Net Gains 2022: Toughest Super Netball season on record, players united over grand final

This Super Netball season has been one of the toughest on record, and with just one round left, there is still plenty to play out to see which teams make up the final four.

The group representing Australia’s professional netballers has moved quickly to ensure there is no tension inside the playing ranks after Netball Australia’s decision to shift the Super Netball grand final to Western Australia.

Players were left seething last week after a lack of consultation on the decision to hold the grand final in Perth regardless of who wins the Super Netball major semi-final in a fortnight – the process that would usually cement hosting rights for the victor.

With the West Australian government offering the financially-stricken governing body cash and in-kind incentives to hold the season-decider in Perth, Netball Australia agreed to a deal to shift the grand final.

Players are adamant the Fever players should not take the fall for Netball Australia’s decision to move the grand final to Perth. Photo: Getty Images

It could yet prove to be a masterstroke by Netball Australia, given West Coast Fever’s win over the NSW Swifts on Sunday ensured they will finish second and play in the major semi where a win would ordinarily have given them hosting rights their state government will now pay for regardless.

Netball Australia’s move to lock the venue in two weeks before the end of the regular season in a unilateral move though has sparked a civil war in the game – pitting the players and administration against one another.

The move sparked an emergency meeting of the Australian Netball Players Association (ANPA), whose president, Jo Weston, issued a strongly-worded statement last Thursday once the decision had been made public, calling for a change of culture at Netball Australia.

It was a united front from the players – one set in stone when they met earlier in the week and underlined the message that West Coast Fever players could not play the role of villain in this scenario.

Australian Netball Players Association chief executive Kathryn Harby-Williams. Picture: Michael Klein

ANPA chief executive and former Diamonds captain Kathryn Harby-Williams said the players were determined not to allow the situation to cause a split in their own ranks.

“From a players’ perspective, it’s obvious the suffering (minor premiers) the Vixens have had to go through as a result of this but also the Fever – they get the external criticism through no fault of their own,” Harby-Williams said.

“They were more than willing to earn the right to host the grand final.

“And that’s how we approached our board meeting. We said: ‘Put yourselves in the shoes of both parties’ because the Fever could easily have got the call saying it’s elsewhere.

“We were all aligned, we all knew the impact that this decision was having on the (various) entities … and we all landed in the same place to say, this isn’t good enough.”

LIKE

Plenty of attention has focused on what still needs to be done to help Indigenous players rise to the elite level of netball. But there are good things happening – the recent national Under-17 and Under-19 titles featured several First Nations players, while the curtain-raiser to Sunday’s Swifts match was between First Nations community sides – the Minhi’s from Randwick, and Tristan & Mary from Western Sydney.

SEASON DOWN TO THE WIRE

It’s been said several times this season is the toughest on record for Super Netball.

The weekend’s games simply underlined it.

Sunday’s final clash between the Magpies and Lightning was the biggest “blowout” of the round, with the Magpies winning by six goals after a stunning final term – and jumping from seventh to fourth on the ladder as a result.

The Vixens also surged in the final term, with their four-goal win sealing the minor premiership, while the Fever and Giants beat the Swifts and Firebirds respectively by a single goal in nailbiters.

With one round to go in the regular season, the final four is still not settled, with four teams still in contention.

Shamera Sterling is giving her all for the Thunderbirds. Picture: Jason McCawley/Getty Images

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Shamera Sterling (Thunderbirds)

Most expected Sterling to spurn the T’birds in the off-season and head to a club where she had a better chance of earning a title. But she elected to stay in Adelaide and has given her heart and soul to the team as she did again on Saturday night, almost helping them to a massive upset of the competition-leading Vixens. Tough to see her devastation after the game but she could have done no more to help her side.

Firebirds v Giants

Jamie-Lee Price (Giants) 3, Donnell Wallam (Firebirds) 2, Jo Harten (Giants) 1

Thunderbirds v Vixens

Shamera Sterling (T’birds) 3, Kate Moloney (Vixens) 2, Mwai Kumwenda (Vixens) 1

Swifts v Fever

Courtney Bruce (Fever 3, Jhaniele Fowler (Fever ) 2, Paige Hadley (Swifts) 1

Lightning v Magpies

Shimona Nelson (Magpies) 3, Jodie-Ann Ward (Magpies) 2, Steph Wood (Lightning) 1

Originally published as Net Gains 2022: Toughest Super Netball season on record, players united over grand final