West Coast Fever dominate ‘rattled’ Melbourne Vixens to book spot in Super Netball Grand Final

West Coast Fever are the first team through to the Super Netball Grand Final after they completely dominated the Melbourne Vixens.

The Fever are through to the Grand Final.

The West Coast Fever have caused a boilover, claiming a dominant 71-62 victory over the Melbourne Vixens to book their place in the Grand Final in a fortnight’s time.

The Vixens beat the Fever in their two regular season meetings but it was a very different story in the major semi-final as the team in green came out all guns blazing.

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The Fever started the game with supreme intensity and quickly built up a sizeable lead as the Vixens struggled to get points on the board.

Jhaniele Fowler was an imposing presence for Fever at goal shooter and the Vixens had no answer for herFowler took almost every shot as Sasha Glasgow played a selfless role at goal attack.

Fowler finished with a mammoth 67 goals, surprassing Romelda Aitken’s finals record of 62 in the 2016 Grand Final.

“This is a training drill for the Fever,” Vixens great Bianca Chatfield said in commentary on Fox Netball.

“I don’t think any of us thought this was going to happen in the major semi-final.”

Fever led 38-26 at halftime and took a 14-point lead into the last quarter, despite the efforts of rookie Vixens shooter Rahni Samason, who gave her team a sniff with a couple of Super Shots at the end of the third quarter.

West Coast kept the Vixens at an arms length before Samason cut the lead with a string of two-pointers in the dying stages of the fourth quarter.

Rudi Ellis, Courtney Bruce and Stacey Francis-Bayman celebrate the Fever’s big win. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

Samason scored 10 Super Shots in total but it was too little, too late for the Vixens as Fever ran out nine-point winners.

Vixens goal shooter Mwai Kumwenda was restricted heavily by Courtney Bruce and an all-court Fever defence.

The Vixens couldn’t match Fever’s intensity and lacked some spark and energy around the court.

“They’ve playing at the same pace the entire time,” Madi Browne said of the Vixens.

“They’re not using any lobs, they’re telegraphing every single pass.

“The Vixens are playing like they’ve got everything to lose. You’ve still got a second chance next week.

“Come out with some fight, some grunt and really be hungry to get back in this contest.”

“To put out a performance like that, you don’t deserve to go through to a Grand Final to be honest,” a disappointed Vixens co-captain Liz Watson told Fox Netball after the game.

“We’ve got another week, which is the positive and we just need to bring it from the start because we were just missing right from the first whistle today.

It was a game to forget for the Melbourne Vixens. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

“We definitely wanted to start the game strong and have a firing first quarter. It didn’t come and I think we probably got rattled by their intensity and how hard they were going for the ball.

“We were fumbling, making poor choices. Credit to their strength and power today and we were just not up to it.”

Netball Australia controversially awarded the Grand Final to Perth but the sensational performance means the Fever have earned the right to host the season decider on merit.

The Vixens will face the winner of Sunday’s minor semi-final between the Giants and Collingwood Magpies, while the Fever will get next week off and prepare for the Grand Final on Sunday 3 July.