The NSW Swifts may be sitting pretty on top of the Suncorp Super Netball ladder heading into Round 5, but head coach Briony Akle is anything but comfortable.
The double-Premiership coach, who also won two titles with the Swifts as a player, knows very well that each season is about peaking at the right time.
While the Swifts are still undefeated in 2025, they haven’t been dominant. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing for Akle.
“I’m happy we have loads of improvements to make, because it’s not just how you start a competition that defines you, it’s how you finish,” she says.
“Against the Firebirds we had quite a lot of errors and aside from the third quarter it was a very tight game. It was the same when we played the Mavericks when we only pulled clear at the very end.
“We know that Adelaide are the reigning Premiers and Fever are hitting their groove so those rematches will be very tough.
“The onus isn’t on other teams to catch up to us, instead it’s on us to improve because if we don’t learn to put in consistent 60-minute games the rest of the league will overtake.”
On Sunday the Swifts host the Melbourne Vixens as part of Aware Super’s Super Helpful Round*.
Two of the most successful and respected Clubs in the competition, the fifth-placed Vixens are looking to win back-to-back games for the first time this year.
This contest also marks Game I of the Sargeant-McKinnis Cup, which the Clubs contest annually. Named after NSW netball legend Anne Sargeant OAM and Vixens head coach Simone McKinnis, the Cup is contested on aggregate over the Club’s two regular season-games.
The Vixens currently hold the trophy but the Swifts can take a big step towards winning it back if they claim victory.
NSW midcourter Allie Smith has won the Cup as both a Swift and a Vixen, and knows its significance to the wider netball landscape.
“I think the two sides, the calibre of players and clubs that the Vixens and the Swifts have is huge,” she said.
“I think this Cup just represents quality players and quality sides, to be playing for that that Cup and getting that win.
“But I think more importantly (for the Swifts) it's just keeping going on the plan and the game, and just growing as players and really just getting better every week.
“We personally love playing the Vixens. We know it's going to be a high-calibre game and we know that we're going to have to play well in order to get the win.”
The Swifts and Vixens go head-to-head at Ken Rosewall Arena at 4pm (AEST) on Sunday.
*ABOUT SUPER HELPFUL ROUND
Super Helpful Round is brought to you by Aware Super - the “super helpful” super and retirement specialists.
As a proud sponsor of the Swifts, Aware want to celebrate those who are Super Helpful in their everyday lives.
Super Helpful Round is a celebration of all of the Super helpers out there and everything they’ve given to their careers, families and their community, over a lifetime.
From teachers to nurses, healthcare workers to our first responders, today we’re celebrating those who are super helpful day in, day out.
If you are posting on socials today, please add the hashtag #SuperHelpfulRound when showing your Swifts colours!!
MATCH NOTES
- When the teams last met in Round 11 last season, the Vixens defeated the Swifts 69-49 in Melbourne.
- The Swifts’ 71-goals in Round 4 was the highest score of the round, the Swifts’ highest score this season and equalled the Mavericks’ 71-goals in Round 3 against the Giants as the highest score across the 2025 season so far.
- The Vixens lead the Swifts with nine wins to seven and one draw in 17 previous Super Netball meetings since 2017.
- The Swifts and Vixens have met 36 times across the ANZ Championship and Super Netball and the Swifts have won 20 matches, the Vixens 15 and there has been one draw.
- The Swifts and Vixens have met in eight previous Super Netball matches in Sydney with both teams winning four each. The past four matches in Sydney the result has alternated with the Vixens winning the most recent meeting in 2024.
- The Swifts are coming off a 71-63 win over the Firebirds in Sydney in Round 4 to be the only remaining undefeated team and they sit at the top of the ladder.
- The Vixens are coming off a 67-59 victory over the Mavericks in Round 4 for a record of two wins and two losses to sit in fifth place on the ladder.
- The Vixens are yet to string together back-to-back wins in 2025. They lost their first match to Thunderbirds, defeated the Giants in Round 2, lost to Fever in Round 3 and defeated the Mavericks in Round 4.
- The Swifts have won five of eight previous Round 5 Super Netball matches, while the Vixens have won four and lost four. The Swifts and Vixens have met twice in Round 5 matches with the results being split, Swifts won 2019 and Vixens won in 2024.
- The Swifts have the best attacking record after three rounds scoring 67.8 goals per match while they have the second best defensive record conceding 57.8 goals per match (Thunderbirds best 56.8).
- The Swifts have only used two shooters across the opening four rounds; Grace Nweke and Helen Housby have played every minute of the season so far. All other teams at least three players have played in a shooting circle across the opening four rounds.
- Swifts shooter Grace Nweke has shot 202 of the Swifts goals in 2025 which is 74.5% of the teams total and only Shimona Jok (Mavericks) 77.7% has shot a higher percentage of her teams total goals.
- The Swifts are one of four teams (with Thunderbirds, Lightning and Firebirds) to have sat inside the Super Netball Top 4 after each round in 2025.
- The Swifts’ best quarter so far this season is their third at +25 goals while they are also in the positive in the other three quarters as well (1st: +4, 2nd: +4 & 4th: +7).
