Round Six of Super Netball has drawn to a close with the round consisting of close finishes, upsets and a fiery derby.
West Coast Fever remained the only undefeated team in 2024 after the Vixens went down to the Sunshine Coast Lightning with former Vixens captain Liz Watson returning to John Cain Arena for the first time since moving to the Sunshine state.
The Mavericks have put their season back on track after a seven goal win against the Queensland Firebirds on the road. Shimona Jok was instrumental for the Mavericks in the goal circle, while Eleanor Cardwell was strong in goal attack.
ESPN takes a look at the four biggest talking points from the round that was.
SUPER NETBALL SEES ITS FIRST SUSPENSION OF THE YEAR
A talking point that came out of round two is that Super Netball hadn't seen a suspension for dangerous play in 2024. Under the new ruling put in place by World Netball, if an action is deemed to be 'dangerous play' the umpire can send the player off for two minutes without warning. If it happens again, the player is suspended for the rest of the match.
In round six fans have seen the first suspension for dangerous play with Giants co-captain Jamie-Lee Price sent from the court for two minutes after a collision with Allie Smith. It forced the Giants to move Sam Winders into the absent centre position and drop wing defence. It marks the first suspension in Super Netball since former Giant Kristiana Manu'a was suspended during play in 2020.
"I thought we weathered that really well," Giants coach Julie Fitzgerald said about the incident.
"I thought we recovered from it really well, I do think that took a bit of the drive out of Jamie-Lee's game that she wasn't as strong in the game as she might have been."
Co-Captain Jo Harten agreed with Fitzgerald.
"It's always tough when you're playing a woman down but I thought we actually really regrouped quite well.
"To have a suspension so early on in the game is tough to get your head around but I think we came off that quarter like three down. So that's a pretty good result for that kind of scenario and we knew we just had to keep plugging away.
"I do think scenarios like that, that [happen] early on in the game do take it out of you a bit later on. So it's unfortunate and we'll go back and look at the video and what we can do better in those moments as well."
ARE THE FIREBIRDS ON A DOWNWARD SPIRAL?
It was a disappointing fortnight for the Queensland Firebirds having lost by big margins to the West Coast Fever [36-goal loss] and the Melbourne Vixens [13-goal loss], so coming into this week's match against the Mavericks it was a must win game on their home deck, not only to get their season back on track but to get the confidence and morale back up after what was two tough weeks.
The feeds into Donnell Wallam have been off all season, seeing the ball go either over the baseline or straight into the hands of the defenders and Sunday was no different. The poor feeds have seen a confidence drop in the attack end, with Wallam missing shots that 9 times out of 10 she would have sunk, while the centre pass to goal rate sits at just 65 percent. The defence was able to win the ball back but the Firebirds weren't able to convert having a goal to gain rate of just 50 percent.
A potential fix would be more time at centre for Hulita Veve. Fans saw what she could do in centre at the back end of last season when coming in as an injury replacement player for Macy Gardner and at the World Cup for Tonga. Her feeds are strong and on defence she can make something out of nothing and win ball back for the Firebirds.
The Firebirds were able to finish off strong in the final quarter winning the quarter 21-17, which was the first time the Firebirds scored over twenty points in a quarter for the match. But it was too little too late to score the win, going down by seven goals.
The frustrating part for the Firebirds would be the fact that they have taken it up to some of the competition's best in the Thunderbirds and Swifts but once again it's a lack of consistency both in games and across the season that continues to haunt the Firebirds.
ERVIN, HINCHCLIFFE STEP UP
Courtney Bruce was an out for the Sunshine Coast Lightning as they faced the Melbourne Vixens, but in her absence, the duo of Ash Ervin and Tara Hinchliffe went head-to-head with the Diamonds duo of Sophie Garbin and Kiera Austin, and the Lightning defence dominated.
The defensive duo played a big part in getting the Lightning back in striking distance as they continued to have defensive wins in that second quarter. Ervin and Hinchliffe combined for 18 gains, seven intercepts and 10 gains to close out the match.
There isn't a timeline on the return of Bruce but it will be a great sign for the Lightning that they don't need to rush her back, seeing as Ervin and Hinchliffe are becoming stronger as a combination as the season progresses.
"We always knew that we had attracted some really good players but we wanted to really develop the youth," Sunshine Coast Lightning coach Belinda Reynolds said of the duo post-match.
"I think we've got exciting youth and they're all growing from strength to strength each game and I agree they were all fantastic today."
Reynolds went on to praise Hinchliffe and the side's defence end.
"I think Tara is a fantastic player, she's got great experience and she reads the play really well. I think the beauty about our defenders is they all bring something very different, so I never compare them, just ask for them to play their role for the team."
SUNSHINE GIRLS GO HEAD-TO-HEAD
The matchup between the Adelaide Thunderbirds and West Coast Fever saw Sunshine Girls teammates go head-to-head in a match that had plenty of mouthwatering matchups with one end featuring Romelda Aiken-George going head-to-head with Kadie-Ann Dehaney in a fiery contest.
Aiken-George was solid under the post for the Thunderbirds scoring 34 goals at 85 percent efficiency, while Dehaney was a major ball winner for the Fever, finishing the match with 10 deflections, four gains and two intercepts.
"I thought she was awesome," Fever coach Dan Ryan said of Dehaney's workrate.
"A real rock for us and an anchor in the backline and it was a great matchup for Kadie-Ann to play the tall.
"She was great against Donnell last week and I thought just back that up against Romelda this weekend.
"I thought every time we were under enormous pressure she just found ball for us. The sign of a great goal keeper is when you need something, you find something, and I thought she did that exceptionally well.
"Just her ability to stay focused and stay persistent when they were scoring freely at times, I thought was unbelievable. She's really thriving in our environment and I love that she's doing the right things at the right time.
"She's a big game player, she's really coming into her own in this team and I was really pleased to see her have a cracking performance today."
Down the other end of the court was the match-up of Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard and Shamera Sterling- Humphrey in what is one of the most highly anticipated match-ups every year, and in the first installment of the 2024 season it certainly didn't disappoint.
It was blow for blow early between the two Jamaicans, Fowler-Nembhard has the height advantage but the athleticism of Sterling-Humphrey saw the defender able to get deflections or intercepts. Sterling-Humphrey finished the match with eight deflections, two intercepts and two gains, while Fowler-Nembhard finished with 49 goals at 100 percent and one Super Shot.
There were glimpses of Shanice Beckford going up against Latyana Wilson, mainly in the Super Shot period as the Thunderbirds looked to get the Jamaican duo to defend the two-point shot. Wilson was the main ball winner for the Thunderbirds, which started to ramp up the pressure on the Fever. Wilson finished the game with four intercepts, four gains and four deflections.
"I actually thought Shanice was a real rock for us while we were changing the midcourt combinations and Jhaniele was having a bit of a struggle against Shamera," Ryan said of Beckford.
"I think the Thunderbirds were certainly respecting what she was doing because when we did have our surges it was Shanice that was really integral to that.
"I just thought her work rate to stay in the contest and there were times where she got in some uncomfortable positions and had to figure it out for herself. This whole season for Shanice is about learning and I thought whilst she was under pressure the whole time when she needed to step up, she certainly did for us."