THIS weekend sees the biggest day in the Australian netball calendar – the 2024 Suncorp Super Netball Grand Final.

On Saturday night the Adelaide Thunderbirds will host the Melbourne Vixens for the second time in a month, but only one will emerge with the ultimate prize in Australian netball.

GRAND FINAL

Adelaide Thunderbirds vs Melbourne Vixens
Saturday at 7pm AEST (6:30pm local time)
Adelaide Entertainment Centre

JOURNEY TO THE GRAND FINAL

The Thunderbirds path to the decider has certainly been a lot shorter than the Vixens’.

After a strong season which saw them claim the Minor Premiership, all they needed to do to get to the Grand Final was win the Major Semi, which they comfortably did.

The Vixens on the other hand have had a bit of an up and down end to the season despite being one of the dominant sides of the early part of the season. They made this weekend’s match after defeating the West Coast Fever in last weekend’s Preliminary Final.

2024 HISTORY

This weekend will be the fourth time these two sides have met in 2024.

Back in Round 2, it was an absolute nail-biter that saw the Vixens prevail by a solitary goal. That day, the scores were tied heading into the final minute, but the Vixens pinched one final goal in the dying seconds to pip their visitors at the death.

In Round 12 though it was a very different story. A strong second and final quarter from the Thunderbirds saw them defeat the Vixens by 15 goals.

In the Major Semi Final only a fortnight ago, the Thunderbirds prevailed by 25 goal win to progress through to this weekend’s decider. The margin was only six goals in the Thunderbirds’ favour at the first change, but a 19 goals to nine second quarter really set the tone for the rest of the match, and the Vixens were never in it after that.

KEY PLAYERS

The Thunderbirds’ defensive group is highly spoken of for a reason, and is the best in the competition at what they do.

The Vixens will need to be careful how they feed Sophie Garbin, Kiera Austin and Lily Graham in the shooting circle as Shamera Sterling-Humphrey, Matilda Garrett and Latanya Wilson are all international level defenders, and under no circumstances can the Vixens go the aerial route as they will get picked off far too easily.

PREDICTION

This title is Adelaide’s to lose. Although the Vixens were arguably the team to beat for more of the season, the Thunderbirds are peaking at just the right time and are looking far too hard to stop.