Net Gains: Will Giants sit Jo Harten? And Thunderbirds on cusp of breaking decade-long drought
The Giants season is teetering on the brink - and they could soon face a very difficult question around ageing star Jo Harten. That, and more, this week’s Net Gains column.
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They won’t want to start the celebrations too early but history tells us the Adelaide Thunderbirds’ decade-long finals drought will be officially broken if they can beat the resurgent Queensland Firebirds at home next week.
After the scrapping of bonus points and move to the current Super Netball pointscore in 2020 — four for a match win and two for a draw — no team that has reached 30 premiership points has ever failed to make the finals.
The Thunderbirds pulled a win out of the fire on Saturday night, fighting back from a three-goal deficit in the third term after letting an early eight-goal buffer slip against the Giants — the only team to have beaten them this season.
They reached 26 points with that win — the finals cut-off was just 24 points last year — and history tells us they will seal a playoff spot with just one more win from their remaining five games.
That’s likely to be just the first of many boxes to tick for Tania Obst’s team though, who should now be aiming for a top-two finish and double-chance in the finals.
After a tough few years, the Thunderbirds have threatened to challenge the top four for the past couple of years but fell away in the second half of the season as young players tired and the team wilted under pressure.
The addition of star England goaler Eleanor Cardwell -\— and the leadership and fight she brings to the team — and growing maturity of their remaining roster, including Jamaicans Shamera Sterling and LaTanya Wilson and a host of homegrown South Australian stars, has given the T-Birds the boost they needed to become genuine competition contenders.
While last year’s finals cut-off was just 24 points, it’s likely to be higher this season, with losses to the Giants and Magpies leaving just five teams in the race for finals.
Mathematically, the Giants, Magpies and Firebirds - who are all locked on eight points from two wins - can still make the playoffs given there are 24 points available to them.
But each would need a drastic reversal of form to challenge the top five, with the Swifts, Vixens and Sunshine Coast Lightning likely to fight for the two remaining finals places behind the Thunderbirds and defending premiers West Coast Fever.
Each is likely to take a different mindset into the back end of the season as well.
The Giants, who missed the grand final by a single goal last season and retained every member of their squad, and Magpies, who made the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and made just one change to their squad, headed into the season believing they could be real contenders in 2023.
Both teams were shattered after their round 8 losses, knowing what it could mean for their season.
The rebuilding Firebirds on the other hand, are gaining confidence with every outing and could be a real thorn in the side of other teams in the back end of the season.
WILL GIANTS REST HARTEN?
The Giants play the Magpies on Sunday in a game that is likely to officially end the finals chances of one of the teams.
Either way, it’s going to be a heartbreaker.
Will it be elation, or despair for Ash Brazill on Mother’s Day in her final season.
And what about Giants captain Jo Harten, who called an end to her international career last week?
Harten was celebrated by current and former England Roses coaches following the loss to the T-Birds but the decision to retire from international play is in large part, a decision taken to extend her professional career.
If the Giants cannot make the finals, at what point do they rest Harten and allow her to give her troublesome knee time to heal properly ahead of the 2024 season?
VEVE DESERVES CHANCE
The efforts of Hulita Veve over the past fortnight should surely have earnt her a Firebirds recall for as long as Macy Gardner is off the court.
Veve, a Firebirds training partner, played a key role in their second-half fightback against the Magpies and was key to their win.
Her efforts came on the back of leading Tonga to victory in the PacificAus Sports Netball Series on the Gold Coast and she will lead the Tala at the World Cup in July.
But Veve’s story is one of perseverence and determination as much as talent.
The mum of two has been involved in the Firebirds program for much of the past decade and was part of their victorious ANZ Championship grand final side in 2016, as well as making Super Netball appearances in 2020 and 2021.
“I only got the call-up the other night and I was very nervous but very excited to be in the purple dress today,” she said after Saturday’s win.
“It’s just a dream come true. I’m not in the final 10 for the whole year but to get a call in and this opportunity is really amazing.”
Veve was named as an injury replacement for just round 8 but with Gardner out for up to six weeks with a broken wrist, she should be featuring more in the second half of the season.
FINE LINE FOR UMPIRES
Super Netball is touted as the world’s best competition with the world’s best players on display.
And there’s probably a temptation to just let the athletes sort the result out, with officials playing plenty of advantage.
But two games over the weekend descended into almost farcical physical battles, with the officials close to losing control as too much leeway was allowed.
No one likes to watch a game - regardless of the code - where the officials blow the pea out of the whistle.
But there’s a fine line between setting a standard early in the match and letting things go so any call made - especially in the final stages of a game - is suddenly crucial.
The Giants-Thunderbirds clash and Vixens-Fever game were close grinding battles.
But both ended up being scrappy affairs where calls probably went against each team in the dying stages as tempers flared and the games descended into battles of attrition rather than tests of skill.
CONDOLENCES FOR BELL
They may not have come away with the points but the Sunshine Coast Lightning’s determination to play for goaler Charlie Bell at the weekend showed everything that is good about team sport.
Bell’s father David, one of southeast Queensland’s longest-serving and most respected GPS leaders - and Head of the Middle School at Brisbane Boys College - died suddenly on Friday night from a heart attack.
The professional era of sport means that clubs are workplaces.
But the best teams still have another layer of connection given how much time they spend together.
In season, players often spend more time with each other than they do with their partners and friends and the best groups are like families.
Both the Lightning and their opponents, the NSW Swifts, wore black arm bands in honour of Mr Bell, while Sunshine Coast captain Steph Wood talked of how the team was determined to channel their emotion for Charlie, into their performance in Sydney.
It’s not been an easy year for the club, which has been hit massively by injuries, with rising star Bell, 21, herself a replacement player for Reilley Batcheldor, who is recovering from a knee reconstruction.
Two of the club’s defenders, Diamonds player Tara Hinchliffe, and her replacement Shannon Eagland, have also suffered ACL injuries and the Lightning played much of Sunday’s 67-63 loss to the Sunshine Coast without midcourter Mahalia Cassidy, who hit the court heavily in the first half after clashing with teammate Kadie-Ann Dehaney.
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