It may be only two years since the NSW Swifts last tasted Premiership success but head coach Briony Akle says her team are even more driven to succeed this season than they were in 2019.
The Swifts take on local rivals Giants Netball in Saturday's Suncorp Super Netball Final at Brisbane's Nissan Arena with not only a seventh Premiership title on the line, but state-bragging rights too.
Since joining the scene in 2017 the Giants, who are also owned and operated by Netball NSW, have been quick to make their mark. For the Minor Premiers Saturday will be a second Grand Final and the chance to secure a first title.
The Swifts on the other hand, who celebrate 25 years this season, will be hoping to add another Premiership trophy to the cabinet just three days shy of the 20th anniversary of their first (2001).
The then Sydney Swifts (who rebranded to NSW Swifts in 2008) were led by current Giants head coach Julie Fitzgerald.
In fact Akle was one of her on-court lieutenants when winning titles in 2001 and 2004. After Akle retired from playing Fitzgerald would go on to lead the Swifts to a title threepeat from 2006 to 2008.
The shared history has created a lot of buzz in media circles but for Akle games like Saturday are what the Swifts' legacy is built on.
"That team 20 years ago set up what netball looks like for NSW and its success, and the fact we have two SSN teams in the Grand Final, I think it is a testament to Jules," Akle said of her former coach, turned rival.
When the Swifts beat the Sunshine Coast Lightning to claim the 2019 title, Akle challenged her side to do what previous championship teams in the club's storied history had done: create a legacy.
"I think back in 2019 no-one really took us seriously and we were seen as something of a surprise package to take the title out," she said.
"The Swifts had a huge legacy but most people just wrote the girls off as a bunch of kids, and to be honest that narrative carried on into last season like they were some flash in the pan.
"I think last year we let ourselves down and didn't do much to shake off that image when we surrendered our title defence in the early stages of Finals, but I think maturity has now really started to come into this group.
"Our players are who they are, they play with a smile, they genuinely all love being around each other and I never want that to change about them.
"It's their collective unity that's the nucleus of what makes them a Grand Final team. It's possible to play high performance sport and win with a smile, but still be as gritty, determined and driven as any other team."
When it comes to legacy Akle sees parallels with the Swifts sides who've gone before.
"I remember playing in 2001 when the Swifts took out that first title and we had a very similar vibe... we won that first Premiership but didn't get that real maturity for another few years and then bounced back in 2004.
"When some of that side left, me included, players coming in knew of the standard the likes of Liz Ellis and Selina Gilsenan expected, and when you add in players like Cath Cox and a coach like Julie another legacy wasn't far away, as that threepeat showed."
A barren spell of 11 years without a title mightn't seem like a huge amount of time to some, but for the Swifts it was a lifetime. However Akle, who took over as coach in 2018, said the club always remained a contender and that was vital to ensuring it stayed relevant between drinks.
"After Swifts won in 2008 people tend to focus on the 11-year gap between titles but what they forget is that there were Minor Premierships and Grand Finals in the interval," she added.
"Who can forget those epic 2015 and 2016 Grand Finals? The Firebirds had a once-in-a-lifetime squad that was equally as star-studded as the Swifts', and I think it was unlucky for NSW that both teams peaked at the same time, with the Firebirds just edging the deciders.
"But if those players hadn't kept the Swifts at the forefront of the game, we would never have been able to bounce back in the years that followed."
And so it comes to this weekend. The Swifts and Giants. Two teams operating out of Netball Central in Sydney Olympic Park, whose changing rooms sit side-by-side. No teams other teams in professional sport, in any code across the world, live closer to each other.
They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery and Akle has no issue playing a compliment by defeating her old mentor.
"Like I said, Jules set the standard for this club first up. What she has done with the Swifts in the past is what we are looking to do on Saturday so the respect we have is huge.
"This will be the Swifts' fourth Grand Final in seven years and I think as an entire club we have unfinished business. One win in four deciders is not what we're about.
"Our group are just so thankful for the opportunities they've been afforded this year to continue to play and represent NSW at a time so many are doing it tough. We are so grateful for the journey we've been able to go on.
"That's why at every training session, every media opp and every team meal we are smiling, and enjoying each other's company.
"The Giants are world-class opposition with a legendary coach and I know only our best game of the year will suffice to beat them.
"All the work has been done. Our players know they're good enough, it's over to them now."
The Grand Final will be broadcast live on Channel 9, 9Now, Telstra's Netball Live App and the ABC Listen App.
MATCH NOTES
- When the teams last met in the Major Semi Final on August 14 the Swifts defeated the Giants 62-61 in Brisbane.
- The Swifts lead head-to-head with six wins, the Giants four and one draw in the 11 previous Suncorp Super Netball meetings between the teams.
- The Giants' 59-55 win over the Swifts in Round 11 was their first win over them since Round 10, 2018. The Giants and Swifts did draw 77-all in Round 14 last season.
- The Swifts advanced directly to the Super Netball Grand Final after defeating the Giants 62-61 in the Major Semi Final.
- The Giants are coming off a 64-61 win over the Fever in the Preliminary Final to advance to their second Suncorp Super Netball Grand Final.
- Saturday will be the Swifts' fourth Grand Final in seven years, all played in Brisbane. They lost to the Queensland Firebirds in the last two deciders of the ANZ Championship (2015 & 2016), but beat the Sunshine Coast Lightning to win in 2019.
- Since forming in 1997 as the Sydney Swifts (changed to NSW Swifts in 2008), the Swifts have won six Premierships: 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2019.
- This is the first derby National League Grand Final with two teams from the same state since 1999 when the Adelaide Thunderbirds defeated their cross-town rivals, the Ravens 62-30 in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy (the first National League which ran from 1997-2007 before being replaced by the ANZ Championship).
