THE West Coast Fever have sought revenge on the Melbourne Vixens, defeating the reigning premiers 65-51 in the Suncorp Super Netball (SSN) 2021 season opener at John Caine Arena.

While this win is particularly sweet for Fever, who went down to the Vixens in last year’s grand final, it is also crucial in their pursuit to making finals, as Fever start the season on negative 12 points, facing the consequences of serious historic salary cap breaches.

Fever were in control of the game from the start, breaking the Vixen’s first centre pass. 19-year-old Hannah Mundy made her SSN debut for the Vixens, starting in wing attack with big shoes to fill in replacing Liz Watson. Joined on the transverse line by former Fever goal attack Kaylia Stanton, it was evident that the Vixens were missing that strong drive for the centre pass with Watson’s absence, and had trouble getting the ball into the ring.

Verity Charles and Jhaniele Fowler demonstrated their amazing knowledge of each other throughout the first quarter, with Charles knowing exactly where to place the ball under the post for Fowler in some beautiful passages of play. Alice Teague-Neeld shot the first Super Shot of the season with two minutes to go in the first quarter, with Fever finishing ahead at 16-12.

With a new shooting combination in the Vixens ring, Mwai Kumwenda and Stanton seemed to lack the knowledge that comes from having previously played together, and appeared to be in the way of each other as they both wanted to hang back for the hold. They were also under immense pressure from defenders Courtney Bruce and Sunday Aryang, who worked together as a well oiled machine to keep the new shooting duo from putting up many shots.

Nine goals down half way through the second quarter, it was clear something had to change for the Vixens, bringing on Ruby Barkmeyer to replace Stanton in goal attack and calling a strategic timeout, allowing themselves to regroup. While Barkmeyer struggled to get her feet for the first few minutes of her debut, she eventually got into the swing of things, creating space for Kumwenda to set up her hold by hanging out the front and keeping Aryang out of the ring.

With four minutes left until the half time siren and having trouble keeping Fever’s score down, Emily Mannix was replaced by Kadie-Ann Dehaney in goal keeper, whose presence was immediately noticeable on the court. Both Kumwenda and Barkmeyer scored a Super Shot each in an attempt to close the gap in the scoreline, but the half time score remained in Fever’s favour at 34-27.

The Vixens came out firing in the third quarter, reducing their deficit to come within four goals thanks to some uncharacteristic misses from Fowler at the hands of some spectacular defensive pressure from Dehaney. The Vixen’s were down by only five goals with a minute left in the third quarter, but a Super Shot from Sasha Glasgow and a couple more goals from Fowler meant Fever went into the final quarter eight goals ahead.

With Fever soaring ahead in the final term, the Vixens tried a few different combinations, putting Mannix back into goal keeper with Jo Weston to demonstrate their defensive skills, and moving Allie Smith into the centre, allowing Kate Moloney to move to the wing and give them that strong drive off the transverse line that they needed. But it was no use, and even a pair of Super Shots from Stanton in the dying minutes couldn’t save the reigning premiers, with the scoreline at 65-51 when the final siren sounded.

It is interesting to note that both teams’ shooting accuracies were basically identical – 88 per cent for the Vixens and 89 per cent for Fever. However, Fever had a lot more scoring opportunities, with the Vixens giving away 30 turnovers throughout the game. The time in possession was also fairly consistent with both Fever and Vixens, demonstrating that the Vixens could hold onto the ball, but had trouble converting their passages of play into goals.

The Vixens will take on Sunshine Coast Lightning at home next, while Fever will head back home to Perth, taking on the Swifts in Round 2.

MELBOURNE VIXENS 12 | 15 | 11 | 13 (51)
WEST COAST FEVER 16 | 18 | 13 | 18 (65)

STARTING SEVENS

Vixens

GK: Emily Mannix
GD: Jo Weston
WD: Kate Eddy
C: Kate Moloney
WA: Hannah Mundy
GA: Kaylia Stanton
GS: Mwai Kumwenda

Fever

GK: Courtney Bruce
GD: Sunday Aryang
WD: Jess Anstiss
C: Verity Charles
WA: Emma Cosh
GA: Alice Teague-Neeld
GS: Jhaniele Fowler

Picture credit: Graham Denholm/Getty Images