IN the first Battle of the Birds for season 2022, it was the Queensland Firebirds who emerged victorious, defeating the Adelaide Thunderbirds in the Suncorp Super Netball yesterday by 10 goals, 60-50.

The Firebirds raced away to an early lead, and they were 4-0 up before the Thunderbirds scored their first. The Thunderbirds then called a time out, which seemed to settle the visitors and they got into the game a bit more after that. Momentum really changed after that timeout, and the Thunderbirds brought the margin back to as low as one.

The Firebirds then really wrestled back control during the power five period and at quarter time the margin was six goals in favour of the Firebirds. The Thunderbirds were their own worst enemy in the first term. As much as the likes of Shamera Sterling were playing very well, offensive contacts and other silly errors up the other end meant that the Thunderbirds could not make the most of Sterling’s excellent work.

The Firebirds extended their lead even more in the opening minutes of the second term, getting it out to as high as eight goals. The Thunderbirds were able to peg it back a little bit, but they continued to be their own worst enemy, turning the ball over far too often.

Donnell Wallam was on fire from super shot range, nailing a number of super shots in a row and suddenly the lead had ballooned back out again to nine goals. That is also where the margin sat at half time, with the Firebirds well and truly on top. The turnover count was quite high at half time, with 34 turnovers registered in the first half across the two sides.

The Thunderbirds got the first couple of goals of the third term, but costly turnovers and other errors continued to cost the visitors. The Firebirds kept dominating the game for much of the third term, and got their lead out to as much as ten goals.  

Adelaide pegged it back quite a bit during the power five period and bringing Georgie Horjus into goal attack really helped the Thunderbirds. They brought the margin back to as low as only three goals, and were really back in the match.

The brought it back even more in the final minute of the term and as the teams turned for home the margin was a mere two goals. The Thunderbirds got the margin back to one in the opening few minutes of the final term, but that did not last long as the Firebirds pushed the margin back out to four.  

The final power five of the match however was where things really started to fall apart for the Thunderbirds. They stopped scoring and the Firebirds did not as they ran away with the match and earned a well deserved win.

For the Firebirds, Lara Dunkley and Kim Ravaillion’s attacking pressure was on song, combining for 42 goal assists and 69 feeds between them.

Meanwhile for the Thunderbirds, Sterling was by far their best player on court. She kept her side in the match for much of the afternoon, and if they did not have her out on court things could have been much worse.

Next weekend sees the Firebirds at home to the Magpies, while the Thunderbirds are in Melbourne to face the Vixens.

QUEENSLAND FIREBIRDS 17 | 15 | 10 | 18 (60)
ADELAIDE THUNDERBIRDS  11 | 12 | 17 | 10 (50)

STARTING SEVENS

Queensland Firebirds

GS: Donnell Wallam
GA: Gretel Bueta
WA: Lara Dunkley
C: Kim Ravaillion
WD: Gabi Simpson
GD: Ruby Bakewell-Doran
GK: Eboni Usoro-Brown

Adelaide Thunderbirds

GS: Lenize Potgieter
GA: Tippah Dwan
WA: Georgie Horjus
C: Maisie Nankivell
WD: Hannah Petty
GD: Latanya Wilson
GK: Shamera Sterling