The GIANTS made the trip to Tasmania last week for two pre-season games against the Melbourne Mavericks, marking an important step in their preparation for the upcoming season.
With the focus of the trip being on opportunity and growth, the two-match trip was an invaluable experience for the GIANTS’ largely youthful squad.
Head Coach Julie Fitzgerald used the two matches as an opportunity to test combinations and expose the next generation of GIANTS talent to the high-level competition of Suncorp Super Netball.
With Diamonds duo Jamie-Lee Price and Sophie Dwyer unavailable, as well as Jo Harten and Jodi-Ann Ward, the GIANTS travelled to Tasmania with a team of 12, including two training partners and four Academy members.
The first game of the weekend was played at the Ulverstone Sports and Leisure Centre and consisted of five terms of 10-minute duration and did not feature the Super Shot.
The GIANTS started the game strong and held the lead at the first and second break.
Hope White had a blistering start at wing attack finding the space well in the attacking third.
The scores were level at the end of the third term before a young GIANTS line-up was outrun in the last two terms.
Saturday’s game replicated that of Suncorp Super Netball, playing four 15-minute quarters – including the Super Shot – at Launceston’s Silverdome.
The GIANTS proved in patches what they were capable of but a more experienced Mavericks line up landed the win at the final whistle.
Erin O’Brien was strong out in goal defence, while Amy Sligar showed that all her hard work is paying off this pre-season.
After the two games, coach Julie Fitzgerald spoke positively about her team’s progress.
“We came down here [Tasmania] with a very young team and we brought a lot of players who have never played at this level, so while the results might not have gone our way I was really, really pleased with how much some of those girls have improved,” she said.
“We brought a lot of our Academy players down with us, so they don’t have the combinations that established teams have. So, we tried to work on those and develop those, and there were times that they worked really well, and there were times when we got a bit impatient and let ourselves down.”
For Fitzgerald, the improvement within the squad was clear, especially with the six younger players who had been training with the team in recent weeks.
“There is plenty to take out of this trip and plenty to still work on but it was a great check in heading into the Christmas break and a great opportunity for our younger girls,” she said.
“I look at the six of them that have been training with us the past few weeks – it’s all new and a level up for them – and I can see such improvement and I think that’s really exciting for the future of our program.”
The GIANTS will complete one more week of training before they break for Christmas.
