Lightning braced for Giants battle

The Sunshine Coast Lightning are prepared to meet the Giants head on in a preliminary final full of “fight, feeling and hunger”.

Lightning wing attack Kelsey Browne is braced for battle with the Giants. Picture: AAP

The Sunshine Coast Lightning are prepared to meet the Giants head-on in a preliminary final full of “fight, feeling and hunger” this Sunday.

“I don’t think the Giants will back down from any physicality this weekend,” said Lightning wing attack Kelsey Browne. “And we’ve been preparing at training for stuff like that.”

Browne joked that she tends to fall over whenever matched up against Giants defender Jamie-Lee Price.

She said she would focus on “keeping my feet and giving the options and not letting (Price) tackle me to the ground”.

Sunshine Coast assistant coach Kylee Byrne said that it would be hard to top last week’s brutal semi-final against the Firebirds, but was very happy with the form of her players.

“We’ve been building and building, and we’re in such a great place at the moment that I think any team in the finals remaining would be quite wary of what we’re putting out on the court,” she said.

The Giants certainly won’t be lacking for motivation as they prepare for their last home match of the season knowing two teammates will not be joining them next year.

Veteran goaler Susan Pettitt has announced her retirement, and centre Serena Guthrie has decided to head home to ­England.

But the Lightning are full of confidence at the moment, according to Browne, after having to “fight and claw” their way back in the last half of the season.

The team’s finals preparation comes amid growing speculation that head coach Noeline Taurua has been tapped to return home and rescue a floundering Silver Ferns program. New Zealand media reported earlier this week that Taurua has reached a deal to coach the national team, and that the announcement had been delayed by the Lightning’s finals campaign.

The Silver Ferns announced a 17-player squad for the 2018 international season yesterday, including the comeback of star Laura Langman, who has followed ­Taurua from team to team for years. Netball New Zealand had maintained a selection policy that prevented any player in an overseas competition from qualifying for national duties, but yesterday handed Langman a 12-month exemption that would allow her to join a Super Netball club in 2019 without repercussion.

Sunshine Coast, however, are confident of retaining Taurua’s services. “Noeline Taurua is contracted in her role as head coach until the end of the 2019 season and will continue to fulfil that commitment,” the club said.