Super Netball, round 11: Jok joins rare air among world’s best shooters, Swifts beat Giants
Shimona Jok is pushing herself into the rare air occupied by the world’s best shooters after another dominant performance lifted the Mavericks a game clear of the bottom of the ladder.
Netball
Don't miss out on the headlines from Netball. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Shimona Jok is pushing herself into the rare air occupied by the world’s best shooters after another dominant performance lifted the Melbourne Mavericks a game clear of the bottom of the ladder in a 65-54 win over the Queensland Firebirds.
Jok finished with 60 goals from 62 attempts to propel the Mavericks past the Giants and into sixth place on the ladder.
The Jamaican, who represented the Sunshine Girls earlier this year after an absence of a couple of years, has become a hugely reliable presence under the goal and is pushing into the same category as West Coast Fever shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard and Swifts’ Silver Ferns representative Grace Nweke.
She’s likely to maintain that dominance inside the team for most, if not all of the season, with coach Tracey Neville confirming England shooter Eleanor Cardwell remains at least a couple of weeks off a Super Netball turnout despite her return in the Super Netball reserves final on Sunday.
The Mavs eventually won by 11 goals - the margin they led by in the first quarter after a stunning opening 15 minutes.
The Firebirds were awful in the opening term, failing to cherish possession at all and turning the ball over on 10 occasions.
Coach Kiri Wills gave her team a vintage spray and made some adjustments that helped the Firebirds get the ball down court better, with the team making just one unforced turnover in the term.
Among those changes was bringing goaler Emily Moore - a noted two-point shooter - on for the full second term, with the NSW product adding eight goals at 100 per cent accuracy, allowing Abigail Latu-Meafou to come on with real impact in the super shot period where she hit three-of-three from long range to help her side claw its way back to three goals at halftime.
Neville felt her team had played into their opponents’ hands in the second term though and the visitors ratcheted up the pressure in the third, pushing the lead back out to eight at the final break and finishing off in the fourth to take the win.
VINTAGE SPRAY FROM WILLS
Firebirds coach Kiri Wills is much ore of an encourager than a screamer but gave her team a vintage spray at quarter-time after their appalling start.
“That (second term) was probably the best quarter of netball we’ve played, so I obviously need to pull out the spray more often,” she told Fox Netball.
“But I’m not that kind of coach, so you only pull out when needed and they responded.”
Wills wanted her team to respond for the remainder of the game and while they tried hard, they could not maintain the level they found in the second term, especially when the Mavs doubled down on their defensive pressure in the back half of the game.
The Firebirds are now all but certain to finish with the wooden spoon but Wills said there was still plenty to pay for.
MIDCOURT MISMATCH
Eleven games into the season, the Firebirds are still struggling to find their best midcourt combination with all four of their options struggling at times on Sunday.
The Mavs dominated the middle, with Molly Jovic and Amy Parmenter as reliable as always and Tayla Fraser having one of her most consistent games of the season.
Between them, they finished with 44 goal assists and 70 feeds, sending a wealth of ball into their circle - much of it pinpoint ball to Jok under the post.
Contract that with the Firebirds, who finished with just 32 goal assists and 58 feeds, with a constant battle getting the ball into the circle.
CLEAN MAVS DEFENCE
The Mavericks finished with 54 penalties and while that was three more than the Firebirds, it was below their average of more than 60 per game, meaning they were able to stay in play longer and challenge the ball heading into the circle.
When you’re coming up against the tallest player in the league, that’s a boon and it was something the Mavs defensive unit did particularly well, with Kim Brown, Olivia Lewis and Amy Parmenter all less penalised than midcourter Molly Jovic.
Former Firebird Brown, in particular, was outstanding, finishing with eight gains, including two intercepts and a massive five rebounds playing in a circle containing 201cm goaler Mary Cholhok.
SWIFTS CLINCH NSW DERBY AFTER SCARE
The Giants’ chances of making an unlikely finals run have all but ended but not without giving ladder leaders the NSW Swifts a massive fright in a thrilling NSW derby.
While there was a considerable Kiwi flavour to the match, with the past and future of the Silver Ferns going head-to-head, it was a pair of locals that took the match out of Giants hands, with veteran Swifts captain Paige Hadley and rising defensive star Teigan O’Shannassy sealing the win for the locals.
The Giants led by 11 at the opening break after holding the Swifts to their lowest first-quarter score of the season but in a match that could define their season, the women in red fought back to win 75-66, only hitting the front for the first time in the final term.
After eight consecutive wins there were plenty believing the Swifts could not be challenged for the title this season but back-to-back losses in the fortnight heading into the derby made the clash a crucial one for both teams.
The Giants sprinted from the blocks, scoring the opening four goals of the game and restricted the Swifts to their lowest opening-period of the season, conceding just 10 goals to take an 11-point lead to the opening break.
The league leaders started to claw their way back in the second quarter but still trailed by eight at halftime.
But an 8-1 run to start the third quarter got them back in the game and after a 24-16 period, they went to the final break with scores level, hitting the front for the first time in the match when they opened the scoring in the final term.
They went on with it, unstoppable in the final term as they gained momentum and confidence.
“I feel like that was a full team effort, obviously not the way we wanted to start that game but to be able to grind it out in those last three (quarters), I couldn’t be prouder,” said Hadley, who finished with 18 goal assists, 28 feeds and two deflections in a points win over fellow Diamonds midcourter Jamie-Lee Price.
“To have 10,000 people here in red supporting us, we knew this one was a must-win for us, for our season, so a huge effort.”
KIWIS’ PAST AND FUTURE
The trans-Tasman league may have ended almost a decade ago, but it was a contest between two Silver Ferns greats that was a major talking point in this game as former captain and Giants recruit Casey Kopua, who celebrated her 40th birthday during the week, and 23-year-old shooter Grace Nweke went head to head.
Kopua finished with four gains - three of those coming in an enormous first quarter effort - but again, it was the direction and confidence she gave to fellow defender Erin O’Brien that was most telling.
Nweke finished with 52 goals, 34 of those coming in the second half as the Swifts found their range and got the ball into the circle more directly and rapidly.
HAS GIANTS’ RUN STOPPED?
The Giants were on the bottom of the ladder when Kopua joined them following the season-ending knee injury to Jamaican defender Jodi-Ann Ward.
They notched back-to-back wins for the first time in two years ahead of the derby and a win would have given them an outside mathematical chance of a fairytale finals berth.
That can’t happen now but they will challenge teams in the final three rounds and could have a huge say in the make-up of the final four given they still face the Fever in round 13.
TOSSY ON SONG
The Swifts have plenty of match-winners and a core of vastly experienced players but Teigan O’Shannassy is making a case to be included in their starting seven as they ramp up their title challenge.
The 188cm defender was brought into the match late in the first term but it was not until challenged by coach Briony Akle that she took off.
“I wasn’t going for ball, I was letting them take over and Briony said ‘pull your finger out’, so I did,” O’Shannassy said.
She finished with six gains, six deflections and four rebounds in a game-changing effort that would have been watched closely by Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich.
More Coverage
Originally published as Super Netball, round 11: Jok joins rare air among world’s best shooters, Swifts beat Giants
Stone cold Austin puts Vixens on track for finals berth
Kiera Austin has inspired Melbourne Vixens to a crucial victory over Sunshine Coast Lightning which could have a huge impact on the finals fate of both teams.
NZ past and future to face off in epic NSW derby
She might have given up her NZ eligibility but Grace Nweke will still have an iconic Silver Ferns moment when she takes on Kiwi icon Casey Kopua in a match-up that could decide the NSW derby.