AS the off-season continues, Draft Central will return to a weekly Compare the Pair series; delving into and analysing two fan favourites from different competitions. Next we compare and contrast a couple of developing goal attacks in Sophie Dwyer and Filda Vui, with both young talents jumping into the limelight over the past season.

There is no doubt Dwyer shot onto the scene throughout Suncorp Super Netball season 2021, with the young talent seemingly coming out of nowhere during the GIANTS Round 1 SSN match and appearing completely unphased, holding down a starting goal attack position at the club for the entire season. The youngster is a composed yet exciting talent, boasting dynamic movement, clean hands and accuracy to boot. She is not afraid of going for the long bomb or taking a chance under pressure, and continuously proved she was up to the standard with her calm temperament no matter what was thrown at her. While Dwyer is not as much of a playmaker as her successor, Kiera Austin, she made up for it in droves with her evasive movement and ability to work seamlessly with Maddie Hay outside the circle, and captain Jo Harten inside the circle. One of the most exciting features of Dwyer’s game is her overall development playing every one of the GIANTS’ games this season, continuously building on her own game and proving she could well be the next big thing in Australian netball.

Vui is another cool, calm and collected customer, proving she is a developing talent with the Northern Mystics and finding court time throughout the past two seasons at the club. While Vui may not have received consistent, weekly court time this season, each time she took the court she was highly reliable and clean with ball in hand, unafraid to put the goals up and using her exceptional playmaking skills to run rampant in the Mystics attack. Vui’s improvement on court is testament to her great work ethic, proving to be a consistent performer and rarely faltering under pressure. Vui does not need to put up a heap of goals to have an impact, using her burst of speed and great vision to spot the likes of Grace Nweke and feed seamlessly to the towering goal shooter, and showcasing her netball smarts as she does so. Vui’s natural ability and fearlessness make her a real threat who cannot be underestimated inside or outside the goal circle, continuously developing her individual game and using her versatility to impact wherever she is required. While not necessarily putting up a huge volume of shots, Vui knows how to have an impact and is rarely far from the action.

Standing at similar heights, there are a lot of similarities between Dwyer and Vui, with both showcasing their willingness to go to post and dynamic movement throughout their respective seasons. They are both high agile and highly adaptable options, able to play all three attacking positions while being best suited to goal attack, and are creative with ball in hand proving to be a handful inside and outside the goal circle. While Vui has a couple of years on Dwyer, the two are realistically at the same stage of their respective careers, burgeoning on international opportunities for their nations if they can prove themselves at the domestic level. The major comparison between the two is their volume to post, with both playing very different roles on court. While both are capable of accurately putting shots up, Dwyer is the undeniable leader in the area, often taking the lead in the GIANTS goal circle, or at the very least sharing the load with Harten, while Vui typically puts up less than 10 goals per game but plays a much more significant feeding role, allowing Nweke to control the scoring. Vui’s playmaking is second to none, while Dwyer relies on the workrate of her wing attack to do a lot of the talking. Both players have been great acquisitions for their respective teams in 2022, set to showcase plenty of excitement in the coming seasons.

Picture credit: AAP / Richard Wainwright