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I can answer questions if anyone wants to know. My takeaways:
Swifts:
– Housby/Nweke combo is exciting, it’s already brilliant and has lots of room to improvement; Swifts style of short-sharp-flat passing and getting the the circle edge is something Nweke has to adapt to; in the beginning of the match she moved to early at times, or moved to the wrong lead (the lead BEFORE the one heading to her)
– Hadley is amazing all over the court and will be hard to replace at WA; I was impressed with everything she did, but particularly finding her way on first phase; Gorman-Brown was my favourite backup WA for this particular day; Simmons is super athletic, she has always had a different kind of timing and change of pace, more work required there to take advantage of her properly and also make her more like a Swift; at the moment I’d have LGB/Hadley/Lambden, but the change to Hadley/Simmons/Smith is a good backup (and more defensive); Simmons did improve when used for more minutes rather than being switched on and off, combos have room to build, in the first section there were turnovers around her sometimes because her team aren’t used to her movement
– FYI Smith was used at centre, I didn’t like this option
– Turner and Klau, what more can we say? Klau’s footwork, timing, physical presence, reading of the game, she was just awesome to watch, and IMHO was the MVP of that game; Nweke does make a huge difference, but Klau is more important; O’Shannessey was fine, I’d have confidence to put her on in a Turner/Klau/O’Shann back lineOh, I was going to say a bit more about Nweke – she is a brilliant target; Swifts DID use her height but DID NOT generally lob the ball from distance; it was very notable when Lambden did a goal assist from the centre third, only once; Nweke was often facing off with Kelly Jackson (nee Jury) so you can understand not lobbing; when Housby is there, she is of course the queen of the shooter-to-shooter pass, and Nweke does move and does have good reflexes for the tricky stuff, which will make this a unique combination and hard to defend; Fawns didn’t play all that well nor all that poorly, she was fine, definitely inclined to try too hard at GA and can cause turnovers.
For NZ, they definitely got a lot out of this week-long camp in Australia: bonding, backing up for tough matches daily, being away for a long period, newbies getting their chance to integrate and learn, experience the Aussie style, everything
Undeniably the best player was Karin Burger; I have always been a huge fan and she’s just so intimidating by her presence; that’s not to say Jackson and Heffernan weren’t also good, they both had quite a few highlights; Ekenasio was also great to watch, so safe and such gorgeous shots.
It really seemed like a midcourter trial game; there were way too many turnovers going across the attacking transverse and on the feed; sometimes it was just a silly choice, and sometimes it lacked finesse; obviously Swifts did create this pressure, and the Kiwis will benefit from further exposure to The Australian style (esp because Klau was there most of the time).
In the second half we saw the O’Brien WA/Earle C combo looking better, as IMHO they actually did the basics well – they got in front and were available, they got circle edge, they took an extra half second to select the feed, and it really worked! You don’t always have to release the ball instantly. Toeava had turnovers, and her presence created turnovers, as she mostly had Walmsley as her target and she’s just not Nweke and never will be.
I’d say with the players available the best midcourt was O’Brien/Gordon/Heffernan, but I would accept O’Brien/Heff/Burger. I prefer Burger at GD. I think Burley was the best young defender, but she is also better at GD than GK, especially against Nweke.
Thank you AK for the updates! Appreciate it!
I was wondering how Toeava would go without Nweke, and by the sounds of it, not too well.Am intrigued to hear about Salmon and Tui. I feel like Taurua is waiting for someone, anyone to step up and take Wilson’s spot – but note your earlier mention Ian that she played okay (in parts, perhaps).
This Ferns fan really hopes Mataram and G Heffernan are training the house down while not at this camp… (!)
We've added three talented youngsters to our training partner cohort for 2025 🌟
Congratulations to Audrey Little, Millie Tonkin and Aimee Landrigan.
— GIANTS Netball (@GIANTS_Netball) February 5, 2025
@WeWood, of the four players (shooters) you mentioned, only Salmon was there, and in fact she was the starting GS. Saviour Tui wasn’t there and I know what she looks like (unlike the defenders). G Heffernan would actually have been an ideal person to trial at GA as we all know. Wilson was ONLY used at GA, she did fine and has slightly improved her GA courtcraft (I’ve always liked Wilson so I hope she keeps getting opportunities).
I think Salmon was fine – I have seen her in ANZP, just a glimpse, so I had no pre-formed opinion. In the first few minutes I felt like she wasn’t moving or pulling the ball in with authority, looked a bit nervous, however this did improve, so she was sometimes an option. I also think the feeders in the first half were making so many errors with the touch/finesse on the feed that it didn’t give Salmon the consistent service that would’ve helped her get her flow. Klau had a great game so it’s hard to shine against someone that amazing. In particular, Salmon’s accuracy was reliable, she strung together a lot of shots with no misses.
Thoughts on Cath hall, I think she could really be nz next GK also did Amelia play?
Walmsley played.
Heya @TB and @Skyris, Walmsley did play for most (if not all) of the second half at GS, and a cameo at GA in the first half. I feel she is more available than Salmon and obviously more experienced at this level, but I wouldn’t say it’s a whole class above. Walmsley isn’t as agile as Salmon, perhaps Salmon was learning quickly with coaching and some confidence, maybe also the cocky freshness of youth? I do remember she (Salmon) was one of the players that smiled the most.
Regarding the defenders who I THINK were Hall (?), Fowler (??), and Burley, I know they aren’t the same person, but the way the changes were made (given I didn’t know the first two at all) and the game being a week ago, there’s no way for me to give a reliable report, except I wrote down at some point that one of them ??Hall looked buggered at GD, and she was replaced soon after. Burley was good. None of them looked out of place, but unsurprisingly Burger and Jackson were by far the best combo at the back.
Remember, this was the third day in a row of a full match, and we aren’t privy to the experiments and tactics the coaches had already used, nor the form, growth, and consistency of the players across the week.
- This reply was modified 3 days, 19 hours ago by Andrew Kennedy.
- This reply was modified 3 days, 19 hours ago by Andrew Kennedy.
Strong start, strong finish 💪 pic.twitter.com/F7xdYX22l1
— GIANTS Netball (@GIANTS_Netball) February 7, 2025
Just finished watching the live stream of the Giants v Vixens practice match. Giants won 59-58. Vixens trailed by 3-4 for most of the game – getting out to 10 at one point in the second quarter.
For the giants, Harten played the first half in shooter and Leatherbarrow came on for the second half. Thought Jo played well and didn’t seem to have any strapping on her knee or anything like that which is hopefully a good sign re: fitness.
Hope White played the first half of the game in WA, Hay came on in the third but subbed out again for white with about 2 minutes to go in the third. In the 4th a TP(can’t remember name sorry!) played the first half before Hay came back on.
Jodi Ann Ward got a head knock/knock to the jaw early in the first quarter but came back on in the second, so hopefully no worries there. Giants also gave a fair few of their TPs a run (esp. compared to vixens)
Vixens:Started with the obvious line up in the first quarter (Garbin, Austin, Mundy, Moloney, Eddie, Weston, Ellis).
In the second quarter Graham came on at GS and I believe Walters started at C before swapping with Mundy fairly quickly (so maybe a bit of work to do on that version of the combo). Think Kate eddy went back to GD with Moloney in WD.
In the third graham stayed at shooter with Garbin playing the first half of the quarter at GA before being swapped out for Austin. Maggie Carris came on at keeper and stayed for the entire second half, do wonder if they’re considering her as a temp/perm. replacement for Mannix although just based on this game I don’t think she’s ready yet.
In the last quarter the Garbin/ Austin combo came back with graham coming on for Garbin in the supershot period.
Thought Graham played really well and I think the scoreline probably would have been much worse without her. even though McKinnis doesn’t love using her bench as much as other coaches I wonder if she should consider using a graham/austin combo during the supershot period to take pressure off Austin as she seems to be more accurate then Garbin at the 2s.Graham will get plenty of court time this year. Her court time increased over the back half of last year. Wowee she has improved immensely and adapted to this level so well over the last 12 months. Graham is a McKinnis favourite so will get court time.
Probably the worst game Garbin has played in two years. She won’t want to remember this one. In saying that Vixens were scrappy all over with dropped balls etc so she wasn’t alone.
I thought Caris grew into the game. In the 4th quarter she had two intercepts, a rebound, a pickup and a deflection with gain to Weston. The main change defensively will be for Eddy to move to GD (with either Ellis or Weston at GK and Moloney at WD) but they need to get a lot of court time into Caris this preseason if they are going that way. Will be interesting to see if they play Sexton in game 2.
“The Queensland Firebirds and Sunshine Coast Lightning’s Suncorp Super Netball rivalry will ignite in 2025 with the Gold Coast to host the pre-season Suncorp Spirit Cup for the first time…. held at the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre in Carrara on Friday, March 7.
This marks the fourth edition of the Suncorp Spirit Cup, with previous matchups thrilling sold-out crowds in Mackay, Toowoomba, and Townsville.” Tickets via ticketek
https://firebirds.net.au/news/gold-coast-host-2025-suncorp-spirit-cup
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