WITH captain Courtney Bruce returning, the West Coast Fever had a point to prove and they did just that with an upset win against the highly-fancied Magpies in a two-point thriller. After a draw last week the Fever looked more settled in attack and their midcourt connections started to fire proving too much for Collingwood to handle.

In the Bendigo blockbuster, the Magpies were the first to settle with their slick ball movement on display across the court and their ability to swing the ball to create space, pushing out to a two goal lead early. An early collision between Geva Mentor and Ingrid Colyer showcased the intensity and feeling in the game with both players contesting hard to win the ball in the air. With the Magpies maintaining their two-goal buffer Fever coach, Stacey Marinkovich called a timeout with the Fever coming out the better of the two sides going on to score seven of the next 10 goals credit to the work of star Jamaican shooter Jhaniele Fowler under the post. Fowler piled on 14 goals straight in the first term and found plenty of space thanks to her clever footwork, height and strong holds. April Brandley was working over time on Kaylia Stanton trying to nullify her influence not only under the post but feeding into the circle picking up two intercepts and two gains credit to her hustle and desire to win the ball back for her side. Meanwhile, wing defence Ash Brazill also showcased her sheer athleticism and timing picking up three deflections. The Fever worked exceptionally hard in the backend of the quarter edging out to a four goal lead heading into the quarter time break.

After the break the Pies looked much more controlled and composed with ball in hand. Their strong leads into space were on show while their defensive pressure intensified with each player working hard to flood the midcourt and stop the delivery into Fowler. Speedster Kelsey Browne found good space in attack, used her dynamic footwork to hit the circle edge and showcased her impressive vision to feed into the circle. Shimona Nelson was proving solid in the goal circle for the Magpies with her strong holds and aerial ability converting 13 goals from her 15 attempts in the second term while in her first game against her former club Nat Medhurst was putting in the hard yards across the court. With the attack end firing and the defensive pressure up, the Magpies reclaimed the lead credit to three consecutive goals in the opening minutes of the quarter prompting West Coast to call a timeout and settle things down across the court. With the Fever under siege any injury concerns about Courtney Bruce were quickly laid to bed with a phenomenal performance in goal keeper. Her ability to read the play, use her outside arm to gain clever deflections and contest the hands of Nelson showcased her sheer dominance and importance in the Fever line-up. She pushed Nelson up high and applied strong hands over pressure while her presence to go out hunting for the intercept put doubt in the feeders’ minds picking up three gains, two intercepts and a deflection in the second term alone. Though she proved to be a menace the Magpies worked hard and won the quarter 17 goals to 15 down to only be down by two at half-time.

With only two goals in it, Collingwood were well and truly still in the hunt. The work rate from centre, Kim Ravaillion lifted in the third term directing play in the attacking end and controlling the tempo of the game. Her impressive vision and netball smarts on when to let the ball go really shone through amassing 11 feeds and six goal assists. While the battle between her opposition centre also heated up with Verity Charles creating good feeding space and using her quick hands to dish off to Fowler in the circle. Jess Anstiss upped the ante in defence covering every move Browne made and stopping her from getting to the circle edge while Bruce continued her hot start to the game. In hope of finding a winning combination in her first game for the season youngster Matilda Garrett made her way onto the court and had an immediate impact on the game. Her tagging style of defence and extra height was important for the Pies but it was not enough to quell the influence of Fowler under the post. With the game in the balance- cue Medhurst. The veteran put on a masterclass with her clever cuts and drives, sweeps across the top of the circle, clever feeds and turn of speed. Her accuracy was also up, nailing six from seven in the third term while also collecting an important intercept, seven feeds and five goal assists. She ran rings around former teammate Stacey Francis who was unable to control Medhurst.

With the Fever eying off their first win of the season and the Magpies looking for some consistency you could see the desperation on the face of each player. Collingwood goal defence Garrett started to tire prompting Brandley to re-enter the game creating a much needed spark in defence picking up a timely tip resulting in a Magpies goal to draw it back to within a goal. Mentor was up and about searching for that big intercept but Fowler had her well covered. With bodies flying everywhere the penalty count was soaring with the Fever copping the brunt of it with 58-40 at around the nine minute mark of the quarter, before the Fever composed themselves and put the foot down. They edged the margin out to four goals with about 90 seconds left, but could not sustain the four-goal buffer, which was reduced to two, credit to some slick transition play from the Pies.

STARTING LINE-UP:

Collingwood Magpies:

GS | Shimona Nelson
GA | Nat Medhurst
WA | Kelsey Browne
C | Kim Ravaillion
WD | Ash Brazill
GD | April Brandley
GK | Geva Mentor

West Coast Fever:

GS | Jhaniele Fowler
GA | Kaylia Stanton
WA | Ingrid Colyer
C | Verity Charles
WD | Jess Anstiss
GD | Stacey Francis
GK | Courtney Bruce