Matisse Letherbarrow is always ready.
Her meticulous preparation, focused mindset and willingness to capture an opportunity paid dividends on Saturday when the message came down the bench from GIANTS Netball coach Julie Fitzgerald.
With captain Jo Harten unwell, the 20-year-old rookie got her chance and her incredible Super Shot range shooting helped the GIANTS fightback from 11 down to force a high-quality Suncorp Super Netball contest against the Melbourne Vixens to extra time.
And while the GIANTS ultimately fell three goals short, Letherbarrow’s impressive 22-goal display was the highlight.
“Saturday was a whirlwind. We knew she Joey was a bit unwell but she’s an absolute fighter so we knew she’d turn up to the game and give it her absolute best crack,” she said.
“Before the game Jules (coach Julie Fitzgerald) said ‘have your patch on, be ready, we don’t know how things will go’.
“I was preparing myself in case I needed to give Joey a break here and there. I don’t think I approached the game any differently, I was just as ready and prepared but focused on having an impact when I did get on.
“My main thought process was if I did get an opportunity to go out on court to do my job and step up for the team, support everyone else around me and support them by doing my job well.
“Obviously long-range shooting being something I’ve practised pretty much my whole life, I knew I could potentially get us back into the game by shooting those twos. By shooting them I got some confidence and carried that through the game.”
Letherbarrow quickly made an impact, finishing nine-of-eleven from the Super Shot range.
“As a shooter, getting your first goal away is so important,” she said.
“If you get the first one away you build some confidence so I really went through all the motions to make sure I got the first one away then moving on from that I thought I practice this all the time at training, we go through all the scenarios and finally I’m in the scenario where this is everything I’ve ever practised for.
“After I got that goal I was like ‘you know what? I can do this’ so any opportunity I did get, obviously landing in the two I was like I’m just going to turn to the post and shoot it and give it my best crack.
“I was very, very thankful it did pay off but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without Soph (Sophie Dwyer) out the front of me, supporting me and doing her job amazingly and everyone else on court – Jay (Jamie-Lee Price), Mad (Maddie Hay) who fed me well and made sure my shot got off easy with the balls they were giving me in.”
And while Letherbarrow was on court replacing Harten, her captain was firmly in her corner, and ear, from the sidelines.
“She was absolutely incredible and I was constantly looking to her. When I was down that end, I was soaking up her advice and that was really instrumental in my game play.
“Joey has always been a mentor of mine and at training we do lots of things together. She’s constantly telling me things I do well but also giving me things I need to work on and she really works hard on them with me which I really appreciate. I don’t think I’d be the player I am today without how much effort Joey’s put into me.
“She had every confidence and backed me which made things so amazing. I’d come off and talk to her and she’d give me some advice from her incredible netball brain and that was really good for me and I think helped me get through the game as well.”
Letherbarrow and the GIANTS head to Tasmania to play Collingwood on Wednesday night before heading west to face the Fever on Sunday.
This piece was written by Megan Hustwaite - sports journalist and GIANTS Ambassador follow her here
