HAVING never previously made it to the finals, the Tasmanian Magpies took the Canberra GIANTS by storm to claim a one-goal victory, 54-53. Finishing the regular season in third place, the Magpies pulled out all the stops knocking over the New South Wales (NSW) Waratahs and then the GIANTS to get their hands on their first premiership.

With plenty of talent across the court and on the bench, Tasmania had the ability to substitute players in and out of the game. Former Collingwood goal attack Cody Lange found herself on the bench after a slow start only netting four goals in the first quarter, prompting the call-up of Gabrielle Sinclair. The goal attack made her presence felt on the court, nailing 13 goals from 16 attempts. Her dynamism on the court provided a spark for the Magpies front-end with her speed helping to open space in the goal circle. One constant was shooting machine Jane Cook who at 201cm dominated, nailing 37 goals from 45 attempts. Down on her volume from the previous week netting 55 goals, Cook still demanded the ball and used her body well to position inside the circle.

While the shooting end was impressive for the Magpies, the defensive work did not go unnoticed with goal defence Sharni Lambden taking an important intercept to push out the buffer for Tasmania in the third quarter. Tasmania’s defensive efforts were not the only ones that were noticeable on the day, with the likes of Canberra young gun, Amy Parmenter leaving her mark on the game taking a big intercept to keep scores close.

The Magpies did not have it all their own way with the GIANTS putting up a hell of a fight to come within a goal in the dying seconds. With what seemed like a comfortable four-goal lead at the last break Canberra worked tirelessly to keep themselves in the game falling just short. Thanks to the impressive defensive effort of the GIANTS players such as Maddie Hay got busy getting hands to ball and getting a timely deflection to keep her side in the hunt for the win.

Up the shooting end for the GIANTS, Georgia Marshall and Beryl Friday proved that volume seemed to be no issue putting up 67 attempts between the two. The rotation through the circle allowed for space to open up and provided greater variety in the goal circle for the feeders. The moving circle also created more confusion for the defenders allowing the two shooters to control the tempo. But in the end it was the desperation from the Magpies that helped them etch their name in ANL history securing their first ever premiership.