ten super shots during the ‘clutch’ period. Horjus is the most accurate of this group, with a shooting percentage of 70.0% on these shots.
- Jhaniele Fowler leads the league for the number of ‘game-tying’ or ‘go-ahead’ shot attempts during the ‘clutch’ period with seven. Fowler has not missed a single one!
