Magpies down Thunderbirds to set up promising season
Having won just three games for the entire 2018 season, the Magpies now have two victories and a draw after four rounds. Friday night’s 65-47 defeat of the Adelaide Thunderbirds came with the addition of four bonus points. This year is already looking more positive than the first two.
As well as a strong football club presence in the modest Melbourne Arena crowd at the only Friday night game of the Suncorp Super Netball season, there was also a notable name from another code.
The spotlight on the Folau family shifted briefly interstate and on-court to Israel’s wife Maria, and although the veteran New Zealand and first-year Thunderbirds goaler managed to deal with the events of the day well enough to convert 30 of her 39 attempts it was, in the end, another unhappy result.
Shimona Nelson (52/59) exceeded her season average of 44 goals a game, this time against fellow Jamaican rising star Shamera Sterling, who finished with eight interceptions. Adelaide provided Nelson with her SSN start as a 2018 debutante in the early stages of a transition from basketball. That process is continuing, but also accelerating nicely.
Coach Rob Wright said only a third-quarter lapse detracted from the victory, while also emphasising the need to reduce the amount of wasted ball.
“Except for that bit in the third, I’d probably be quite happy,’’ he said. “But it’s good because I think it just shows that you step away from what you’re trying to do for any length of time and anyone can roll over the top of you, and I think they went on a 7-2 run, so that’s the bit I’d like to look at and see what we can improve, but it was a good improvement from last week around what we’re trying to do.’’
The Magpies’ defence has been a strength all season, and the frugal back three of Geva Mentor, April Brandley and Ash Brazill were again impressive in limiting supply to the various shooting combinations tried by Adelaide coach Tania Obst.
At the other end, Wright had called on goal attack Nat Medhurst and centre Kim Ravaillion to impose themselves more on the contest, and the veteran Medhurst responded by scoring as many goals in the first quarter - six- as she had managed in her 52 minutes on court the previous week.
The Magpies took their biggest lead of the quarter - six - to the first break, and Obst had used her entire bench by the time the lead had been extended to nine at the half.
The Thunderbirds persisted, benching captain Chelsea Pitman for the last quarter, having already lost starting wing defence Beth Cobden for the season after the England international last week suffered a ruptured ACL for the third time in her career.
First-gamer Maisie Nankivell spent the last three-quarters at WD, her name so new it has not yet been printed on her dress. The Thunderbirds has already proved to be more competitive in the three rounds so far than most of the previous 27. But, for the third successive week following the drought-breaking win over the West Coast Fever, still not quite competitive enough.
Meanwhile, Queensland Firebirds defender Kim Jenner will miss Sunday’s game against the Giants, and probably a further three weeks, after surgery for a hand injury. An invitee to the Diamonds’ training camp in March, Jenner will miss her final two chances to impress the national selectors before they meet to finalise the team for the Netball World Cup in July.
Magpies Netball 65 (Nelson 52, Medhurst 13) d Adelaide Thunderbirds 47 (Folau 30, Glasgow 16, Lange 1 ) at Melbourne Arena. MVP. Crowd: 2207.