The NSW Swifts are continuing to take on valuable lessons as they move into their second home game of the season against the Fever this Easter Sunday (2pm).
With a clear focus on reducing errors and delivering a more complete and consistent performance, the Swifts are ready to take on Round 4 at Ken Rosewall Arena.
Despite the Swifts pushing games to the wire, Maddy Proud admitted the side has too often been left “fighting to the end” due to their own errors rather than being consistently in control of matches.
“We’re playing in clumps at times and sometimes losing balls three times in a row, rather than having that control for the full 15 minutes each quarter, and that is something we need to fix”, she said.
“There is a difference between not getting into those positions, and our own errors that have us chasing games late.”
Head Coach Briony Akle echoed that sentiment, emphasising the importance of limiting those mistakes.
“We are making fewer errors than we have in previous weeks, but as we move on, it is about making one error and just one error”, she said.
One of the positives for the Swifts has been the emergence of Grace Whyte, whose attacking impact has provided a spark in both the wing-attack and goal-attack positions.
Proud praised her teammate's “hearty shots at goals, and “ability to open up a game”, adding that her speed is “unmatched”.
With the competition becoming increasingly faster and stronger, the Swifts are focused less on their opposition and more on refining their own identity ahead of the Fever clash.
“We are looking at what the Swifts will look like," Akle said.
"It is about executing what we’ve done this week before we think about the Fever, and it isn’t just looking at individual accountability but unit accountability as well.”
Proud is adamant that the Swifts are building: “There is a lot of good there, it is just about putting it all together and getting the team to fire all cylinders at once.”
As they prepare to face one of the league’s benchmark sides of late, the Swifts remain confident that cleaner execution and control will give them every chance to deliver a complete performance on Sunday.
- Author: Charlie Brennan - Swifts Media Intern
