Team to beat: NSW Swifts’ young stars lead the statement win over dual premiers to stay undefeated
The young stars of the NSW Swifts have the led their red and white army to a statement victory over dual premiers, Adelaide Thunderbirds, to remain undefeated. While milestone Maverick Shimona Jok has starred in Melbourne’s first season win.
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It was pegged as the battle of the game’s established superstars.
Instead, a trio of little-known youngsters turned the tide against the two-time premiers to show the NSW Swifts are the team to beat this Super Netball season after their 65-57 win in the game of the season.
While star Swifts shooter Grace Nweke finished with 48 goals and a points victory against the best goalkeeper in the world, in Shamera Sterling-Humphrey, it was defender Teigan O’Shannassy and midcourters Grace Whyte and Sharni Lambden who turned the tide when their team was under the pump.
Despite it being just round 3 of the competition, Sunday’s match was the most anticipated of the season, pitting the defending premiers against their 2023 grand final opponents, who have added one of the stars of world netball to their line-up.
It was all the T-Birds in the opening quarter though, the home side pushing out to a seven-goal lead after a dominant period and holding on to a four-goal buffer at halftime despite a mini fightback from the visitors.
The Swifts turned the tide massively in a 21-12 third quarter, taking a lead late in the term that they never ceded.
In a rivalry that dates back to 1997, the Swifts and T-Birds have now won 35 games each, as well as two draws.
Young guns dominate
O’Shannassy has served a long apprenticeship behind current and former internationals Sarah Klau and Maddy Turner at the defensive end but is getting more and more time on court and she showed just why coach Briony Akle trusts her so much in a game-changing third term.
O’Shannassy almost single-handedly turned the game, coming up with seven gains - five of them in the third term alone - to force record-breaking Thunderbirds shooter Romelda Aiken-George from the court.
“I was just playing off the body,” O’Shannassy said of getting in front and having a fly for the ball.
“You wanted to go out and just hunt ball. I think that’s one of our strengths in defence too and having that height, we can mix and match.
“And the set-up out the front allowed that, so it wasn’t just me.”
Whyte, who subbed into the match for Verity Simmons in the second term, started to give the Swifts the penetration to circle they’d been missing early in the match, while Lambden, who has thrived since being handed a full-time contract by the Sydney club, played a massive role, shutting down Diamonds midcourter Georgie Horjus.
Combine that with the role of Nweke - who, while already an international, is just 23 - and it was a victory for the Swifts youngsters.
Battle of the stars
There was the possibility the Adelaide Entertainment Centre would be sucked into a black hole on Sunday with the collision of stars Grace Nweke and Shamera Sterling-Humphrey.
The players are arguably the two best in their positions in world netball and their personal battle was as eagerly anticipated as that of their teams.
It was Nweke taking the early points, playing in front of Sterling-Humphrey and nullifying the Jamaican’s ability in the air, although her team found it difficult to get the ball into her.
Following the injection of Whyte though, the tide turned and Nweke was getting quick, clean ball, with Sterling-Humphrey, who in her early days could fade in and out of matches, dropping her head as the Kiwi got on top.
It was a big match too for Aiken-George, who became the most capped player in the ANZ Championship-Super Netball era, with 233 games, but struggled to bring her best after an early knock.
Swifts call on friends
If it were high fashion, we’d be calling it a collaboration - Swifts x the Dame perhaps.
In the sporting world, it’s the relationship that keeps on delivering as Swifts mentor Briony Akle and New Zealand head coach Dame Noeline Taurua partnered again.
Silver Ferns coach Taurua appeared for a one-match cameo on the Swifts bench ahead of another visit later in the season.
The partnership, which started when Akle took on an assistant coaching role with the Ferns, has delivered Nweke across the ditch and a working relationship that has seen a pre-season training camp this year between the Swifts and Kiwis, as well as visits by Taurua - one of the best coaches in the world - this year and last.
She was in action early in the match when the Swifts were in the reeds, getting in the ear of defenders Sarah Klau and Maddy Turner, with a few pearls of wisdom.
‘Unbeatable’: Milestone goaler leads Mavs to first season win
An “unbeatable” goaling performance from Shimona Jok in her milestone match has led Melbourne Mavericks to their first win of the Super Netball season as the Giants’ winless campaign continued.
In her 100th Super Netball game, the star Jamaican goaler underlined her club MVP status with a powerful showing under the post to put the injury-hit Mavericks’ second season on the board with a 71-56 win at John Cain Arena.
Jok dominated the Mavericks’ scoring to finish the match with 60 goals from 63 attempts at 95 per cent in a matchwinning display of her aerial strength in the Easter Sunday clash.
The Mavericks defied a growing injury list – largely to their attack end – to register their first victory of the season in the first of the split rounds.
Already missing English international Eleanor Cardwell (knee), the Mavericks were this week dealt a double injury blow after goal attack Sasha Glasgow was ruled out with a calf complaint, while training partner Nyah Allen was also unavailable.
Uneeq Palavi filled Glasgow’s shoes at goal attack, while former Vixens rookie Sacha McDonald was plucked from the Victorian Netball League as a reserve, but did not take to the court.
Palavi had nine goals from 11 for the match, providing the perfect support for Jok with her feeds into the circle as the Mavs capitalised on their defensive pressure.
Relieved to secure the team’s first win of the season, Mavericks’ coach Tracey Neville hailed Jok’s performance, saying she had been “unbeatable” - and her game was only getting stronger.
“I thought she started a little bit shaky, but I think it was a massive moment, this is something that has been celebrated all week,” Neville said after the match.
“I feel that her career is getting better and better and she is getting stronger and stronger and it was so lovely to get the win for her as well because who wants to celebrate their 100 when you lose?
“I thought her unbelievable ball-handling tonight and taking that ball under the post, I think she was unbeatable”.
Leading into the split-round, the Mavericks, Giants and West Coast Fever remained the only three winless teams in the competition.
Trailing throughout the match, the Giants switched up their attack with Matisse Letherbarrow (21/25) replacing Jo Harten (14/15) at goal shooter in the second half and she did her best to drag the Giants back into the game with three two-pointers in the final quarter, but the margin was too great.
The Mavericks will be hoping they can now ignite their campaign after narrowly missing the finals in their debut season last year, while the Giants continue to chase a breakthrough win.
More Mavs’ milestones
After celebrating her century in the competition, Jok now has another milestone in her sights.
Jok’s haul on Sunday edged her closer to the 4000-goal mark in Super Netball.
Before Sunday’s game, Jok needed 85 goals to reach the major goalscoring benchmark, meaning she will now easily be within striking distance in the Mavericks’ next match in the Melbourne derby against the Vixens after their break.
Giants trouble
The Giants’ losing streak now extends to eight matches after dropping the last five games of last season when they claimed the wooden spoon.
The Sydney team’s next assignment doesn’t get any easier with the Giants facing defending champions Adelaide Thunderbirds.
“(We’re) obviously very disappointed, I think we can play a lot better than what we put out there today,” Giants’ coach Julie Fitzgerald said.
“There are lots of things to work on that we need to take away from that. I think the performance today was disappointing when you think of what we’ve built on over the last two weeks.
“I think it’s more disappointment than pressure (on the group). The first two weeks of the competition we were really building into something and I think we let ourselves down a little bit today.”
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