A NSW Swifts clash with local rivals Giants Netball is always a big event on the Sydney sporting calendar but for some the contest has a more personal meaning.
Double Champion Swifts head coach Briony Akle has won the Carole Sykes Memorial Trophy many times. It is the prize contested by the Swifts and Giants every time the sides play a competitive game.
For Akle, herself a two-time Premiership with the Swifts as a player too, Skyes was one of the most important people in her netball journey.
A decorated player, coach, mentor and friend, the late Skyes remains a beloved figure in the NSW netball community.
“I remember when I played Nationals coming through the Netball NSW pathway as a junior player and Carole was a person I always wanted to spend time with,” Akle reflected this week.
“Even if we went to a Nationals and she wasn’t there a few of us would take buses and trains to go and chat with her afterwards and tell her how it went. That was how much regard we held her in.
“I love that each year the Swifts have the opportunity to win a piece of silverware with Carole’s name on it, and to see her children and grandchildren at each Derby shows how valued she was and what her legacy continues to be.”
A sold-out crowd at Ken Rosewall Arena is what the Swifts return home to on Sunday after securing Finals Netball with a 70-62 win over the Vixens in Melbourne last weekend.
The Giants are desperate to keep their season alive and must win all remaining games – and hope the sides in third and forth (Vixens and Fever) lose all of theirs – to stay in the hunt.
While their fortunes may be differing of late, Akle knows that ladder positions mean nothing when it comes a local Derby.
“Every game has huge meaning in this competition,” she said. “If you take anyone lightly, you’ll get punished and the Giants are a far better side than what their ladder position suggests.
“They will be right up for this clash because we beat them earlier this year and it’s not often that either side has done the double in the same calendar year – they’ll be desperate to stop that happening.
“What I want from us is to keep growing and evolving our game as we try to secure top spot on the ladder at the end of the regular season.
“The margins are very fine and if you don’t keep tweaking what you do, and stay open to fresh ideas you quickly become easy to read.
“It’s a new challenge. Every week is opportunity for us to be better. That starts again with the Giants on Sunday.”
Match Notes
- When the teams last met in Round 7, the Swifts claimed a 67-64 Victory.
- The Swifts lead head-to-head with nine wins, the Giants five and one draw in the 15 previous Suncorp Super Netball meetings between the teams.
- The Swifts have won four of the past five meetings between the teams.
- Eleven of the 14 previous meetings between the Swifts and Giants have been decided by five goals or less or drawn.
- The Swifts are coming off a 70-62 win over the Vixens in Round 11 and have a record of eight wins, a draw and two losses to sit in second place on the ladder.
- The Swifts secured their place in 2023 Suncorp Super Netball Finals Series with their win over the Vixens in Round 11.
- The Giants are coming off a 50-68 loss to the Firebirds in Round 11 and have a record of four wins and seven losses and sit in sixth place on the ladder.
- The Swifts' current seven match winning run is their longest in Super Netball since it began in 2017. The Swifts' previous longest winning run was five matches that included the last two matches of 2019 and the first three matches in 2020.
- The Swifts longest winning run since 1997 is 18 matches between Round 1 2006 and Round 2, 2007 in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy. The Swifts' longest winning run in the ANZ Championship was eight consecutive matches on two separate occasions.
- The Swifts' 11-19 final quarter loss to the Vixens in Round 11 was just their second fourth quarter loss in their 10 completed matches in 2023. They have won seven, drawn one and lost two.
- Seven of the Swifts' 11 matches this season have been decided by four goals or less or drawn, including three matches by one goal.
