Thunderbirds claim Minor Premiership

By Phina Newton

In the final game of the regular season, we saw the Adelaide Thunderbirds hunting their first minor premiership in 11 years. Going up against the Sunshine Coast Lightning was never going to be an easy task, but there were plenty of curveballs throughout the game that made things interesting. 

It was always going to be a close game, the teams matched up well, and the stakes were high ahead of the post-season. 

Early on, Romelda Aiken-George was able to find a position very easily, thanks to the off-ball work from Lauren Frew that enabled her to find her space. Unfortunately for the Thunderbirds, Frew went down with an ankle injury before the end of the first quarter. This forced some changes to be made, Georgie Horjus moved to GA, and Laura Scherian into WA.

Having taken this position multiple times recently, Horjus was up to the task. As Courtney Bruce did her best to disrupt Aiken – Horjus was the go-to.

For the Lightning, the ball flow into the circle was a lot slower and proved to be difficult. There was plenty of tussle between Liz Watson and Latanya Wilson, fighting for position on the circle's edge just made matters harder for the Lightning. Things got worse right before half-time when Cara Koenen appeared to hurt her elbow and had to go off. This put the Lightning in a tough position as Reilley Batcheldoor was unavailable due to injury, meaning Charlie Bell came on for her first time this season. This instability allowed the Thunderbirds an opportunity to go on a run – they finished the half up by six goals.

There were plenty of positional changes, as the coaches tried to find their best fit. At one point Wilson was brought into GD, Shamera Stirling-Humphrey moved to GK, Matilda Garrett went to the bench and Thunderbirds’ captain Hannah Petty came on in WD.

Lightning fans breathed a sigh of relief as Koenen re-entered the court after the break, but the change in momentum wasn’t immediate. Facing a 10-goal deficit, they had some catching up to do.

It was during the Super Shot period that Steph Fretwell went four of five from downtown, this meant her team was back in the game. Horjus was doing her best to keep up and was able to help the Thunderbirds maintain their half-time lead of six goals.

Remarkably, for the first time since the first term, the Lightning found themselves even with their opposition, and suddenly, it was anyone’s game. Watson was put into C to ensure poise with the ball and for the Thunderbirds, Garrett was back on in defence.

The fourth quarter saw both teams trade goals, neither one pulling ahead. That was, until, an unfortunate fumble by the Lightning enabled the Thunderbirds to take a four-goal lead with less than a minute left to play. Fretwell was able to sink one last Super Shot, but it wasn’t enough as they finished the game down by two goals.

This result meant that the Thunderbirds finished the regular season on top of the ladder and won the Minor Premiership. The Lightning remain in fourth, and will now face the West Coast Fever in the Minor Semi Final.