Where and When: Monday, May 31 at RAC Arena in Perth at 8:00pm (AEST).
Last time they met: It was also Indigenous Round last year when the two teams in round 13 of the 2020 Suncorp Super Netball season. The West Coast Fever hadn’t dropped a game since round six and were on their way to the 2020 Super Netball Grand Final; while the GIANTS were playing to keep their slim chance of finals hopes alive. The match was played in far North Queensland, in an old Bunnings store-turned indoor area in Cairns. The GIANTS won the first half of netball, but a 15-21 third quarter in favour of the Fever set them up for a five-goal win.
Where to watch: Telstra TV and the Netball Live Official App.
What it means for the GIANTS: Three rounds of big matches begin this week for the GIANTS when they take on the West Coast Fever. The GIANTS currently sit atop the Suncorp Super Netball ladder with four wins from four matches. The GIANTS are coming off a 14-goal victory over the 8th-placed Melbourne Vixens, in their first match where they managed to win all four quarters. Coach Julie Fitzgerald said the Fever are the benchmark of the competition and the match will be a great opportunity to see where the GIANTS sit.
Where’s the opposition at: Like the GIANTS, the Fever too have had an unbeaten start to the season. Starting the season on the bottom of the ladder on negative 12 points, the 2020 Runners Up have erased their handicapped start to sit just outside the top four on four points. Coming off a eight-goal win against the Thunderbirds in Adelaide, the Fever have played just the one home game so far this season.
The number: 1.1% - the difference between the two teams on the ladder so far. Whilst the GIANTS sit in first and the Fever in 5th, both teams have recorded four wins from the first four matches. Both teams have scored 267 goals and the 1.1% is a result of the narrowest of margins separating the teams on goals against (GIANTS = 220 and Fever = 222).
Key Match Up: For a second week in a row we’re looking at the GS v GK match up as we can’t not flag Jhaniele Fowler as the key player from the opposition. GIANTS defender Sam Poolman will most likely match up on the goal scoring machine, a battle which she is used to. Both players lead their respective positional stats with Fowler topping the board for the most goals scored so far this season and Poolman leading the way for defensive rebounds. As mentioned by Fitzgerald in this week’s episode of Coach’s Insight, the key to shutting down Fowler begins with the defensive pressure applied by the rest of the team.
