Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Melbourne Vixens star Jo Weston has a reminder in her living room of the challenge that awaits in the post-Super Netball season.
But for the next five days, the experienced defender is trying to solely focus on winning back-to-back Super Netball premierships with the Vixens.
For many, the celebrations post Saturday night’s grand final against the Adelaide Thunderbirds will be short-lived.
Preparations for Weston and her Vixens teammates Kiera Austin, Sophie Garbin, Kate Moloney and Hannah Mundy will begin for Australia’s Commonwealth Games campaign in July.
“That probably has been a bit of a mental challenge for a few of us that are in this situation,” Weston said ahead of Vixens training on Tuesday.
“I’ve got my suitcase sitting in my living room, and so often I have some spare time, I’m putting a couple of things in there and just trying to make sure I’m ticking all the boxes.
“I have some family coming over to support me in Glasgow as well, so it’s just trying to balance all of those sorts of elements in the lead up to this because you want to be able to focus.
“It is a really quick turnaround (for the Comm Games), but for all of us our focus is just on Saturday.”
The Vixens are aiming to win consecutive Super Netball premierships, which would make them the most successful club in the competition’s history with three titles.
But the Thunderbirds have proven to be a juggernaut this season, losing just one game – to the Vixens back in April.
Even though Adelaide have been the standout team all year, Melbourne will have home-court advantage at John Cain Arena due to Netball Australia selling the rights for the grand final.
“They don’t turn over a lot of ball in attack and their defensive line are pretty impressive,” Weston said of the Thunderbirds.
“It’s going to be a challenge for us, but I think we take our learnings about what we want to do structurally and then it’s probably just taking a risk.
“In finals, you can’t play it safe, and you want to be able to make the most of a moment.”
The Vixens have lost twice to Adelaide in the last month, the most recent being a 58-44 defeat in the semi-finals.
They had been on a four-match losing spiral before a memorable 62-51 win over West Coast Fever in last Saturday’s preliminary final.
“Momentum is a really hard thing to shift in sport,” Weston said.
“When it’s there, it’s there and it’s going well, and when it’s not you’re sort of searching for answers.
“We changed a bit of our training and each of us individually had different things we wanted to be accountable for.
“I think having that pressure of a preliminary final that if you lose you’re out, makes us step up rather than step away.”
