Thunderbirds are go.

By Matt Fotia

Dare to dream.

That's the message the Adelaide Thunderbirds are sending to their loyal fans, as the South Australians booked their place in the 2023 Suncorp Super Netball Grand Final with a nail-biting come from behind extra time victory over the New South Wales Swifts in front a vocal crowd at the Qudos Bank Arena, 64-62.

Nervous energy was abundant to start the finals series, with both sides evidently on edge about what lay in front of them, with uncharacteristic errors from both sides, most noticeably a pair of misplaced passes from Swifts co-captain Maddy Proud and a series of shaky misses from Thunderbirds goal attack Tippah Dwan.

The two sides were playing contrasting styles in defence, with the Thunderbirds systemtically clogging up the middle channel of the court and forcing the Swifts into wide areas on offence, whilst Sarah Klau brought a physical edge to the opening stages for the home side and was a key contributor early on with four deflections and two gains helping quash the influence of Eleanor Cardwell and lay the platform for a red hot Helen Housby to hit four from four supershots to give the Swifts a 16-11 quarter time lead.

A sense of normality returned in the second quarter with the number of errors across the court on the decline.

However as the quantity of the mistakes dropped, the importance of the ones that were still occurring increased tenfold, with the Thunderbirds making crucial ones at either end of the court and allowing the minor premiers to edge out to a six goal lead at the halfway point of the second quarter.

Thunderbirds coach Tania Obst rung the changes during her tactical time out, bringing Lucy Austin into goal shooter at the expense of Dwan, pushing Cardwell out to goal attack as well as moving Latanya Wilson back into goal defence and taking captain Hannah Petty off for Tayla Williams.

Austin, who is not necessarily known for her prowess from two point range, was the catalyst for a late Thunderbirds charge in the second term, with the South Australian going two from two from long range - as well as picking up a handy deflection - to help bring the margin back to two at the main break, 28-26.

Teigan O'Shannassy made her return to the Swifts line up count early in the third quarter, with two deflections, one gain and one intercept, stamping her authourity on the game - and on Eleanor Cardwell - and once again pushing the home side out to a comfortable seven goal lead.

Cardwell, who was quiet by her own lofty standards, was showing visible frustration with her direct opponents and the umpires at times, especially after a second bone crunching hit with O'Shannassy which left her on the floor. The English firebrand wasn't the only player to hit the deck in a heated third quarter which ended 44-39, as tensions reached boiling point after a number of decisive calls.

Obst returned to the defensive combination that was so key to their round 14 victory over the Swifts, with Wilson and Sterling teaming up against Housby and Aiken-George whilst Lucy Austin got the nod over Tippah Dwan - who had provided cutting edge at times throughout the third quarter - and made it count going seven from seven to start the final quarter to cull the margin before a clean intercept from Tayla Williams set up another goal as the Thunderbirds brought it back to two.

At the other end it was all Aiken-George, with the veteran finding her radar early in the final quarter and providing a pressure release for the minor premiers, whose ball movement had become stagnant due to the blanket like Thunderbirds defence who seemed intent on silencing the 9,000 strong Qudos Bank Arena crowd.

There was no way any reasonable crowd member could've stayed silent in the dying stages of this instant classic, as the two tall goal shooters sent the crowd into raptures, with Aiken-George reluctantly taking - and nailing - a super shot attempt in the final minute to put the Swifts in front by one, before Austin missed a game winning two point shot at the other end but quickly tied the scores at 58 apiece on the buzzer after a crucial Tayla Williams intercept which slipped under the radar amidst all the pandemonium that extra time netball brings.

Cometh the moment, cometh the woman.

For all her frustrations over the course of the evening Eleanor Cardwell showed she's worth whatever the Thunderbirds are paying her, with the Roses shooter draining a pair of spine chilling super shots to put her side in front, before sealing an incredible finals victory by collecting a bullet like feed from the understated Georgie Horjus and cooly slotting from under the post to send the Adelaide Thunderbirds to their first national league grand final since 2013. 

They'll now have a week to recover ahead of the grand final on July 8th, whilst the Swifts will host either the West Coast Fever or Melbourne Vixens in next weekend's preliminary final.

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