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2025 Super Netball Season, Round 6 of 15: NSW Swifts clutches way ahead of Giants from a tight first half into the clear with the win

by Sports Benches

Helen Housby (Goal Attack) is the bomb of all sorts of attack and defensive final third circles alongside Grace Nweke (Goal Shoot) that kept goals for Swifts ticking.

Then here comes Sarah Klau being the staple of that Swifts back two – not bad as starting Goal Keep but even better at Goal Defense that made Teigan O’Shanassy wanted to do more of the grabbing, waving & snatching from there.

Hats off to Briony Akle with her tactical masterclass as Swifts are clear victors in the best of NSW and still unbeaten.

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For Giants, not so much especially when their good 30 mins start has unfortunately come into waste off the back of bench changes and even positional changes Julie Fitzgerald made at half-time. 

Not a good look on her players including Maddy Hay at Wing Attack who wished she could’ve stayed on more often to help finish things out in the other 30 with the way she cuts in and out with those feeds.

Without Maddy H, Giants were nowhere near as good as Swifts – The end.

Giants will be back here at Ken Rosewall Arena next Saturday night at 7pm and Swifts even though they were here today as the away team will be away once again to the Sunshine Coast in QLD v the Lightning also next Saturday night 5pm.

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A few quickfire sports items this week: Chiefs def. Crusaders once again, NSW Swifts continue to be unbeatable in Super Netball and Honda’s return to winning ways in MotoGP with Johann Zarco from Team LCR

by Sports Benches

Here’s a few quickfire sports items this week: Thursday 15th May, 2025

1️⃣ Great to see the Chiefs def. Crusaders once again but if these two play in the Grand Final later on, sure it’s not over just yet. Can’t wait for Saders v Tahs tomorrow although no Joseph for a while due to jaw injury while wishing Mason Gordon the best of luck now he’s unable to play rugby.

2️⃣ Swifts still unbeatable as always but at least they’re leading the Super Netball ladder by a merry way – not so much from Giants who lost to SC Lightning.

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3️⃣ It’s a Honda with that emphatic French Motorcycle GP win by Johann Zarco in the Satellite LCR Bike. Yes, Honda haven’t been at their best last 1-2 years but hoping they can be back challenging for titles again.

4️⃣ Sheffield United too good for Bristol City and Sunderland sees off late threat from Coventry – going to be a cracking Final where one will go to the big time PL.

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A few quickfire sports items this week Thursday, 7th May 2025: Moana and Hurricanes stay on course Top 6 while Waratahs struggle again, great weekend from NSW in Super Netball, NRL finally has a WA team & more Soccer with the English

by Sports Benches

Here’s some quickfire sports items this week:

1️⃣ Moana Pasifika and Hurricanes take wins that kept their Top 6 alive with Reds unlucky to Drua and Waratahs lose again away where they were so out of depth v Brumbies after half-time – they better pull those strings tomorrow v the Reds again.

2️⃣ Top weekend from NSW Netball – Giants finally crush champs Adelaide Thunderbirds by one goal (64-63) while Swifts still so unbeatable v Firebirds. 

3️⃣ Lots of recognised NZers at the second from Grace Nweke to Kiri Wills along with Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua & the ANZ Premiership is back this weekend.

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4️⃣ NRL now officially welcomes back the Bears as a WA team. Fun fact: Reds & future Wallabies coach Les Kiss used to play there back in his day.

5️⃣ More Football in the form of soccer, Leeds won the Championship at the last minute while Arsenal won’t be in the CL Final with PSG v Inter – and now we’ll see if Tottenham along with Man Utd will be up for the Europa Cup 2nd leg semi tomorrow.

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Super Netball 2025 as of a long Round 3: NSW Swifts unstoppable while lots more catch-up from the Giants

by Sports Benches

There may not be any two NSW/Sydney Super Netball teams in action this weekend but it’s still a split Round 3 that takes place across two long weekend windows in-between Easter and ANZAC Day.

So far, so good from the Swifts who are unbeaten 3 from 3 with thanks to their International powered goal shooting combo in England’s Helen Housby (Goal Attack) and Grace Nweke (Goal Shooter) from New Zealand that sends the message to the other seven teams in this competition.

But with the GWS Giants, not so much and they’re currently sitting second last that could turn out to be 8th and last spot if the West Coast Fever shockingly beat the Melbourne Vixens this Sunday afternoon.

They’ve got a good group of players with a mix of homegrown and experienced talent although Gina Crampton (also from NZ) is out only for this season due to maternity leave – sometimes they lack cohesion when it comes to their tactics and even selection.

Don’t know what to say when their head coach Julie Fitzgerald is still the only one out there since its inception back in 2017 having previously coached the Magic back in Waikato, NZ that included a young Jamie Lee-Price at the time before they’ve moved back to Sydney since then – not questioning their loyalty. But safe to say that Giants haven’t been firing for so long where solutions needs to be actioned sooner than later or else Giants might as well would want a whole new direction if they want to be like the Super Swifts again.

While it’s still early as it can be possible for the Giants to pick up the odd win here and there, every game will have to be traded as a big game with the champs Adelaide Thunderbirds next up first thing at home next Saturday from 5pm AEST.

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2025 Super Netball Round 2: Vixens dynamic on-court play beats down the Giants first quarter fast start by 61-55

by Sports Benches

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.

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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).

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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.

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