IN the Collingwood Magpies’ final game of the home and away season, they were all out of answers as West Coast Fever put them to the sword securing a whopping 20-goal win, 75-55. With Collingwood’s finals chances dashed and missing Ash Brazill‘s skill and precision, it was a less than desirable output by the Pies as the Fever controlled proceedings from the first whistle in a one-sided outing.

It was a shaky start with Gabby Sinclair missing her first shot but Shimona Nelson was able to make amends as the Pies slotted the first goal of the game. The Fever had no such problems up the other end of the court as Jhaniele Fowler got things ticking. West Coast started to put the foot down as Sunday Aryang competed in the air to reel in a huge deflection up against Nelson. Moments later Stacey Francis-Bayman came up trumps with a pick-up through the midcourt as the Fever pounced on every opportunity that came their way creeping out to a four goal lead. Fowler was shaky on the shot missing a couple of shots under the post but her presence on the rebound was undeniable. The ball swung up and down the court with neither team able to capitalise on their opportunities before Fowler proved she can do more than just shoot, reeling in a huge intercept.

The lead started to balloon out as the Fever frontend kicked into gear to establish a seven-goal lead. Fever’s defence simply stifled the Magpies attack end as they put the foot even further down pushing out to a 10 goal lead. Nothing was falling the way of Collingwood as the ball continued to fly over the goal line. Mel Bragg entered the contest in wing defence in hope to slow down the speed of the Fever as Fowler single-handedly tore Collingwood to shreds. It was all one way traffic as West Coast went into the break up by a handy 10 goals and did not look like relenting.

It was much of the same in the second quarter as the Fever continued their full throttle approach with a couple of quick goals. Verity Charles was carving up the attacking third with her give and go to feed into Fowler with great ease. meanwhile up the other end of the court it was hard work for the Pies as Kelsey Browne and Molly Jovic made a positional switch between centre and wing attack. The Fever were unstoppable in all aspects of the court as they extended the lead to a whopping 17 goals. Aryang was having the time of her life out on court reeling in intercepts left, right and centre.

Some increased pressure from Jodi-Ann Ward allowed the Pies to win back possession but the connections in attack were simply not on. The battle between Nelson and Bruce was enthralling with the latter reigning supreme with her read of the play and physicality as the Fever seemed impenetrable. Alice Teague-Neeld was firing on all cylinders for the Fever with the goal attack using her cuts and drives to open up the goal circle and really assert herself on the contest. Up the other end of the court, Kalifa McCollin rolled onto the court but struggled to have a huge impact with a couple of misdirected passes as Collingwood went into half time down by 19 goals.

With all the momentum the Fever tinkered with the frontend as Sasha Glasgow entered the goal circle to replace Teague-Neeld. It was blow for blow to start the term before Jess Anstiss cranked things up a gear in both attack and defence as the Fever extended their lead out to a whopping 22 goals. Emma Cosh made her way onto the court replacing Charles with the Fever proving to be an incredibly well-oiled machine. The changes did not stop there as Olivia Lewis brought some fresh legs to the contest. Collingwood were all out of answers with Geva Mentor heading to the bench as Jacqui Newton pulled on the goal keeper bib in hope to stem the bleeding using her quick feet and aerial ability to try and contest the high ball coming in.

It was goal for goal throughout the fourth term but the damage was already done as the Fever had an answer for everything Collingwood threw at them. They oozed a level of class and composure to think their way through the pressure. Nyah Allen came on with five minutes left to play but that did not change the outcome as the Fever cruised to an easy win.

It was far from a shootout between the two Jamaican goal shooters as Fowler managed 62 goals from 66 attempts at 94 per cent while Nelson finished with 37 straight goals to her name. Teague-Neeld did not have a huge influence on the scoreboard but still managed 14 goal assists. Browne led the charge for the Magpies midcourt with 21 goal assists as Charles replicated that attacking form up the other end with 19 goal assists. Ward dazzled with her footspeed and tenacity picking up five deflections and one intercept, while Bruce was a menace down in defence for the Fever with her four deflections and two intercepts as Aryang collected three deflections and three intercepts.

WEST COAST FEVER 20 | 20 | 20 15 (75)
COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES 10 | 11 | 19 | 15 (55)

STARTING SEVEN:

Fever:

GS: Jhaniele Fowler
GA: Alice Teague-Neeld
WA: Verity Charles
C: Jess Anstiss
WD: Stacey Francis-Bayman
GD: Sunday Aryang
GK: Courtney Bryce

Magpies:

GS: Shimona Nelson
GA: Gabby Sinclair
WA: Kelsey Browne
C: Molly Jovic
WD: Jodi-Ann Ward
GD: Jacqui Newton
GK: Geva Mentor

Photo credit: SSN Twitter