Super Netball Round 3: The latest on the Giants’ Covid crisis and team news
The Giants’ Covid crisis remarkably relaunched Chelsea Pitman’s career last week – and the club’s situation is yet to improve. Here’s what could happen in Round 3.
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The Giants are nervously awaiting updates from their medical team with four players still potentially unavailable for their Round 3 clash with Vixens.
Giants had to pull in Fever training partner Chelsea Pitman for last weekend’s clash ,after six players went down with Covid-19.
There had been calls for the match to be rescheduled by Netball Australia but bosses stuck to their promise to deliver a traditional home and away season – as much as possible.
New Covid-19 contingency plans meant Giants could cherry pick a suitable training partner from another team.
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A Giants spokeswoman said while Jamie-Lee Price, Sophie Dwyer and Jemma Donoghue (training partner) had rejoined training they were yet to be given the all clear from the medical team.
“They will consult with the medical team as they went and pulled up regarding their participation and level there of in Saturday’s match,” the spokeswoman said.
“Amy Parmenter won’t be available to return to the team environment until travel day on Friday, which is also pending her returning a negative test following her 7-day government instructed isolation.
“No more players or staff have tested following last week. All players within our contracted 10 have now had it at some stage.”
Swifts have confirmed that co-captain Paige Hadley, who tested positive to Covid-19 after the Round 1 clash with the Giants, will be back in action this weekend.
Net Gaints: Player loan system opens up can of worms
- Emma Greenwood
There’s little doubt league officials would have been among those cheering on the Giants most fiercely on Sunday after insisting their clash against the Adelaide Thunderbirds went ahead despite the team being ravaged by Covid.
With six players testing positive to the virus, it seemed the Giants met all criteria for the match to be postponed – although Netball Australia boss Kelly Ryan clarified last week the league’s published tipping point of five players all had to come from the full-time contract list, not an overall squad.
Regardless, the Giants side was decimated and they never had never really had a chance against the Thunderbirds.
The fact that they were able to compete for half the game, heading into halftime with the scores locked, said as much about the quality of the Thunderbirds efforts in the opening two quarters as the heart of the Giants.
There’s no escaping the fact that the opening half of Sunday’s match in particular was a dirge not reflective of the best league in the world.
Overall, there were a horrid 42 general play turnovers, 33 unforced turnovers and 121 penalties.
Any time a team is missing players, the opposition is going to have to make adjustments given those they normally scout are not in the line-up, and the Thunderbirds efforts in the opening half reflected this.
The Giants, led by captain courageous Jo Harten, made a huge effort in the opening half but it was never sustainable.
The fact that the Thunderbirds only won by 13 was lucky. Had this game been against an opponent like the Fever – who have won both their matches this season by almost 20 goals – it would have been a bloodbath.
It’s tough for the league. There’s no doubt that with the Commonwealth Games on the back end of the season, there can’t be a backlog of games that need to be played.
However uneven contests do nothing for the league either.
Interestingly, the match was pulled from betting agencies on Friday after News Corp revealed the extent of the Giants’ Covid crisis.
While the league has no official betting partner, if agencies such as these act independently, it speaks to the integrity of the match.
Ryan insisted there was no issue with integrity, however, should Covid continue to seriously affect teams, tough times lie ahead.
The league obviously has to make a stand. But they’ve erred on this one and the game should have been postponed.
REPLACEMENT PLAYER CHAOS
Has the Fever’s loan of Chelsea Pitman to the Giants only opened another can of worms for the league?
Pitman was signed to a temporary replacement player contract at the weekend to join the Giants given their Covid crisis.
League rules stipulate players can be drawn from another organisation if the club in question has exhausted its own training partner list as the Giants has, with injury and illness affecting their list.
But the England international only took the court for 19 minutes, with Giants coach Julie Fitzgerald understandably going to her own players before turning to those from another club.
The Fever had waited until the eleventh hour before giving the okay to Pitman’s move given that they were unsure of the situation in their own playing ranks.
The late withdrawal of Alice Teague-Neeld from the Fever side under Covid protocols showed the perilous situations clubs can find themselves in.
There’s no doubt Pitman would have been called up to play for the Fever, however, once a player has signed a temporary replacement player contract, they can only return to their own club if they are recalled more than 24 hours prior to the original team’s match start and she was outside this window.
It shows the dominance of the Fever though, who were able to win comfortably despite the absence of shooter-turned-midcourter Teague-Neeld, who was among their best in the opening week.
LIGHTNING FAIL TO STRIKE
It’s only two weeks into the season yet the Sunshine Coast Lightning’s chances of continuing their unrivalled finals run are in doubt if their leaky start to the season is any indication.
Against the Fever and then the Firebirds, the Lightning have turned in abysmal performances, particularly in defence where the rivals have been able to run rampant.
No team in Super Netball has given up more goals in the opening two rounds of the season and they need to stem the flow quickly if they are to turn the tide.
The absence of former captain Karla Pretorius – on maternity leave this season – was always going to be felt strongly, while recruit Tara Hinchliffe is on the comeback from an ACL injury and still to form a strong on-court bond with Kadie-Ann Dehaney, who moved to the Sunshine Coast in the off-season.
Whether the Lightning – who have never missed the Super Netball finals – can remain a contender will be one of the most interesting plots of the season.
LIKE
FIREBIRDS: Not many had the Firebirds among their fancied teams early in the season but their performances in the opening two rounds show that they can be among the contenders.
The Birdies showed patches last season of a speedy game that no team in the league is able to match. But consistency was still a killer.
If they’re able to find that this year, with the injection of the exciting Donnell Wallam, they will go a long way.
CHELSEA PITMAN: Pitman’s axing by the Adelaide Thunderbirds at the end of the 2020 season was a real shock. Great to see that she’s found her way back to the league, whether it’s turning out for the Fever or as a temporary replacement player for other clubs during their Covid emergencies.
Pitman’s experience and cool head will be invaluable to any club she plays for.
DISLIKE
Covid: Get in the bin. After two years of hubs and bubbles, the league was understandably pumped for a home-and-away season in 2022 but it’s already become obvious the pandemic is far from over and the virus will remain one of the biggest challenges to all sports this season.
PLAYER OF THE ROUND
Ruby Bakewell-Doran (Firebirds)
The rookie beat out Diamonds squad member Kim Jenner to be elevated to the Firebirds starting side and repaid the faith of coach Megan Anderson with a sterling effort in her side’s dominant win in the Queensland derby.
Best on court
Swifts v Vixens
Emily Mannix 3, Liz Watson 2, Helen Housby 1
Lightning v Firebirds
Ruby Bakewell-Doran 3, Lara Dunkley 2, Gretel Bueta 1
Magpies v Fever
Courtney Bruce 3, Jhaniele Fowler 2, Ash Brazill 1
Thunderbirds v Giants
Shamera Sterling 3, Hannah Petty 2, April Brandley 1
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Originally published as Super Netball Round 3: The latest on the Giants’ Covid crisis and team news
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