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It is nearly that point of yr once more, as we inch nearer to a ninth season of Tremendous Netball and the world’s greatest league held its pre-season event in Sydney for the primary time over the weekend to offer us a glimpse into how every of the eight groups are shaping up for 2024.
There is a brand-new aspect to regulate, because the Melbourne Mavericks formally fill the defunct Collingwood Magpies’ spot, whereas final yr’s runners-up the NSW Swifts confirmed – because the workforce with the least quantity of adjustments – how advantageous a constant line-up with cemented combos could be as they clinched their first Group Women Cup trophy.
Simply as we’ll do each Monday afternoon of the Tremendous Netball season, we’re right here to convey you the largest speaking factors of the spherical/weekend. So, let’s examine what we learnt throughout an action-packed three-day netball pageant at Ken Rosewall Enviornment.
Double blow for the Mavs
As the brand new youngsters on the block, the Mavericks have already received over the netball neighborhood with the signings of former England 2018 Commonwealth Video games-winning head coach Tracey Neville, in addition to a bunch of much-loved stars like Amy Parmenter and Eleanor Cardwell.
However the aspect has already been hit arduous with accidents earlier than it has even been capable of take the court docket for its inaugural Tremendous Netball recreation. Throughout a pre-season pleasant, shooter Sasha Glasgow went down with a compound leg fracture that’s more likely to rule her out for the season and on the Group Women Cup we noticed defender Lauren Moore helped off the court docket after she suffered a knee damage.
Moore will go for scans on Monday and lots of are hoping she’s going to keep away from the dreaded season-ending ACL damage that’s sadly so frequent in our sport, but when that’s to be the case, that’ll be two senior gamers worn out for the Mavs.
The workforce was already up in opposition to it as a start-up franchise because of the short turnaround Tremendous Netball required to fill Collingwood’s spot when it was introduced it might not proceed within the league final Could, in addition to the drawn-out pay negotiations that meant no one might formally be signed till December.
Factoring in Christmas and the involvement of a few of its gamers at January’s Nations Cup abroad, the aspect has solely had a few months at greatest to arrange. Sadly, that context coupled with these main accidents can have folks questioning if their aspect is maybe slightly under-conditioned, to no fault of its personal.
Regardless of a reasonably good first hit-out on the Group Women Cup, the place it registered a draw and suffered two tight losses earlier than battling in opposition to the Giants within the last-place play-off, the workforce was unable to keep away from the underside of the ladder within the pre-season event.
There have been patches of brilliance and Neville has accomplished an unimaginable job pulling this workforce collectively in such a short while. However within the wake of these accidents, there’s fear about the way it will carry out come the season begin on April 13.
As we all know from the Pies instance, early success is vital to constructing a fan base and longevity in a metropolis already occupied by a basis membership just like the Melbourne Vixens.
Will Lightning stay as much as the hype?
Perhaps it was the drawn-out pay negotiations that left gamers sitting on their palms with out pay for 11 weeks, with an excessive amount of time to consider their future. Perhaps there was simply one thing within the air? However this low season has been probably the most attention-grabbing in Tremendous Netball’s historical past with some shock motion and big-name signings.
The Sunshine Coast Lightning was the largest winner, managing to nab Australian captain Liz Watson from the Vixens, earlier than luring Diamonds goalkeeper Courtney Bruce throughout the nation from the West Coast Fever.
Each are late into their careers, debuted for his or her house golf equipment, spent the previous 10 years representing these groups as one-club gamers and made their manner right into a captaincy place. Their faces not solely felt synonymous with these franchises and the colors they put on but additionally their respective state pathways. It was a shock to see them transfer on and watching them in yellow this weekend felt a bit unusual.
Nevertheless, their signings have introduced a way of hope and pleasure to a workforce that wowed everybody when it received back-to-back premierships within the first two years of Tremendous Netball (2017/18) however has now missed the finals two years straight.
At Lightning, Watson and Bruce will hyperlink up with their Netball World Cup-winning teammates Steph Fretwell (née Wooden) and Cara Koenen at a home stage, so there was loads of curiosity round how this aspect stacked with Diamonds expertise is gelling in membership land.
It was entertaining watching Watson match up immediately in opposition to her former co-captain Kate Moloney within the midcourt when Lightning performed in opposition to the Vixens, the place loads of bumps between their our bodies made for a bruising encounter. Similar goes for Bruce’s encounter in opposition to her previous teammate, Jamaican aim shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard within the circle on the ultimate day, as Lightning and Fever performed off for fifth place.
Bruce appeared sharp (13 positive factors) throughout the weekend and was the distinction on this specific match, as her maintain over Shanice Beckford’s two-point shot postpone the aim assault’s probability to steal the lead within the remaining 30 seconds, earlier than Bruce pounced on the missed try to ship possession again up the Lightning’s finish to seal a two-goal win.
Watson’s connections within the midcourt nonetheless want some work (12 common play turnovers), as there have been moments over the three days the place there was a breakdown in communication, or she was caught in the identical gap as one other participant. Both manner, the workforce many have tipped as “favourites” this season is monitoring properly and needs to be higher positioned come the season begin.
Can the Group Women Cup turn out to be a vacation spot occasion?
Netball Australia was pleased with the 7,707 whole attendance for the Group Women Cup, because it managed to get its greatest end result on the occasion because the pandemic and doubled the earlier crowd finally yr’s event on the Gold Coast. However there is definitely room for development, as an identical pre-season event in basketball for the 2023 NBL Blitz final September noticed greater than 20,000 followers attend.
The Group Women Cup is discovering it robust to lure folks interstate and though the NSW golf equipment typically do an excellent job at filling the stands, Sydneysiders might have been postpone attending with the annual Easter Present on and restricted parking obtainable at Homebush.
The occasion served its objective although for this yr, permitting groups to trial an entire vary of combos and expose their coaching companions with such restricted preparation for groups in a brief pre-season. However in consequence, it was troublesome for a lot of followers to get a correct gauge on who is perhaps within the operating this yr, with vastly completely different line-ups run from quarter to quarter and fatigue administration which means among the largest stars sat out video games.
The highest two finishers, the Swifts and Vixens, had no robust want to win the event and the $10,000 prize cash, as an alternative specializing in their targets to check out their squads.
This method was frequent within the previous NRL Nines collection earlier than rugby league dangled a $1 million cheque over the winner’s heads if a workforce was capable of end on prime of each the pre-season and official competitors, in a bid to attempt to encourage golf equipment to subject their greatest groups and due to this fact entice followers.
That sum of money might by no means fairly be obtainable in netball, a sport nonetheless in debt and within the strategy of making an attempt to show its monetary standing round after the pandemic, however maybe there’s something on this that netball might be taught from. Up the stakes and the golf equipment could also be extra dogged of their want to win it, engaging extra followers to return alongside.
The previous two Tremendous Netball grand finals had been offered off to state governments to generate higher prize cash and create a vacation spot occasion. If we sit tight, maybe the Group Women Cup might sooner or later comply with swimsuit.
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