By Paddy Regester
Another Round in the books and the 2020 season is starting to take shape.
Three teams have established themselves as the front runners and our dark horses are starting to make themselves known.
Let’s get stuck into what we saw in Round 2.
GIANTS of the Power 5, runts of the rest
No team looks more dangerous than the GIANTS in the Rebel Power 5, but what about the other 10 minutes?
In the first two rounds of the season, no team has attempted more Super Shots than the GIANTS (41) and only the Vixens have made more than the GIANTS’ 21.
And when you’ve got Jo Harten, who leads all players with 15 made Super Shots, and Kiera Austin in your team then why wouldn’t you?
In the first eight quarters of the season the GIANTS have scored an average of 5.9 points in the final five minutes of the quarter. If you can average six points in five minutes, you’ll take that every day.
Problem is, in the other 10 minutes of every quarter the GIANTS have scored an average of just 8.1 points, the second lowest pre-Rebel Power 5 average score in the competition.
And their offence was particularly anaemic against the Thunderbirds on Saturday, who allowed just 32 points after quarter time in their first ever win over the GIANTS.
Whether it’s personnel or game plan, GIANTS Head Coach Julie Fitzgerald needs to get this attack end firing otherwise they’ll never be able to keep up with the Fever, the competition’s highest scoring offence, tomorrow night.
Statement heard, but we’re not crowning you yet
Well, the Vixens ruthless display against the Firebirds on Saturday afternoon was about the most complete performance by any team in recent memory.
But excuse us if we don’t crown them champs just yet.
This is going to sound harsh coming off a 28-point win, so Vixens fans might want to look away now… this will be the third straight year the Vixens will come into Round 3 undefeated. Great stat, nothing like starting off hot.
And, if they can knock off the Lightning in what should be game of the Round on Wednesday night, this will be back-to-back 3 and 0 starts.
But who have they beaten?
Don’t get us wrong, since halftime of Round 1, the Vixens have played six great quarters of netball.
They flattened the hapless Firebirds on Saturday, holding Queensland to just 50 point while racking up 78 of their own and eventually overcame a pesky but undermanned Collingwood in Round 1.
But they need to prove they can play at this level against the best in business before we really get excited about their chances in 2020.
Fast finishing Lightning living dangerously
In the last three games, the Sunshine Coast Lightning have been outscored 85 to 72 by their opposition in the opening half.
In fact, the Lightning have gone into the half time break with the lead just twice in the last eight matches. Pretty concerning, right?
It turns out that’s just how the Lightning like it, considering they are seven and one over that eight-game stretch, which included their come from behind win over the Magpies on Sunday.
But how long can they keep up their slow-starting ways?
They’ll take on the Vixens in Round 3 on Wednesday and don’t expect them to roll over and die after they’ve filled up on Powerade and snakes at halftime.
They need to come out firing against a Melbourne team who just dropped 78 points on the Firebirds.
Not that the Lightning need to be reminded how tough coming from behind in the second half can be. That one loss we mentioned before? The 2019 Grand Final against the Swifts.
Is Teague-Neeld the most important Fever player?
Ok, hear me out… does any player have more impact on their team’s performance than Alice Teague-Neeld is for the West Coast Fever?
When Teague-Neeld is on, like she was in Round 1 against the Thunderbirds and in the opening half against the NSW Swifts yesterday, the Fever look like winners.
They scored 41 points in the first two quarters yesterday, with Teague-Neeld contributing 10 and orchestrating the entire attack.
She was controlling the floor like a Quarter Back in the NFL, feeding passes into Fowler, flicking passes around the circle and hitting shots when the Swifts defenders laid off her.
This all stopped in the second half, where she could only manage 4 points and the Fever’s scoring dried up. Her give-and-go disappeared, she stopped taking shots and the Swifts just double-teamed Fowler. Game over.
I mean, it didn’t help that the Swifts broke the single quarter scoring record with 27 points in the third. And before you come at me, even without the Super Shot they would have scored 26, which equalled the Vixens 2018 record.
