Mavericks left reeling after being ‘murdered’ by unforced errors

Source : ABC NEWS

The real contenders and pretenders of Super Netball are starting to emerge after five rounds.

The Adelaide Thunderbirds beat the Queensland Firebirds in Brisbane 62-53, to see the hosts stoop to three straight losses. Despite changes to their roster, the Firebirds are still failing to connect with a tall goal shooter.

West Coast Fever jumped into the top four for the first time this season, as they handed the Melbourne Mavericks their heaviest defeat, 78-61. It was a difficult watch for Mavericks coach Tracey Neville, who delivered some tough love to her players.

Sunshine Coast Lightning defeated the Giants 74-56, as Cara Koenen slotted her 3000th career goal. Some may have put this down to Giants co-captain Jo Harten being absent for parental reasons, but she hasn’t been a consistent force up front this year anyway.

Lastly, the NSW Swifts were challenged by the Melbourne Vixens in the first instalment of the 2025 Sargeant-McKinnis Cup. At home, the Swifts prevailed 59-51 in what ended up being the closest game of round five.

If you missed it, don’t worry — we’ll get you up to speed with our Super Netball Round-Up.

Unforced errors ‘murder’ Mavs

The frustration boiled over for coach Tracey Neville, as she sat slumped, head in her hands, throughout the Mavericks loss to the Fever.

Captain Amy Parmenter was ruled out last-minute when an irritated ankle she’d had a cortisol injection for earlier in the week didn’t feel right to play.

No-one stood up in her absence. The side lacked leadership and a steady head to direct play as one mistake led to another, like a domino effect.

By the first break, they were down 22-14, and although Neville delivered some tough love in the huddles to try and inspire a fightback, they couldn’t get any traction on the scoreboard.

“Our unforced errors absolutely murdered us,” Neville said afterwards.

“Where we lost the ball was offensive contacts, held ball, footwork, it was just silly mistakes.

“Those technical skills and our ability to finish off a game weren’t good enough.

“Maybe you do get found out a little bit, we are a new franchise, and we’ve got a new interchange every week, so you’re always building relationships … but that doesn’t take away your technical skills, that comes on the individual.”

Once again, the Mavericks haven’t had their full-time, contracted 10 players available to start the season. Lauren Parkinson and Eleanor Cardwell are injured, while Sasha Glasgow is only four games back from a serious leg break that ruled her out in their inaugural year.

But some of their issues are around game plan and intent.

They need to work on their clock awareness instead of going through the motions towards the end of a quarter. The Mavericks are so focused on feeding shooter Shimona Jok that they continue to miss opportunities throughout the super shot periods to claw back the score.

The offensive contacts racked up because they were pushing off the bodies of their opponents to get free instead of doing the prelims required. Both Olivia Lewis and Kim Brown previously played for Fever and have had plenty of experience training against Jamaican target Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard. Yet, neither had a single gain in the opening 30 minutes.

They’ve lost four from five now, with games against the Firebirds and Thunderbirds left to come in this first half of the season. It’s time for the Mavericks to decide if they truly want to be top-four contenders and, if so, who is going to provide the much-needed spark?

Firebirds captain shows solidarity

As the Firebirds co-captain, Ruby Bakewell-Doran is in an awkward position.

She’s been at the club since 2019 through several controversies:

• When Jemma Mi Mi was left off the court in the First Nations Round in 2020. 
• When new mum and Firebirds legend Romelda Aiken-George wasn’t re-signed for 2023 after she was told it was “too risky”. 
• When Donnell Wallam received a racist ‘fan’ letter without it being vetted first. 
• When coach Bec Bulley departed mid-season with five weeks left to play. 
• When Remi Kamo lodged a formal complaint about the club’s culture and raised concerns that the subsequent investigation was mishandled.

The team has been through four different coaches in five seasons. They haven’t played finals since 2018. It hasn’t been an easy ride.

But Bakewell-Doran’s enthusiasm in her new leadership role demonstrates her love for the Firebirds. She’s also been their best performing player on court this season.

Her decision to publicly support Kamo last week was therefore a pretty brave show of solidarity. It came at a time when the club had denied any wrongdoing and incoming coach Kiri Wills had had a crack at the media for continuing to report the issue.

Underneath Kamo’s video released via social media — where she explained her love of the game, that key witnesses hadn’t been interviewed during the investigation and that she’d lost faith in Netball Australia — fellow defender Bakewell-Doran’s comment was short and sweet.

“Beautifully said Rem. So incredibly proud of your strength,” she said.

On Fox Netball show Pivot, Bakewell-Doran was asked why she felt compelled to publicly support her ex-teammate.

“The majority of our team weren’t present for anything that happened, so for them it’s been business as usual, and I’ve been trying to keep that up while supporting my friend,” she said.

“We’ve been playing netball for many years together, so I wanted to have her back and support her, all while getting my club and team ready for a game.

“Two things can be true — there were things that needed to be changed, and have been changed, and that Remi is a really good friend of mine; we experienced a lot together in those last two years.

“I am here to lead my team and am really proud of the work we have done in the off-season.

“We do have a lot of work to continue doing. For us, it is just being really positive and learning from what has happened and moving forward.”

Bakewell-Doran brought up her 50th Super Netball cap this weekend and that did get a little lost because of this story. The way she has handled herself is impressive, all while trying to put herself back in the mix for Diamonds selection after dropping off the national contracted list last year.

Swifts win ugly

They may be the only team left undefeated, but the Swifts have developed a bad habit, conceding the first quarter of a match for the last three rounds.

Facing old foes, the Vixens, in a grinding battle that was all about defence, they started slowly and gave away possession in the midcourt.

The signing of 1.93m New Zealand shooter Grace Nweke has given them a licence to test how far and high they can fire the ball into their circle.

What’s gone missing, however, is the discipline we’ve become accustomed to in their attack. Perhaps the pendulum needs to swing back a bit so that they can find a happy medium?

In this match they struggled on the second phase of the centre pass. The team tried three different wing attacks before settling on the best combination, with Paige Hadley donning the WA bib and Allie Smith at centre. The lead changed four times in the opening half before this duo was locked in and then Swifts led the rest of the game.

English import Helen Housby was caught in a tough tussle with Vixens goal defence Jo Weston. Although the goal attack managed three vital super shots, she only converted six regular goals. Housby’s work in previous weeks to drive into the circle, create space, help with the shooting load and keep the defenders guessing has been one of the keys to the Swifts’ success.

For two teams that usually deliver such a clinical style of play, both were dragged into a really scrappy affair where they equalled each other’s 23 turnovers.

The Swifts will be thanking their lucky stars that goalkeeper Sarah Klau was able to win them so much ball back. The Player of the Match tallied nine gains, five intercepts, 13 deflections, two rebounds and three pick-ups .

“Really proud of the girls to keep pushing, it wasn’t pretty netball and I’m sure we’ll learn lots from that,” Klau said after the game.

The Swifts haven’t won all four quarters in any of their five victories. Still, they’ll take confidence in the fact that they’re still getting the results and can build on their form heading into the back-half of the season.