Tough afternoon for the Giants to keep it up with the score but Vixens though have been superior right from the first centre pass by a five goal gap, 61-55.
It was a mere two-horse race when it comes to both teams’ front two shooters alone – no doubt about that, especially when the two-shot opportunities come around every last five mins of each Qtr.
Vixens have two experienced Diamonds of Kiera Austin (a former Giants product) and Sophie Garbin (also spent some time with the NSW Swifts in the past) while Giants got a few seasoned Internationals of their own like Sophie Dwyer (a Diamond), Jo Harten (played a lot for England) and first-team goal shooter Matisse Letherbarrow.
1-2 things that Giants struggled to match though was their defense which they couldn’t find a way to trap Austin and Garbin and their mid-court engine room seems to be a hit and miss sometimes.
Jo Weston who reached 150 National League caps and mid-court captain at Centre Kate Moloney were key to giving both Austin & Garbin with the best shooting supply feeds & there was no stopping that. For the Giants, Sophie Dwyer would be the safe pick at Goal Attack where she did all the hard yards on her own except when there were a lot of hesitancy + hit & misses right around her.
That’s my two cents there for the Giants to go to the drawing board before they will be back at John Cain Arena once again next Sunday. But this time it will be against another Melbourne-based team in the Mavericks as Mavericks also lost to Swifts too away at Ken Rosewall Arena last night and they’ve (Giants and Mavs) both yet to win a game going into Week 3 out of 15.
Plus, Vixens get the week-long off next week before they return in two weeks time against the West Coast Fever (also winless so far thanks to Firebirds earlier last night).
And Queensland Firebirds making a huge statement too following a tough off-field 2024 as former Northern Stars coach Kiri Wills is sending a message right there to her rivals including former Mystics star Grace Nweke in that red Swifts dress.
They’ve both been at it before many times in the ANZ Premiership including the 2023 grand final at World Cup year when Wills was at Stars as coach and Nweke being the star Mystics shooter where Mystics won but sure Wills will want to have the last laugh this time but only in Australia.
You never know what’s best for Auckland but again, that can make New Zealand Netball better. So the board need to help out star assets like Nweke continue holding eligibility for the Silver Ferns while getting tested at the highest level of comp which is by far with SSN and not ANZP.
