Super Netball’s 20 most penalised players and the team that is hampered most by foul play

The NSW Swifts’ charge to the top of the Super Netball table has come despite having the most penalised player in the competition, while a Melbourne team tops the list for the most conceded.

She’s the most penalised player in Super Netball this season but the amount of whistle being drawn by Sarah Klau has not stopped the NSW Swifts from an unbeaten start to the season that has them pegged as premiership favourites.

The Swifts’ goalkeeper, also a senior Diamonds player, has been a menace to goal shooters throughout the competition with constant pressure on some of the best players in the league.

It has come at a cost though, with Klau drawing 127 penalties – both contact and obstruction – in the first eight rounds to be the most penalised defender in the league, ahead of rising Giants star Erin O’Brien (123) and Mavericks goal defence Kim Brown (115).

A CODE Sports analysis of the most penalised players through the opening eight rounds of the season has also shown the Melbourne Vixens’ bid to improve on last year’s runners-up placing has been hampered by drawing more penalties than any other team in the league through the opening eight rounds.

Overall, the Vixens are the most whistled team in the league with a total of 505 penalties ahead of the Giants on 477.

Both clubs have four players in the top 20 most penalised in the game so far this year.

West Coast Fever (384) and the Adelaide Thunderbirds (392) have been the most frugal teams this season, with both clubs having only two representatives in the top 20.

Not surprisingly, circle defenders dominated the top 10 penalised players in the league.

Klau had a league wide single-game high of 26 penalties, including 24 contacts in the Swifts’ round 4 win over the Firebirds and also drew the whistle on 20 occasions in her side’s round 8 fightback victory against the Thunderbirds.

But Code Netball columnist Bianca Chatfield, a former Vixens and Diamonds defender said a total penalty count could be deceptive.

“Especially with circle defenders, you can get a lot of, I guess you call them weak penalties,” Chatfield said.

“They might be being called and the ball is being advanced, or they’re being called and the shot’s actually under the post anyway, so they’re kind of irrelevant and you can scrap them out as being actually heavily important.

“But then you’ve got the significant penalties, which are really costly because you are out of play and ... the pressure is released because you’ve got one less defender now.

“That’s when they become really important and hold a lot more value.”

Chatfield said the Swifts had significantly reduced their overall penalties from last season and Klau’s count had to be balanced with the possession she was gaining for her side.

“Even though Sarah Klau is still heavily penalised, a lot of hers, I believe, are happening in moments that aren’t as significant, and it’s also important to look at how many gains she’s getting (30, equal second in league) and deflections she’s getting (37, third), in comparison to the number of penalties she’s accumulating as well.”

Sarah Klau has been in the thick of the action for the Swifts. Picture: Jason McCawley/Getty Images

Firebird Isabelle Shearer, Thunderbirds’ Jamaican star Latanya Wilson, injured Giant Jodi-Ann Ward, Vixens Jo Weston and Rudi Ellis and Fever import Kadie-Ann Dehaney are among the players copping the umpires’ whistle the most.

But Giants midcourter Amy Sligar is also among the most penalised, the competitive wing defence pushing up to eighth spot after her side’s loss to the Vixens on Sunday, thanks to 18 penalties in that match alone.

She’s one of seven midcourters in the top 20 – a mark of how much physical work is being done getting the ball across the transverse line and how desperate teams are to attempt to slow, or completely stop the ball before it gets into the towering dominant shooters in the circle.

Vixens goal attack Kiera Austin has been the most penalised shooter so far this season, her 48 infringements putting her in equal 27th place on the list, alongside Fever defender Fran Williams.

The speed of Super Netball has taken time for some players to adjust to as well, with young Thunderbirds defender Sanmarie Visser, the South African international who has come into Adelaide’s side following the departure of Shamera Sterling-Humphrey on maternity leave, picking up 23 penalties in her round 4 debut against the Giants.

At the other end of the scale, three players who have run out in all eight games this season sit near the bottom of the ladder with six penalties or fewer across the season.

The Mavericks’ Uneeq Palavi has drawn just two penalties in 187 minutes on court as a shooter, while Giants midcourter Maddie Hay has six penalties in 287 minutes across eight matches.

But it’s the efforts of Thunderbird Georgie Horjus that have been truly outstanding, with the Diamonds swing playmaker attracting just six penalties in 465 minutes on court, keeping herself in play at almost every instant of the game.