THE 2022 Suncorp Super Netball season has come to an end, so let us now take a look back at each team’s season in retrospect. Today’s team in review is the Adelaide Thunderbirds, who finished seventh in 2022.

Despite being in finals contention right up until the dying weeks of the season, it was not meant to be for the Thunderbirds.

They may have only finished with the five wins this season, but it should have been at least a few more.

What ultimately became quite the Achilles Heal for the Thunderbirds was the close finishes. They were on the wrong side of a number of close finished this season, so if only a couple of those results had gone their way, things could have been very different for them.

They just had weeks were they could not string a consistent four quarter performance together, so that will be something the coaching staff need to look at ahead of next season.

BEST WIN

Undoubtedly the best win of the Thunderbirds’ season came in Round 11 against Collingwood.

They were vey much the underdogs heading into the match, with Lenize Potgieter, Hannah Petty and Maisie Nankivell all missing the match, but that did not stop them taking the win.

After they pinched a goal off the first Collingwood centre pass and they never looked back from there, taking the win.

STANDOUTS

Week in and week out in 2022, Latanya Wilson and Shamera Sterling were the absolute stars for the Thunderbirds this season. The defensive duo kept Adelaide in the match on multiple occasions, with their intercepts and deflections getting the Thunderbirds out of many a tricky situation.

Sterling actually topped the league for intercepts this season, with Wilson recording the third most, while both of them made the top five in the league for deflections (Wilson second and Sterling fourth).

NEXT SEASON

As previously mentioned, Adelaide just had weeks were they could not string a consistent four quarter performance together this season, so that will be something the coaching staff need to look at ahead of next season. They will also need to work on being able to finish teams off in close games, because that could have made a real difference for them this season.

The Thunderbirds have already started to make changes to their list, with Potgieter being told she will not be offered a contract for next season. Adelaide made a massive splash today announcing the signing of Roses shooter Eleanor Cardwell who will add immediate star factor to the attacking goal circle. Expect her to have a huge SSN debut season, having dominated at VNSL level and already matched it with the best international defenders.