Super Netball: Melbourne Vixens celebrate Jo Weston’s 150th game with win over Giants
In her 150th game, Melbourne Vixens star Jo Weston came up with crucial moments in her side’s win over the Giants. Meanwhile, the Thunderbirds overcame a heart scare for a star to beat the Lightning.
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Veteran defender Jo Weston has celebrated her 150th national league game with a win but it was no gimme for last year’s grand finalists, who had to scrap against the former wooden spooners to snare their first victory of the season.
Weston nabbed three intercepts in a classic show of her trademark defence in both the circle and midcourt, with her team’s arms-over defensive pressure in the final minutes eventually earning her team a 61-55 victory in an up and down performance.
The Giants took a four-goal lead to the opening break after a relatively even opening period but when the Vixens managed a 15-goal turnaround, to take a seven-goal lead into halftime, it seemed they could run away with the match.
But the Giants came back into the game in the third term on the back of some strong shooting from Matisse Letherbarrow and young guns Hope White and Erin O’Brien, who will lead the revival of the club this season - even if they’ve now lost two in a row.
MUNDY THE CHANGEMAKER
The Vixens went away from the short, sharp game that serves them so well early, and paid the price but after Hannah Mundy, in particular, controlled the pace, they were able to take control.
The Diamonds squad member took ownership of the centre pass, earning six goal assists and making 11 feeds in the second term alone and working with fellow playmaker Kiera Austin to propel the Vixens to a seven-goal halftime lead.
“I’m loving seeing the leadership she’s bringing down this attack end,” Austin said of Munday.
“She’s not just slotting in around us, she’s putting her foot forward and demanding things of us, so I think she’s been doing a great job.”
LETHERBARROW’S TIME
Letherbarrow has bided her time on the bench, serving a long apprenticeship behind international star Jo Harten and taking her rare chances when they come.
She has showed glimpses of the star she could become - most notably in a tight win over the Sunshine Coast Lightning last year when she stepped up in extra-time with a sensational showing from super shot range to lift her side to what was a rare victory in their wooden spoon season.
With Harten taking time out with her partner in the lead-up to round 1 for the birth of their first child, Letherbarrow played most of the match and while the captain started at goal shooter on Sunday, Letherbarrow made an immediate impact when she came on at halftime, eventually finishing with 26 points on 22-of-26 shooting, including four-of-six from super shot range.
WIN FOR WESTON
Net every player will claim a win in their landmark match but Weston did everything she could to make it happen more than a decade after making her debut with the Vixens.
A two-time premier, who hopes to be a one-club player, Weston has been a fixture in defence for the Vixens and was again on Sunday, despite spending much of the match in the goalkeeper bib - not her usual position.
It showed her incredible competitive edge though, Weston picking up two gains at keeper in the second term as the home side turned the match before finishing with an intercept at wing defence in the final period.
MELBOURNE VIXENS 61 (Garbin 33, Austin 28)
GIANTS NETBALL 55 (Letherbarrow 26, Harten 17, Dwyer 12)
T’bird overcomes heart-rate spike to star in Lightning win
Even below her best, Shamera Sterling-Humphrey remains one of the best defenders in the world.
The Jamaican superstar was given the option of coming off the court by her Adelaide Thunderbirds coach in the final break of her team’s match against the Sunshine Coast Lightning after her heart-rate spiked in the third quarter.
But the goalkeeper pushed on and even when struggling, finished with a massive 12 gains in her side’s comprehensive 60-45 victory.
The back-to-back premiers were outstanding at home against West Coast Fever in the opening round last week.
But they had been expected to face a tougher test on the road against a fully fit Lightning side stacked with Diamonds talent.
It was the case in the opening term, with the Lightning leading by one at the first break but they struggled with the ball in hand, converting just 56 per cent of their own centre passes and making just two-of-nine super shots in the second half as they attempted to chase down the visitors’ lead.
The Lightning brought most of the pain on themselves though, turning the ball over 21 times, many of them as they attempted to feed the ball into the circle – too often attempting to clear aerial specialist Sterling-Humphrey, or holding up the pass too long before it was swamped by the league’s best defence.
Just as last year’s competition runners-up the Melbourne Vixens struggled with their fundamentals against the Thunderbirds in the opening round, the Lightning lost their way all over the court.
Heavily penalised, making uncharacteristic mistakes like stepping errors and losing their way in attack, the Lightning revisited some of the issues that plagued them in close losses last season.
The match was closer than the score suggested though.
The Lightning had a shot attempt to get the match back on level terms last in the third quarter but missed three of their last four attempts to go to the final break trailing by six before the Thunderbirds opened the final period with a 6-2 run to increase their lead to double digits, leaving the home side to employ a high-risk strategy in the final minutes attempting to erase the deficit.
“We knew that Sunny Coast would have come out here and put out their best performance but what we did was picked up from where left off last season,” Sterling-Humphrey said.
“We know that they’re a team that drain super shots, so had to get the lead before they come into that super shot zone so they wouldn’t be able to catch us back.”
KOENEN UNDER PRESSURE
The Lightning looked to have pulled off a masterstroke in the opening round when they started captain Steph Fretwell at goal shooter, with Cara Koenen and Reilley Batcheldor out the front at goal attack.
And they did it again against the Thunderbirds, making the most of Koenen’s speed and movement early, as well as her midcourt connection with Liz Watson.
But the flaw in Koenen’s game at the super netball level has been her ability from super shot range and while it’s something she has long been working on, it’s not something she has yet integrated into her game, making just one attempt last season.
She looked to address that early in the match, taking a super shot in the opening quarter that fell short after being tipped by Sterling-Humphrey.
It seemed to shake Koenen’s confidence, with the Diamond not making another attempt from long range, while missing a couple of easy ones from close to the ring.
While she played 43 minutes – 20 more than Batcheldor – it may only be a matter of time before coach Belinda Reynolds lets her young gun loose for longer if Koenen can’t find her mojo.
MIDCOURT MASTERS
The match pitted arguably the two best wing attacks in the competition at each other in Diamonds captain Liz Watson and Australia’s newest international, Thunderbird Georgie Horjus.
And it was Horjus that took the honours after the Lightning struggled to shut her down, leaving the dynamo far too much space to run the T-Birds attack.
With the game in the balance in the second term, Horjus swung into goal attack, making four of five shots, including one from long range, to push her team ahead and while she was back at wing attack in the second half, she had no less of an impact, eventually finishing with 19 goal assists and 35 circle feeds in an assured performance.
Watson finished with 14 goal assists and 41 feeds but also threw five intercepted passes among eight turnovers as the Lightning’s attack struggled to find its rhythm.
WEALTH OF CHOICES
Both coaches are spoiled for choice with the depth available in their ranks – but for the Lightning, in particular, it’s causing headaches.
Coach Belinda Reynolds has emerging stars putting pressure on established players and knowing when to push and pull the substitution levers is difficult.
Koenen, Batcheldor and former Diamond Fretwell seemed unsure of their exact roles while switching between goal shooter and goal attack at times on Sunday, while in defence, Diamonds squad member Ash Ervin seemed to have the wood on towering T-Birds goaler Romelda Aiken-George in the third quarter before being taken off for Courtney Bruce, despite the veteran being the most heavily penalised player on court.
Thunderbirds mentor Tania Obst, by contrast, was decisive with her changes, starting captain Hannah Petty after her starring role last week but pulling her off in the second quarter for Tayla Williams, who eventually played 42 minutes given the impact she offered against the Lightning.
THUNDERBIRDS 60 (Aiken-George 40, Frew 15, Horjus 5)
LIGHTNING 45 (Fretwell 23, Koenen 13, Batcheldor 9)
Originally published as Super Netball: Melbourne Vixens celebrate Jo Weston’s 150th game with win over Giants
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