| Position |
Player |
| GS |
Jhaniele Fowler |
| GA |
Gretel Tippett |
| WA |
Liz Watson |
| C |
Serena Guthrie |
| WD |
Jess Anstiss |
| GD |
Karla Pretorius |
| GK |
Geva Mentor |
| Reserve Shooter |
Jo Harten |
| Reserve Midcourt |
Kim Green |
| Reserve Defender |
Laura Geitz |
The 50-50 split between Australian and import players showcases further evidence that Suncorp Super Netball is the best domestic netball competition in the world.
West Coast Fever’s dominant attacker Jhaniele Fowler was named goal shooter, after potting 783 in the regular season, alongside teammate and Super Netball Young Star Award Winner Jess Anstiss at wing defence.
The two will play in this weekend’s grand final against the defence duo of Karla Pretorius (GD) and Geva Mentor (GK) from Sunshine Coast Lightning, who are both also featured in the starting seven.
Fowler said, “I am pleased with the performance thus far from myself and my team mates, I couldn’t have done it without them.
“I had placed great expectations [at the start of the season] as I knew I was coming into a very good team and that I would make an impact, so I knew we would have gone good, but we’ve gone much better than I was expecting.
“I feel the pressure is naturally balanced across the court, the girls have to work so hard to get the ball to me and I’m just there to shoot it.
“I’m pumped for the weekend, it’s going to be amazing – the Perth fans have backed us so well this season and have made Perth Arena a fortress.
Melbourne Vixen mid-courter Liz Watson made the cut, after delivering a chart topping 426 goal assists that were nearly enough to steal her Victorian team a finals series berth.
The Vixen team missed out a top four spot on the last game of the season, despite going a five match winning streak earlier in the year – a run of form that was very much down to the performance levels of Watson during that period.
She said, “To be represented across all the teams and wing attacks is a real honour and I love playing netball – so this is just something that tops off what I love doing.
“As a team it was a bit disappointing the way we finished, but I’ve always said that you perform individually well when your team is performing well – the group we had and the challenges we had to face, we all had to pull together and really put in our best and that is when you can show your individual skills.
“I am going to hand over my goal assists tally to my goalers for actually getting those goals in, we had a nice combination down there.
“Getting goal assists is just my job so if I wasn’t doing that properly then I wouldn’t be a doing a good job as wing attack.
When discussing what the Vixen team would be working on in the off-season, Watson said that collectively as a group they need to learn how to finish teams off.
“As a team we play to win, just being able to finish off games and quarters to get the points that you need now not, just the wins.
“The best way to perform is to build connection with teammates so sometimes in attack I think we lacked that a little bit, so throughout the off season and pre-season and every chance we get it will all be about building combinations.
The 2018 season was one of the tightest contests to date, with so many of the games being decided by one or two goals.
The talent in the 2018 Team of the Year is reflective of how strong the competition has been, with so many big names missing out on a spot that arguably could have been included.
The 2018 Suncorp Super Netball Team Of The Year
GS – Jhaniele Fowler (Fever/Jamaica)
GA – Gretel Tippett (Firebirds/QLD)
WA – Liz Watson (Vixens/VIC)
C – Serena Guthrie (Giants/England)
WD – Jessica Anstiss (Fever/WA)
GD – Karla Pretorius (SC Lightning/South Africa)
GK – Geva Mentor (SC Lightning/England)
Reserve – Shooter – Jo Harten (Giants/England)
Reserve – Mid Court – Kim Green (Giants/NSW)
Reserve – Defender – Laura Geitz (Firebirds/QLD)
The team of the year was selected from 3-2-1 votes cast by a high performance judge during each match of the season.
