Seven weeks after leaving home and five hotels later, the fate of two Sydney teams rests in their own hands on Super Saturday.
They were given just hours to pack their bags and get out of Sydney thinking they would be back in less than seven days.
Seven weeks later, the NSW Swifts and Giants Netball teams have the chance to snare the top two spots on the Super Netball ladder heading into finals if they can conquer Super Saturday.
The Covid-affected season’s reshuffled draw has set up a thrilling finish to the regular season, with the top four sides – who are all locked on 32 points – locked in a pair of head-to-head battles at Brisbane’s Nissan Arena that will determine the minor premiership and make-up of next week’s major and minor semi-finals.
Winners of the matches between the top-of-the-table West Coast Fever and Giants Netball, and NSW Swifts and Sunshine Coast Lightning will snare the all-important double chance in the finals, with the losers relegated to the knockout final.
The winner of the Giants and Fever match will claim the minor premiership, but the Giants will have to do it without the services of form defender April Brandley, who was ruled out of the match on Friday when she failed a fitness test on her injured ankle at training.
The clash sets up a tantalising rematch of one of the games of the season when the Giants lost by a single goal to the Fever in Perth following five days in hotel lockdown in Western Australia.
Giants coach Julie Fitzgerald was happy with her team‘s last performance against the Fever, but that was more than two months ago and she expects a different challenge on Saturday.
“I was really happy with how they coped with the situation that we were in in Perth and how they came out of it and their attitude to everything while we were over there,” said Fitzgerald, who was also without Brandley in Perth after the mum was forced to fly back to the east coast after the team was unexpectedly forced into a five-day Covid-related hotel quarantine on arrival in Western Australia.
“But I do think we’re a very improved team on the team that played Perth over there.
“It was a long time ago and five different hotels and states ago.
“So much has happened since then it seems like an eternity since we played that game, so I think we‘re in a very different place.”
The Fever was unbeaten when it faced the Giants in May and went through the entire first round of fixtures undefeated, having only fallen to the Swifts and Lightning this season.
“I will give them credit, they‘re the benchmark of the competition. The number of goals they can score, the pressure they can apply, they’re undoubtedly the benchmark of the competition,” Fitzgerald said.
“But anyone‘s beatable on the day if we can play well enough.”
The Lightning could also be below top strength, with key goaler Steph Wood to be given until game day to prove her fitness after picking up an ankle injury.
Coach Kylee Byrne said with a finals spot already locked in, she would take a longer-term view of Wood‘s injury, but given the Diamond’s strategic importance to the team, she would not necessarily have to be 100 per cent fit to take the court.
“If we do put her out there tomorrow it‘s got to be a decision made on what it means for her going into the next few weeks,” Byrne said.
“I‘m not sure If it’s an 80 per cent Steph or a 60 per cent Steph, but in the end it’s going to be a longer-term decision than just the game tomorrow.”
The Lightning meet the Swifts, who have had to back up from a match on Wednesday after playing earlier in round 14.
It’s a tough turnaround, but after winning the premiership in 2019, the Swifts are determined to climb the mountain again and don’t want to be left in the knockout final, where they bowed out last year.
“We want to give ourselves the best chance to win another premiership, so we‘ll be treating this game as the first of a number of grand final games,” Akle said.
“I don’t know if there has been a better showdown in the final round of any sports code in recent memory.
“When you see how much sacrifice has been put in across all the Super Netball clubs this year, I think we have the end game that is fitting to what’s been a hugely competitive season so far.”
THE DECIDERS
Saturday, August 7 (Both games at Nissan Arena, Brisbane)
NSW Swifts v Sunshine Coast Lightning, 12.30pm
Giants Netball v West Coast Fever, 2.30pm