Super Netball: Fever desperate to deliver departing coach Stacey Marinkovich a championship
Salary cap breaches mean West Coast Fever will start the Super Netball season 12 points behind every other team.
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West Coast Fever captain Courtney Bruce wants to deliver coach Stacey Marinkovich a Super Netball title in her final season in charge before she focuses solely on her role as Diamonds mentor.
However, it’s a job easier said than done considering the Fever will start the 2021 season 12 points adrift of the competition’s seven other teams due to salary cap breaches.
Last season, under the four-points-for-a-win format, 34 points was needed to make the top four.
And while a perfect 14-round season can deliver a team 56 points, the Fever can ill-afford a bad patch during their campaign if they are to defy the odds and reach the finals series.
Not helping their bid to start the season with a win in Saturday’s grand final rematch against the Melbourne Vixens has been a pre-season disrupted by the ramifications COVID-19, including the recent lockdown in Western Australia which led to travel restrictions.
Good news Fever fans💚
— West Coast Fever (@WestCoastFever) April 28, 2021
We will depart for Melbourne this Friday, April 30, for our Round 1 clash with the @MelbourneVixens
Read: https://t.co/LBJhSvHBW1pic.twitter.com/qFrwfmAn8I
“It has been a bit of a rollercoaster but we’re just controlling what we can control,” Bruce said.
“The 12 points is there but we’re just taking it round by round every week.
“We’ve been dealt it and now we’ve got to get out there and play each round as it comes, and stop focusing on it.”
Having been coached by Marinkovich for 11 years, Bruce would love to send her long-time mentor out as a winner.
“I definitely want to help her get over the line and get her the success that she thoroughly deserves for all the work that she’s done here at West Coast Fever,” Bruce said.
Originally published as Super Netball: Fever desperate to deliver departing coach Stacey Marinkovich a championship
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