Round three of Super Netball has drawn to a close with some teams making a statement to the rest of the competition.
The West Coast Fever and Melbourne Vixens remain undefeated in 2024, after two strong wins over the Mavericks and Giants respectively. The Mavericks didn't go down without a fight, with a strong comeback in the fourth quarter bringing the margin down to seven goals.
At Nissan Arena, one of the competition's strongest players reached a special milestone with Swifts star Helen Housby reaching 100 national league games. Housby joined the Swifts in 2017 and was a key player in the club's premierships in 2019 and 2021.
ESPN takes a look at the four biggest talking points from round three.
Extra time the theme in Queensland
It was a week of extra time with two games going the extra measure to find a result after nothing could separate the Adelaide Thunderbirds and Sunshine Coast Lightning or the Queensland Firebirds and NSW Swifts.
It was an almighty turnaround for the Lightning with the team having only scored six goals in the opening term, trailing by 11 goals going into quarter time.
Captain Steph Fretwell (nee Wood) was strong when injected into the game, coming on around the five-minute mark of the second quarter and immediately making an impact. Her introduction saw a lift in centre pass to goal rate almost immediately with her connection Cara Koenen shining through. By the end of the second quarter the goal to centre pass rate had jumped from 33 percent in the opening quarter to 77.
In defence Ash Ervin is proving she can match it with some of the best in the competition, going head-to-head with star goaler Romelda Aiken-George. Ervin was able to disrupt the Thunderbirds goal circle and has started to grow in confidence when going for those intercepts into the pocket,finishing the match with one intercept and 12 deflections.
Lightning coach Belinda Reynolds praised Ervin's performance post-match.
"I think that's a great milestone for Ash, a young defender to play a full 60-minute game," Reynolds said.
"I thought she did a great job and she really played to our strengths. I think she attacks the ball and attacks the contest; it's just building that combination with her and Courto (Courtney Bruce). I think that that combination will go from strength to strength."
In the end, the Thunderbirds were able to take the learnings out of what was a close loss to the Melbourne Vixens last week, with the reigning premiers able to come home strong. They were able to convert off the gains that the likes of Shamera Sterling-Humphrey, Matilda Garrett and Latanya Wilson were able to create. In the fourth quarter and the extra time period, the team in pink had a gain to goal rate of 100 percent, treasuring possession when they got the turnover.
At Nissan Arena, it was a swift fightback from NSW after being eight goals down going into the last break before soaring home to send the game into extra time. The Swifts had all the momentum in the extra time period winning the final 10 minutes 15 to 11 as everything started to click. The defensive end started to come up with rebounds and turnovers and in attack, Helen Housby was firing on all cylinders when it came to the Super Shot in the dying minutes of the fourth quarter.
Swifts coach Briony Akle said she backed the team during the extra time period.
"They had the energy once they knew they were back in the game," Akle said.
"It wasn't the energy it was probably going into the strategy. So what we were going to do in that time, what we've practiced to do in that time. Once we got it even I knew we had it, we're the team that can do it and the Firebirds brought it to us for 60 minutes.
"We had to be smarter in that time and I think these guys were smarter."
Shimona Jok strengthens Mavericks attack
The Melbourne Mavericks were the first club to pull the trigger on the newly introduced 11th-player rule, bringing in Jamaican Shimona Jok. Jok got the start in goal shooter and was a strong presence underneath the post for the Mavericks and her dominance wasn't limited to the attack end with the Jamaican making a few cameos in the defence end at goal keeper, as she went head-to-head with Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard.
The ball seemed to be finding its way into the goal circle easier than in previous weeks with Jok's strong hold giving the Mavericks midcourt a strong target to throw to.
Mavericks coach Tracey Neville was pleased with what Jok brought to the team.
"I think you earn the right to be in an environment and Shimona has been really working on and off the court over the last few weeks, and today she was a great matchup against West Coast Fever," Neville said.
"We did put a lot of pressure on her today by throwing her down in that keeper end and also in that goal shooter end. I remember when we said it [to go into goalkeeper] to her she just said, 'Do you know what Tracey, I'm just here for the team whatever you need me to do.'
"For me, that's true spirit for someone who has played goal shooter most of her career and has been established in that position. So for us she did a job today and she got that first intercept, I think her contribution to the game was excellent."
Jok finished the match with 27 goals at a percentage of 93 precent as well as three deflections down in defence in a performance that will see her put her hand up to remain in the game day squad next week.
Firebirds defence shines
The defensive unit of Hulita Veve, Remi Kamo and Ruby Bakewell-Doran was outstanding with the defensive pressure showing in the general play turnover stats for the Swifts. The Swifts had 22 general play turnovers with 16 of those coming from the Swifts attack. The Firebirds defence combined for 13 deflections and six intercepts which is a big step up from last season where they struggled against the attack lines with holding shooters like the Swifts.
Veve remains an unsung hero of the Firebirds defensive line forcing the Swifts to rotate the wing attack position and piling on the pressure that saw that position give away a combined eight general play turnovers.
Bakewell-Doran said that the Firebirds defence came into the match with a clear focus.
"I think for this week it's just been about doing your own job," Bakewell-Doran said.
"I think the fact that the people around me were doing that meant that I just stuck to her [Helen Housby] that first half and tried to do my best to sort of keep her out of the game and try to continue that into the second half.
"But I think our transition went downhill a little bit and that gave them a few more opportunities to sort of find their groove which we need to stop earlier in the game."
Overall the Firebirds are on the improve after finishing seventh in 2023. Now the focus shifts to finishing out games instead of dropping away in the final quarter which is something Bakewell-Doran touched on post-match.
"We went from our first game [where] we probably had one amazing quarter and then the second game we had another sort of amazing quarter. In this game, we had three [quarters] and if we're going to bring it against those top four sides we need four [quarters], we've shown ourselves how much it sucks to go three and lose the fourth.
"I think that we all know that we can do it and we know that we have the 10 to get us there. We actually just need to close out those games and we will absolutely make the top four.
Are the alarm bells ringing for the Giants?
It's been a poor start to the year for the Giants and many will be wondering if the alarm bells have started ringing yet after they were easily dismantled by the Melbourne Vixens on Sunday and plummeted to the bottom of the ladder with not a single win to their name.
The Giants slow starts have been an issue so far this season with all three opponents in the Fever, Firebirds and Vixens building a big margin quickly, something co-captain Jamie-Lee Price highlighted post-match.
"We've just let ourselves down in that first quarter in particular," Price said.
"The last few weeks, we have been down by 10 or more and we've had to play catch up. All we need to do is just switch on from the get-go."
The Giants kept throwing the ball away with 30 general play turnovers, 12 of those came in the first quarter and they struggled to score off the centre pass with a centre pass-to-goal rate of just 56 percent, with the team still looking for a strong wing attack option that can feed the ball into the shooters.
It's clear something isn't working in the attack end after the side scored just 10 goals by the time the power five siren rang in the second quarter, and it's clearly not the standard a Super Netball team can be at if they expect to make an impact on the competition.
Julie Fitzgerald spun the magnets putting star goaler Sophie Dwyer into wing attack as she looked for a stronger connection with the goalers. Dwyer wasn't the option as she looked lost in wing attack at times with Fitzgerald confirming post-match that Dwyer had never played or trained as a wing attack in the Giants environment.
The one shining light for the Giants was Matisse Letherbarrow getting her first minutes of the season. The 22-year-old was injected into the game during the second quarter as Dwyer was moved into wing attack. Once settled, Letherbarrow looked strong with the scoreboard starting to tick over for the Giants. Letherbarrow finished the match with 22 goals and six Super Shots.