The GIANTS will join the seven other Super Netball teams in Melbourne for the return of the Suncorp Team Girls Cup this weekend.
The official Suncorp Super Netball pre-season competition returns in 2022, after the last two years were cancelled due to COVID-19
The 2022 pre-season tournament will be held at Victoria’s recently renovated Parkville Stadium, from Friday, February 25 to Sunday, February 28.
The competition was last run in 2019 at Brisbane’s Nissan Arena, with the Collingwood Magpies taking home the inaugural silverware.
The GIANTS will be part of Pool B, alongside the West Coast Fever, Collingwood Magpies and Adelaide Thunderbirds.
The GIANTS have played three practice games so far this season; a narrow loss to the Lighting, a comprehensive win over the Swifts and, most recently, three goal and 13 goal losses to the Adelaide Thunderbirds in Orange.
The team in orange (and charcoal) will participate in the tournament missing both April Brandley (injury management) and Maddie Hay (health and safety protocols) for the second week.
“We need to learn how to adapt when we are missing key players, as you never know when that might happen in-season, especially given the current climate,” said Fitzgerald.
“It provides a great opportunity for our training partners travelling to step up and learn in and amongst the SSN environment.”
Training Partners Ang Frketic, Eliza Burton, Jemma Donoghue and Clare Iongi will form part of the GIANTS’ extended squad for the tournament, with 12 players allowed on the bench for each match.
“I was quite disappointed with what we put out in Orange last weekend, so I’ll be hoping that we can rectify some of those learnings throughout the weekend’s matches,” said Fitzgerald.
“We need to get better at holding our lead and extending on it and not letting teams back into the game.
“We’re at the pointy end of pre-season now, so hopefully things continue to evolve and come together this weekend.”
The GIANTS’ first match of the tournament is on Friday night at 5pm against the West Coast Fever.
They’ll play two games on Saturday, against the Magpies at 12pm and Thunderbirds at 5pm, before the finals on Sunday.
Matches will be broadcast on Fox Sports and available through Foxtel, Kayo and Kayo Freebies. Sign up to Kayo Freebies today!
