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NSW Swifts

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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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A few Quickfire sports news items of the week of 30th April 2025: Les Kiss to Wallabies, Max Purcell’s doping ban, Grace Nweke & Kiri Wills reunion at Super Netball level plus many more 

by Sports Benches

Congratulations to Les Kiss with the Wallabies job who has done big things with the Reds past two years and sure his setup & influence on players can help them flow from dominating Super Rugby to being a Top 3 side on the global stage like the glorious Springboks at present.

Felt sorry for Max Purcell having accepted a year-and-a-half ban on doping. 

Won’t be the same without him especially being a strong contributor to our Aussie doubles team both grand slams and team tournaments but we gotta put a fine line with our standards of professional sport.

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After a very long Round 3 of Super Netball, we’re back again with a full weekend log with one match I’m looking to forward to is Swifts v Firebirds. 

Grace Nweke will playing against Kiri Wills’ team once again and it’s not at ANZP level like it was with Mystics v Stars but in Super Netball – so yeah, bring it on.

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Formula 1 is back this weekend in Miami along with the second sprint race of the year as yes happy for Oscar Piastri who is currently leading the drivers’ championship after he collected the Saudi win last time round. But here’s hoping Jack Doohan will be able to step up to the plate when there’s a short and long race opportunity, so onto the engineers here to help map out the best strategy and tire management. Not only that, he needs to turn up every post-race in order to not just be consistent but also finish races strong.

And can’t wait for final round Championship Saturday at 9.30pm AEST where Plymouth do need Burnley’s help along as long as Burnley v Millwall but can’t ignore all day from free-scoring Leeds.

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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 1: West Coast Fever v NSW Swifts, Nweke and Housby are the stars of the Swifts 49-67 win in Perth

by Sports Benches

So there you have it, it was great to see the NSW Swifts begin their 2025 season with the win, especially when they went up against last year’s Preliminary Finalists West Coast Fever at Perth’s RAC Arena.

First of all, things may have been shaky off the back of a flying Fever start, especially when the Swifts back two seems to be a hit and miss at times. 

Although they got away with some good deflections/rebounds based on the Fever’s poor attacking output through luck.

What kept the Swifts marching above their weight was the world-class goal shooting duo they’ve built of England’s Helen Housby (Goal Attack) and new recruit from New Zealand via the Mystics & Silver Ferns in Grace Nweke (Goal Shooter).

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They both shot flawlessly into the net like rockets including restarts every time Fever struggle to put those pieces together and the progress was there to see.

Now it’s up to the mid-court engine room to keep up the ante in which they weren’t bad coupled with the added help of temporary replacement signing Verity Simmons who knows Perth all two well after Grace Whyte fell down when she was trying to mark the ball at Wing Attack. 

They got a few days of homework on their flight home at Netball Central before Swifts first home game of the year is on Saturday night at 7pm v Melbourne Mavericks.

And on Fever, it wasn’t the afternoon they wanted when their defense was rinsed by both Nweke & Housby while the shooters of their own had to do the heavy lifting. 

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One highlight though the Fever will always remember is the return of Mwai Kumwenda, who just got back on the court following some time away due to pregnancy, and she too now just racked up over 100 Super Netball Super Spots. 

They need to keep their head up especially when the opponents they face this season will be new-look squads and the Kiri Willis-led Queensland Firebirds is up next also next Saturday to Brisbane from 5pm. QLD also got away with the win too against the Giants earlier this afternoon here in Sydney where Kiri will want to make the most out of her time in Australia having recently been the coach of fellow Auckland ANZ Premiership side Northern Stars up until the end of 2024.

All in all, the Ferns players may not be able to leave home that could compromise their eligibility status with selection for the foreseeable future. But getting tested at the highest level is something no one else could provide that springboard other than Super Netball – only available in Australia.

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