Super Netball 2023 captain’s poll, Part I: Predicted grand finalists, MVP and fantasy signings
Who will make the finals and grand final? Who will win MVP? Who would be the best recruit from another sport? Suncorp Super Netball captains give their verdict on that and more.
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Who will your team play in the grand final, and which two other teams will finish in the top four?
Geva Mentor (Collingwood Magpies co-captain): Thunderbirds
Other finalists: Fever and Firebirds
Liz Watson (Melbourne Vixens co-captain): Lightning
Other finalists: Fever and Thunderbirds
Maddy Proud (NSW Swifts co-captain): Thunderbirds
Other finalists: Vixens and Fever
Hannah Petty (Adelaide Thunderbirds captain): Vixens
Other finalists: Fever and Swifts
Kim Ravaillion (Queensland Firebirds captain): Thunderbirds
Other finalists: Fever and Vixens
Steph Wood (Sunshine Coast Lightning captain): Fever
Other finalists: Thunderbirds and Swifts
Courtney Bruce (West Coast Fever captain): Thunderbirds
Other finalists: Vixens and Giants
Jamie-Lee Price (Giants vice-captain): Fever
Other finalists: Lightning and Vixens
Total – grand final: Thunderbirds 4, Fever 2, Lightning 1, Vixens 1
Total – top four: Fever 7, Thunderbirds 6, Vixens 5, Lightning 2, Swifts 2, Giants 1, Firebirds 1, Magpies 0
Which player from another club will be the SSN MVP?
Mentor:Shamera Sterling
Watson: Courtney Bruce
Proud: Shamera Sterling
Petty: Liz Watson
Ravaillion: Jhaniele Fowler
Wood: Shamera Sterling
Bruce: Shamera Sterling
Price: Steph Wood
Total: Shamera Sterling 4, Courtney Bruce 1, Liz Watson 1, Jhaniele Fowler 1, Steph Wood 1
Every club has to sign an athlete from another code. Who do you pick and why?
Mentor: “She’s very controversial but, for ability, I’d probably go Liz Cambage. Just because she’s so big and we could play her at either end and she kind of knows ball skills well enough.’’
Watson: “Lauren Jackson. I know she’s probably retired and a bit injured at the moment, but she’d be a great goal shooter for us.’’
Proud: “Oooooh. Can I bring Ash Barty out of retirement? I was gonna say Sam Kerr, but I don’t know how good she is with her hands, she’s good with her feet! Maybe we could bring Lauren Jackson back. She’d be a good shooter under the post!’’
Petty: “I’d probably go someone like a Chelsea Randall or an Erin Phillips. Erin with the basketball background, surely that’s got to be a drawcard? Then Chelse Randall, she’s an amazing athlete, an amazing human. Lucky enough to meet her, so probably one of those two.’’
Ravaillion: “Samantha Kerr. I would love to have her – she’s an incredible athlete and I love watching her play for the Matildas, so I’d have her in a heartbeat.”
Wood: “Bree Koenen from the Lions in the AFLW. I’d love to see her with Cara (sister and Lightning and Diamonds shooter Cara). I’d love to see them in a team together because I feel like the dynamic would be great. But just watching Bree in the AFL, she’s definitely just an unsung hero. She does all the hard yakka and she might not be the person that‘s perceived to be making the highlights and stuff. But I love a player in netball or anything that does the hard work that other people reap the benefits from – so I’d love to see her come play netball. I don’t know how good she’d be but I’m sure we could train her!”
Bruce: “Sammy Whitcomb from the Perth Lynx. She’s an excellent shooter and good defender – she could play both ends.”
Price: “I feel like there’d be someone really tall in the AFLW that’s a ruck. I feel like a lot of girls that play netball go into AFL, so girls that play AFL can come back to netball.”
Where do you stand on the Super Shot, and should domestic and international rules be the same?
Mentor: “I wasn’t a fan of it to start with but I’ve become accustomed to it in the game. I really think that (the two-point line) should be pushed out, though, I think it’s too close. I’m kinda happy where the international game is at the moment … I think it’s fine where it is and at the end of the day, it’s an entertainment product that we’re putting out there in SSN, the rules have changed so much away from international netball that I reckon it’s a stand-alone.’’
Watson: “I think the rules should be the same. I’ve never been a massive fan of the Super Shot, but I know that we’re learning with it now and it’s been around for a few years now, so we need to adapt, but I would love to see domestic and international netball have the same rules.’’
Proud: “If there’s statistics surrounding the Super Shot that say that more people are watching because of it, then I’m happy for it to stay. At the end of the day, if we need more people to be watching the sport and that’s gonna grow it, then yes. But I still feel that netball in its purest form is still one of the best games in the world and I think that unless you’re training it from a young age, you shouldn’t be playing it at our level, so I think it just needs to be consistent. So it either needs to be gone and gone across all levels, or if it’s gonna stay, it needs to stay in all levels.’’
Petty: “I actually quite like the Super Shot, I think it brings some excitement. I probably don’t have to deal with it too much, being a midcourter, but I like it’s got a point of difference for SSN. But I can also see how it could build into international level and make it something that’s exciting up there, as well. I like how international is also very much the traditional game, but I’m also a fan of rolling subs.’’
Ravaillion: “I think the Super Shot is incredible for fans, it makes the game exciting. As a player, being a midcourter, if your shooter’s two-point shot is hot at the time, fantastic. But if it’s not, you work so hard and then the game is blown out by 10. So it’s a really hard game to play but in terms of fan engagement, I think it’s amazing. It would be great if it went international because then we’d be training it in our season already and then bringing it to international we’d be ready for it, so it’d be great.”
Wood: “I’m a traditionalist but it’s in our game. From all reports – and even talking to my sister, she thinks it’s added to the game from an audience perspective. While the Super Shot has been there, there’s been games where it’s not used. It’s there if you need it but you don’t have to use it. Internationally, I don’t think that much changes for it. I’m a traditionalist but it is here and I will use it to whatever advantage I can. If I need to use it, I’ll use it, and if I don’t need to use it, I won’t.”
Bruce: “The Super Shot is what it is now – we’re used to it defensively. I guess I enjoy the traditional style of netball at international level but I’m not a shooter, so I feel like I get no real opinion on this one.”
Price: “Originally, when we first brought out the Super Shot, I was not a fan because I love the traditional netball and I really enjoy going back to that internationally. But especially at Giants, we really flourish with the Super Shot, it has saved us multiple times in our season, so I’m quite happy with it.”
Which team will meet Australia in the World Cup final and who is the Diamonds’ next biggest threat?
Mentor: “England Roses. Easy! Next has to be Jamaica, going off the performance they put in at Comm Games last year.’’
Watson: “I think we’ll beat NZ in the final but obviously Jamaica is such a big threat. Then again, so is everyone else, as well!’’
Proud: “Jamaica and Jamaica! Then I think New Zealand. I think anyone under Noeline Taurua, she always just pulls something out of her pocket when it comes to the big stage, so New Zealand will be tough to beat as well.’’
Petty: “I think it’ll be Australia and New Zealand and the next biggest threat is Jamaica. I’ve got two Jamaicans in the team and they are continually saying that they are building, so I think they are going to be the next biggest threat.’’
Ravaillion: “I think they’ll play Jamaica. Jamaica came really close in the Comm Games, which is exciting because they have only been growing and building. They’ve got some incredible players in our league now in Shamera Sterling and Latanya Wilson, Shimona Nelson and all of them are doing amazing things in our league and they’re taking that to the international level. So I think Jamaica will come close but the Diamonds will win.”
Wood: “I can’t split them – but I will. I’ll say Jamaica because I think their bookends are incredible and you saw what they were able to do at the Commonwealth Games. But I think our biggest threat is (New Zealand coach) Noeline Taurua; not necessarily a player but it’s her ability to get her team where the team needs to be. They were written off for the Comm Games and they walked away with a bronze medal and then when we saw them in the Quad Series, she knows how to get her team in the right spot for major events, so I think our biggest threat is Noeline.”
Bruce: “I think we’ll play Jamaica again in the final, I think they’re just going to go from strength to strength. But you can’t go past New Zealand in the form they’ve been in and with Grace (Nweke) and Ameliaranne (Ekenasio) in that attacking end, they’re absolutely phenomenal.”
Price: “I think it’ll definitely be an Australia-New Zealand grand final. I think New Zealand will be our biggest threat – actually Jamaica! To be fair, I think it’ll be out of us three.”
TOMORROW, PART II: The big questions on netball’s future
Originally published as Super Netball 2023 captain’s poll, Part I: Predicted grand finalists, MVP and fantasy signings
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