Round Five of Super Netball has come to a close with the sport once again in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons following a controversial finish on Saturday night.
The round started off strong with the Fever putting together a dominant performance against the Queensland Firebirds, scoring a mammoth 94 goals and winning by a margin of 36 points as they retained their undefeated record.
The Melbourne Vixens also remain unbeaten after a narrow two goal win over the NSW Swifts. Meanwhile the Giants have broken their winless streak after a controversial extra time victory over the Sunshine Coast Lightning on Saturday night.
ESPN takes a look at the four biggest talking points from round five.
CONTROVERSY STRIKES YET AGAIN
If you thought we could go a full season without controversy, think again.
After a highly entertaining clash between the Giants and Lightning, the game would end in shambolic fashion when both champion data and the broadcast would show the sides even at 71-goals apiece on the fulltime siren, only for the in venue scoreboard to show the Lightning winning the match 71-70.
For the following 45 minutes, the score bench deliberated and reviewed every goal of the last quarter to get a result. The umpires and Lightning went back into the changerooms as the Lightning were told that they had won the match, meanwhile the Giants stayed out on the court and continued to stay warmed up as Julie Fitzgerald and the staff fought for the result.
The game was called a draw and after what seemed to be a lifetime the Lightning came back onto court with both sides participating in a 10-minute warm-up.
Eventually almost three hours after the game started we had a result, the Giants were able to dominate the extra time to get their first win of the season.
Lightning captain Steph Fretwell was disappointed by the way things panned out.
"We didn't really know until Sophie Dwyer came up to me and said, 'it's a draw' and then we kind of saw what was happening at the bench," Fretwell said.
"So it's a very weird emotion to think you've won a game, go to your change room and then get told you have 10 minutes to warm back up and play extra time.
"Then to lose the game sucks, we would have played the 30 seconds very differently at the end. I know we would play to a shot and to not play the ball around.
"It's disappointing."
FEVER'S DEPTH SHINES ONCE AGAIN
The West Coast Fever are going from strength to strength this season as the club is making a strong case as premiership favourites with the halfway mark of the season fast approaching. They were without speedy midcourter Kelsey Browne on Friday night due to load management but the likes of Jordan Cransberg and Jess Anstiss were able to step up in the midcourt.
Ruth Aryang came into the squad and made her Super Netball debut, not looking out of place against Firebirds star Donnell Wallam. Fran Williams was just about flawless, playing the most minutes of her time in the Super Netball so far as she finished with six gains, three deflections and five rebounds.
The ability to have players step up and play their role, no matter if they are an international star or a young player in the early stages of their career, is something that separates a good side from a great one. This is something that fans have seen in the Fever not just against the Firebirds but for the whole season, with Olivia Wilkinson a clear example after she was subbed on during the third quarter for Shanice Beckford and the attack end didn't break stride. Wilkinson scored 10 goals at 91 percent efficiency during regular time and scored five Super Shots.
No Fever player was out on court for the full 60 minutes and whoever was subbed on just stepped up with the standard of netball not dropping an inch. Fever coach Dan Ryan said that the Fever squad have invested in a team first attitude in 2024.
"The way the girls have invested in each other on and off the court has been incredible," Ryan said.
"Team spirit is actually really hard thing to create but this group we have genuinely invested in team first and playing for each other, and they're happy to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of the team and that's really hard to achieve."
LETHERBARROW SHINES IN EXTRA TIME
When the siren at the end of the fourth quarter rang around the arena, Giants young gun Matisse Letherbarrow hadn't taken to the court. When the game restarted for the first extra time period, Letherbarrow entered the game as goal shooter and quickly became a force in that goal circle.
Dominating in both the one-point game and the Super Shot, the 22-year-old was on fire in the final 10 minutes. She scored six one-point goals, shooting at 100 percent accuracy and was a force in the two-point zone scoring three Super Shots.
Teammate Sophie Dwyer said that she was ecstatic to see Letherbarrow perform in that high pressure moment.
"We all had faith in her," Dwyer said. "We're really good friends so I could tell that she was really nervous and Jo [Harten] had a really good chat to her.
"I just said to her we thought we'd lost, anything better than that is a plus but if we lose again, it doesn't really matter because that's where we thought we were in the first place.
"I said we have no pressure on ourselves go out there shoot twos, attack it. I was so ecstatic, I think I screamed and showed so much emotion, in that first five especially. Just seeing her turn, shoot, all of them swishing in and I think once she had the first one the confidence came.
"I think it's really special that she can have a moment like that, because I think she probably doesn't always believe in herself as much as we all do. I think that's a really good boost for her because she just shone in that last five especially ."
GUESS WHO'S BACK?
It was almost a year to the date that Nat Butler (nee Medhurst) made her Super Netball return for the Fever. Now 12 months later she's back once again for a cameo at the Melbourne Mavericks after she received a late call up to join the side when Eleanor Cardwell was ruled out with an injury and fellow squad member Rolene Streutker was still unavailable.
It was only a brief cameo on the court, playing just 16 minutes, but she was able to bring a needed level of experience around the club even if it was just for one game as well as an already developed connection with the goalers, having played with both Shimona Jok and Gabby Sinclair.
But the move did strike up debate on social media, with many fans questioning why the Mavericks opted to bring in Butler over training partner Uneeq Palavi who was on managed minutes in the VNL for the City West Falcons. Jok and Palavi would have a connection built with Jok also in the Championship squad for the Falcons, so they would have played with each other during training sessions.
Fans have seen what Palavi is capable of having played for Tonga in last year's Netball World Cup in Cape Town with the shooter having put together a string of strong performances on the world stage while playing alongside the likes of Hulita Veve and Cat Tuivaiti.
No matter where you sit in the argument many would admit it was nice to see Butler back out on court, even if it was just for one game.