What the Queensland Firebirds and Sunshine Coast Lightning learnt from Spirit Cup clash
A sold-out Townsville crowd were treated to 60 minutes of world class netball with the Spirit Cup coming north. Re-live the action and find out what each coach learnt from the high-octane affair.
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A heaving sold-out Townsville crowd were treated to 60 minutes of world class netball on Saturday night as Queensland’s two Super Netball sides played out a thrilling battle for the pre-season Suncorp Spirit Cup.
The Sunshine Coast Lightning triumphed 71-53 to claim the silverware off the back of an emphatic third-quarter charge where they doubled their first-half tally with an 18-3 run to start the second stanza.
Home court hero Sasha-May Flegler played the first three quarters for the Firebirds at wing defence and was given a baptism of fire coming up against Lightning recruit and Australia Diamonds captain Liz Watson in the mid-court.
Firebirds coach Bec Bulley said the 18-year-old training partner should be proud of her performance.
“She was brilliant. She just seems really calm and composed,” Bulley said.
“She did a really good job considering she was coming up against the Diamonds captain, particularly in that first half.
“She did a really great job and I’m really proud of her. She should be proud of herself as well.”
The Sunshine Coast’s other star recruit, two-time Liz Ellis Diamond winner Courtney Bruce, was a standout at goal defence and elevated her game to another level when she moved further back to goal keeper.
Bruce was physical and disruptive, making the Firebirds fight for every point they scored.
Sunshine Coast coach Belinda Reynolds said she would have a headache deciding where to play her new defensive anchor.
“Courtney is a ball-winner, she’s got fantastic footwork and she’s a real leader out there as well so I think in goal defence she offers that great drive down the court but when she goes back to keeper she reads the play extremely well,” Reynolds said.
The Lightning mentor said her team would have to put in more complete performances when the Super Netball season begins.
“We were a bit reactive in the first half and realistically they were beating us on the dead ball time and we weren’t in the physical contest,” Reynolds said.
“No slow starts. We didn’t start the first five (minutes) too slow but then we got a little bit complacent in our defence.
“I don’t think we were looking after our direct opponent and doing our job as well as we could have so that’s certainly a learning from the first half.”
On the other side of the scoring bench, Bulley suggested she might encourage harder training sessions to get ready for the physicality of the season ahead.
“Great first half but we really let that slip. We just needed to be better,” Bulley said.
“It was great to show that we can match it with I think the team that’s going to be the benchmark of the season. We’ve just got to do it a bit more consistently.
“I think we just have to cope with the physicality a bit better. We have to be perhaps harder on each other at training so that we can withstand that and still take the ball strongly.”
Originally published as What the Queensland Firebirds and Sunshine Coast Lightning learnt from Spirit Cup clash
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