EACH week the Draft Central team will focus on one Suncorp Super Netball player across the round and take a look at their individual highlights, key moments and improvements across their match. Our Round 9 focus is West Coast Fever’s Alice Teague-Neeld, with the goal attack building on her game this season and really stepping up to the plate each round. 

While Teague-Neeld may have just passed her 50th game milestone during the week, the 24-year-old has only really hit her stride this season with the West Coast Fever, exploding out of the blocks with the delayed start to the Super Netball clearly paying off for the goal attack. She has had an up and down start to the season but has proven she has the playmaking skills and vision across the court to spark the Fever attack into action, having an impact in attack even when she is not putting goals up. In Round 9 Teague-Neeld finished with 23 goal assists and seven goals (one super shot) at 54 per cent, also coming away with two deflections (zero gains) and two pickups but four general play turnovers.

Here’s what we had to say:

By: Sophie Taylor, Draft Central Senior Editor

It was a quiet start from the Teague-Neeld, with the goal attack failing to hit the scoreboard early and forced into a couple of turnovers. Defensively she stepped up towards the latter end of the first half, having not put a heap of goals on the board and needing to lift her game, but with just two goals for the first half it certainly was not the showing fans have grown accustomed to in recent rounds. Not really having a huge impact on the scoreboard, Teague-Neeld turned her attention to the feeding load, sharing with Verity Charles but otherwise not doing a heap of work in the goal circle thanks to the constant defensive pressure from Kim Jenner. Ultimately it was a safe game by Teague-Neeld, passing off many of her potential shots and rightly so given her inaccuracy from range on this occasion, but her ability to maintain control offensively by consistently drawing Jenner’s attention away from Jhaniele Fowler should be commended, with strong drives and her ability to set up screens on high display in this outing. While many can be critical of her lack of volume, her playmaking skills are what allowed Fowler to find the one-on-one inside the circle and Teague-Neeld is continuing to show that she is more than capable of impacting off the ball.

By: Taylah Melki, Draft Central Managing Editor

In what was a dominant win for her side, Teague-Neeld struggled to hit the scoreboard but still played a highly influential role in attack. Her effortless and pinpoint feeds into the goal circle were second to none, easily evading the defensive pressure stemming from Tara Hinchliffe and Rudi Ellis. She showcased her craftsmanship in attack to set up clever plays and dictate the space for not only Fowler but so too the fellow attackers in Ingrid Colyer and Charles. Her smooth movement across the court enabled her to deliver into the circle time and time again while her efforts at the centre pass were also a key attribute in her game play racking up the receives. For periods of the game Teague-Neeld and Jenner cancelled each other out with neither player able to have a huge effect on the game at hand, instead popping up in key moments to have an influence. Although relatively inaccurate, the goal attack was willing to back herself from distance and take the game on when the opportunity arose while she also got busy in transition, winning some defensive ball back.

By: Lucy Pollock, Draft Central UK Writer

Teague-Neeld had a sensational start to the 2020 season, and it has been so good to watch her take charge of creating plays in the West Coast Fever attacking end. She has done a fantastic job of banishing her 2019 demons and is playing with more confidence to go to post. Although she does not score as many goals as some other goal attacks in the league, Teague-Neeld has really developed her ability to efficiently feed Fowler, and also punish at the post when needed. There have been some patches, especially in the opening quarter against the Firebirds, where she misses a couple of goals in a row, however, in this contest, she found a way to work herself back into the game. Her clever movement and speed around the goal circle make her a useful asset for Fever, and whilst her shooting stats were not the best we have seen from her, I think she has more to give as we progress closer to finals. Matching up against an in-form Jenner is no easy feat and Teague-Neeld put out a strong performance in this matchup.

By: Jarrad Gardner, Centre Pass Podcast host

Teague-Neeld continued her strong 2020 season in the Fever’s win over the Firebirds in
Round 9. She has finally found her feet at the Suncorp Super Netball level and it has put the Fever in a strong position to challenge come finals time. Teague-Neeld does not have the flashy attributes that some of the top goal attacks might have but her ability to create space for Fowler in the goal circle is crucial to the Fever achieving success. Matched up against Jenner, she kept the goal defence accountable and did not allow her to peel off and double-team Fowler in the circle. Her accuracy on goal is the one aspect of her game that still needs major improvement, however the fact that she isn’t required to shoot at a high volume means it should not be a major issue.

By: Kate Cornish, Draft Central volunteer writer

A player with so much potential who has suffered terribly with confidence issues in the past, finally, this season we are seeing the talent that had ear-marked Teague-Neeld as a future Diamond a few years ago. While she is still struggling with consistency, when Teague-Neeld is on song, the Fever are incredibly hard to beat. Doing much of her heavy lifting outside the circle, in Round 9 against the Firebirds, the smarts and timing of Teague-Neeld were on display for all netball fans to enjoy. Having only eyes for her goal shooter in Fowler, she had 32 feeds into the tall Jamaican and when she was not delivering the perfect ball herself, she was busy setting up screens in the circle or contributing the second phase attack off the centre pass, which saw Teague-Neeld hug the sideline, fall deep into the pocket and then take a hard drive across the top of the circle. This was a play that she easily replicated throughout the game with the Firebirds defenders either unable to stop her, or unaware of the crafty playmaker’s habit. Her workload across the Fever’s attacking transverse line was immense and at times she was offered too much space to not only present as an uncontested option around the circle or deliver a high ball into Fowler with no hands-over pressure from her opposition. Letting a natural playmaker like Teague-Neeld have too much space is where teams will come undone against Fever. If left to play her own style of game she will run rings around her opposition and while she will never shoot the bulk of their goals the work she does away from the post must be nullified for teams to have a chance, especially as her confidence grows from back-to-back wins.