THE infamous Super Shot has been at the centre of controversy since it was introduced at the start of the 2020 Suncorp Super Netball season.

The Super Shot was brought in as a way to ‘evolve’ the game and make it more appealing to spectators. In the final five minutes of each quarter, a time known as the Rebel Power Play, the Super Shot rule is initiated. During this time, shooters have an opportunity to score two goals with one shot from the designated 1.9 metre zone around the edge of the ring.

In theory, one might assume that a top goal shooter should be able to shoot from almost anywhere in the ring. But let’s look at Caitlin Bassett, for whom the Super Shot was quite literally game changing. While “C-Bass” is certainly one of the world’s top ranked shooters, her traditional game style of holding under the post for a lob just did not cut it once the Super Shot was introduced.

This led to Bassett firstly being benched during the Power Play, then eventually lead to her being benched for entire games. She was replaced by Kiera Austin, who is physically smaller, more agile, and willing to take the long range shots. This poses the question of team selections in the future; will long range shooters be more likely to be selected over short range shooters?

Ideally, the implementation of the Super Shot should allow shooters to become more confident shooting from anywhere in the ring. In practice, this is not what we have seen.

The Constellation Cup against the Silver Ferns was an overall disappointment for the Diamonds, winning only one out of four games. The overall shooting average for Australia was 78.25 percent. In the second test, Austin only shot at 54 percent during her 48 minutes on court.

Of course, blame cannot be placed solely on the Super Shot, but statistics like these do raise the question of whether it is in fact a help or a hindrance to international players – particularly Australian Diamonds, who deal with the repercussions of rule changes – where the adaptation does not apply.

The fact is, the Super Shot actually made no difference to the SSN 2020 Grand Final outcome. Both teams only shot three Super Shots, so the difference between the scoreline at the end of the game was still two goals.

The Super Shot got some of its most use in the last round of the season in a draw between GIANTS and Swifts, with GIANTS putting up 23 Super Shot attempts and the Swifts 14. If the game had been played without the Super Shot, the score would have been 60 to 68, the way of the Swifts.

Some will argue that using the Super Shot to win a game is just playing the game, but others will contest that it takes away from the game; that the team that worked harder on the day is not necessarily rewarded for their determination.

At that late stage of the season, the outcome of the game did not have much on an impact on the SSN ladder and finals games. But had it happened like that earlier in the season, it is hard to know if it would have changed the final standings.

Where it seemed to come undone last year, watching from the sidelines, is when players focused too much on shooting from the designated zone rather than just putting up a shot when presented with an opportunity.

In desperate attempts to gain goals, some players opted for passing the ball around until they were in the Super Shot range – the more the ball is passed, the more chance of a turnover. On top of this, the risk is greater shooting further from the ring, as well as the chances of a defensive rebound.

The Super Shot announcement last year came just over a month before the season commencement, which gave the players and coaches very little time to prepare. This time around, they have had a season to see it in practice and work out game strategy.

It will be interesting to see just how the SSN teams will tackle the Super Shot this season. Perhaps their game plans are similar to last year, or maybe they have come up with a whole new strategy. Well, one thing is for sure – it certainly will be good to watch either way.

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