The NSW Swifts may be on a three-game winning streak, but they know how quickly things can change if momentum isn't maintained in this year’s Suncorp Super Netball Finals race.
Against the Sunshine Coast Lightning on Sunday, they face a team that - like themselves - still has a huge Premiership-winning DNA at its core, despite the Queenslanders sitting outside of the playoff places.
Since Super Netball replaced the ANZ Championship as Australia’s National League in 2017, the Swifts and Lightning have enjoyed a storied rivalry, including the 2019 Grand Final which ended the NSW side’s 11-year title drought.
In a similar style to the Melbourne Vixens, the Swifts and Lightning play an entertaining brand of netball that puts the impetus on speed and skill, rather than physicality.
The teams met in a Round 5 thriller last month when the Swifts escaped from the Sunshine Coast with the competition points by a solitary goal, and Sunday's game is likely to be as close again.
Swifts head coach Briony Akle knows her side must play at their optimum if they are to prevent the team from Sippy Downs reversing that one-goal loss in Sydney.
“The game we played against the Lightning a few weeks ago was the game of the season so far I think,” Akle said.
“It was end-to-end from minute one with both sides playing really well. Had we’ve lost that game it would have been hard to take, knowing we’d played really well but leaving with nothing.
“That’s the danger this weekend. The Lightning will have been hurt by that loss and it makes them very dangerous when they come to Ken Rosewall Arena.”
Akle has praised the attitude of her players to rebound from a slow start to the season (they opened with a loss, a draw, a win and another loss – in that order), to find some consistency with three victories the bounce.
That run started on the Sunshine Coast, where she said the experience of winning two Premierships in the past four years stood to the Swifts playing group as the endgame neared.
However, the Lightning are no strangers to winning big games themselves, and the two-time Australian Coach of the Year is well aware of that.
“Back in 2017 the Lightning joined the National League with a bang when they claimed back-to-back titles, and so much of that experience is still present in their side,” Akle added.
“They have the Diamonds frontline attacking duo in Steph Wood and Cara Koenen, Laura Scherian still doing great things in the midcourt and Karla Pretorius not missing a beat since she came back from having a baby. Any team with those kinds of players is a threat, not just to us – but the whole competition.
“I know that Kadie-Ann Dehaney has caused us problems in the past too, as a Vixen and a Lightning player. She brings brilliant athleticism in to their circle defence and both her and Karla have fantastic reach so our feeders and shooters will need to be very accurate in their passing game.
“As ever, we need two options for every ball. It’s going to be non-stop but that’s what we train for.”
The Swifts and Lighting go head-to-head at Ken Rosewall Arena on Sunday (4pm AEST). The game will double as a Pride Match as part of Super Netball’s Inclusion Round.
It will be broadcast live on Foxtel (via Fox Netball – Channel 505) and Kayo Sports.
Match Notes
- When the teams last met in Round 5 the Swifts beat the Lightning 64-63 on the Sunshine Coast.
- In 15 previous meetings the Lightning lead with nine wins to the Swifts' six.
- The Swifts' win in Round 5 was the first time they have won back-to-back matches against the Lightning.
- The Round 5 win was also just the second time they have defeated the Lightning on the Sunshine Coast.
- Eleven of the 15 previous meetings between the Swifts and Lightning have been decided by seven goals or less. The average winning margin is 6.3 goals across the 15 meetings.
- The past two meetings between the Swifts and Lightning have been decided by one goal and both were won by the Swifts.
- NSW have won three of the past four meetings.
- The Swifts are coming off a 67-64 victory over the Giants in Sydney in Round 7 and have a record of four wins, a draw, two losses and they sit in third place on the ladder.
- The Lightning is coming off a 64-74 loss to the Fever in Round 7 and have a record of three wins and four losses and sit in fifth place on the ladder.
- The Lightning have won just one of their past five matches which was in Round 6 against the Magpies.
- The' Swifts four wins in 2023 have been by a total of eight goals; two x three-goal wins and two one-goal wins.
- NSW junior Tayla Fraser played her 50th Suncorp Super Netball and Swifts match in Round 7 against the Giants.
