THE two Queensland derbies in the Suncorp Super Netball this season, also known as the ‘Battle of the Bruce’, produced two very different results.

Back in Round 2, it was Queensland who got the emphatic win 82 to 54, then last weekend it was the Sunshine Coast who got the win 82 to 61.

That is quite the turnaround, but what led to the turnaround from the Lightning? Let us look at the stats to see what may be the cause.

The squads

Well if there is one cause that can be pretty easily ruled out, it is who was in the squads.

Both game day squads were essentially the same in both Round 2 and Round 11, with only one change per squad.

However, the Lightning’s change was a pretty big one.

Back in Round 2, Steph Wood was ruled out with Covid so could not play, but did play in Round 11.

In saying that, she is only one player and she cannot win a match by herself, despite being the Lightning’s leading super shot shooter this year.

The team with the more mistakes lost

It may sound obvious, but there is a correlation between the penalty and turnover number and which team emerged victorious in both games.

In both Rounds 2 and 11, the team with the higher penalties and turnovers went on to lose the game.

In Round 2, the Lightning had 59 penalties and 30 turnovers, compared to the Firebirds’ 36 penalties and 15 turnovers.

Fast forward to Round 11, and the Firebirds recorded 71 penalties and 29 turnovers, compared to the Lightning’s 44 penalties and 20 turnovers.

The shooting percentages tell an interesting story

Although there was a vast change in the number of overall goals, both one point and two point goals, scored by both sides in the two games, the actual percentages do not always tell the same story.

Back in Round 2, the Firebirds shot 70 one point goals from 77 attempts, which gave them a shooting percentage of 91%. Flash forward to Round 11, and although they only shot 45 goals, they only had 50 attempts so their shooting percentage dropped to only 90%.

Moving across to the super shots, and they converted six out of their 10 attempts back in Round 2 for a percentage of 60%. In Round 11, they did shoot more super shots, eight to be exact, but they also had more attempts so their percentage dropped to 57%.

The Sunshine Coast’s tale is a very different story.

Back in Round 2, they converted 48 of their 55 one point attempts for a percentage of 87%. In Round 11 though, they had a higher number of one point goals (68), their shooting percentage was still 87%.

Moving across to the super shot percentages, and there is a vast change.

Back in Round 2, the Lightning only converted a quarter of their super shot attempts. In Round 11, even though they had three less attempts then they did in Round 2, they converted a much higher percentage of those nine attempts (77%).