If the first meeting this season between the Melbourne Mavericks and NSW Swifts was anything to go by, fans were expecting another thriller on Saturday evening at John Cain Arena in Melbourne.
The contest they were treated to was every bit a thriller and more, as the Mavericks produced a come-from-behind victory to prevail 62-60 in front of a raucous home crowd, shoring up their position in the top four in the process.
The first centre pass of Round 8 went the way of the Mavericks, but the home side immediately had the first turnover of the contest too, with Reilley Batcheldor unable to reel in a pass as the Swifts pounced to score and take the first lead of the contest as Grace Whyte converted.
But heavy pressure from the Mavericks defence soon restored order, with the very next possession from the Swifts being coughed up, with Shimon Nelson duly converting the goal, and again off the next centre pass, to put the Mavs in front.
It was out to two goals as Jessie Grenvold earned the first of her four deflections in the first term, giving the Mavs a handy buffer, which became three off the next centre pass, and it looked as though the home side were going to dominate proceedings.
The contest settled into a rhythm, but the Mavericks certainly looked the better side, with Nelson causing plenty of problems for the returning Sarah Klau under the ring, while Grenvold at the other end looked assured, denying Grace Nweke on multiple occasions as the Mavs shot out to a game-high three-goal lead.
But against the flow, the Swifts worked themselves back into the contest, and eventually forced a rare error from Nelson, who was unable to reel in a pass, resulting in a goal to the visitors.
The Swifts would tie things up at 14 apiece off the next centre pass, wiping away any evidence of the Mavericks’ dominant start, although the home side would enjoy a one-goal lead at the first break.
It would be the Swifts again that made a charge to start the second term, though, as they intercepted the first possession and scored again off the second to once more take the lead.
Grenvold would soon win the ball back to level it up for the Mavericks, and like the first term, it soon fell into a rhythm, with neither side able to edge too far ahead.
But as the game wore on, the Mavs began to exert themselves, and while Whyte made the first Suncorp Super Shot of the game to draw the Swifts level at 28-28, the Mavs soon drew out to a game-high five goal lead late in the term.
It would be cut to three at the main break, however, as Whyte once again showed her aptitude from range, firing a second super shot home on the stroke of half time to see the Swifts enter the rooms trailing 32-29.
That momentum carried into the second half, too, with the visitors putting together a brilliant blitz to open the third term, putting through six of the first seven goals to open up a 35-33 lead.
It was all square again at 41 apiece soon after as the Mavs surged, however the Swifts found another gear, with Whyte converting her third shot from range before Nweke fired home a single, pushing the advantage out to 44-41.
The contest became more and more frantic, and the crowd volume matched it, as the Mavericks responded, drawing level once more, but Whyte continued her fine form to convert another two-pointer, her fourth at 100 per cent accuracy, to ensure the visitors entered the final break ahead, leading 47-46 after an 18-14 term.
While the contest had ebbed and flowed all night, neither side could find a break as the noise reached fever pitch inside John Cain Arena.
It would be the Mavericks that finally found a slender advantage as Grenvold again came up with a clutch intercept, which was converted to give her side a 57-56 advantage after the ensuing centre pass.
The Swifts tied it up the next possession, and the deadlock couldn’t be broken despite high pressure from either side, leading Murphy to call his final tactical timeout with under four minutes remaining.
Despite all the tactical talk in the huddle, though, it looked to have been disastrous, as Jamie-Lee Price was called for a held ball in the first possession following the break, with the Swifts edging out to a two-goal advantage.
But with the knowledge collected from numerous close finishes already this season, the Mavs remained calm, eventually forcing Nweke to turn the ball over under the ring as she looked to feed Whyte for a two-point attempt, with Nelson tying it up at the other end at 60 apiece with just over a minute on the clock.
The home side slowed the ball down and went ahead by a goal with time ticking down, before a brilliant Maddie Hay deflection denied the Swifts any chance of tying up the contest off the centre pass, with Nelson sinking the dagger to earn the Mavericks a two-goal victory.
Coach Gerard Murphy was obviously pleased with the victory, the group’s second win of two goals or less in as many weeks, which comes in stark contrast to the two early losses the Mavs suffered in similar circumstances.
“The main thing probably was just not making changes in the last part,” he said of the learnings he was able to apply from the two one-goal losses.
“I like making changes and putting people out on court and giving them opportunities, as almost a coaching philosophy of mine, but in some of these crunch moments, it's actually just too disruptive for a newer team…
“As a group at the moment, I think the girls probably just need more stability to cement some of the stuff that we're trying to work on.
“You can see now two weeks in a row, the girls have actually built confidence and a bit more belief, like hey, we can win this, we know we can just work it out and we'll keep getting better and give ourselves opportunities…
“It was probably just letting it play out, hence these last couple of weeks, we've done that, and the girls have done a great job at finishing off.”
It was contrasting emotions for the Swifts and Mavs at the final whistle.
The win puts the Mavericks in the box seat to lock up fourth spot, now sitting at 4-4 through eight games, although it’s not necessarily something Murphy and the group will be focussing on.
“It'll pretty much just beating the bottom four, literally another four wins, so that's one,” he said when pressed on if he had given any thought to how many wins his side would need to make finals.
“So, we need to beat Firebirds again, and if we can knock off one more in the top, that would be, I think, enough for us just to be stable enough.
“But the girls don't particularly focus on, 'oh my God, we're on the ladder here'.
“That's not my philosophy in that, we don't really communicate like that.
“Each game, we just play, keep getting better, execute on what you need to do… (then) each game, you'll just keep getting better and the wins will start rolling anyway, so yeah, I’m not too fussed.”
Grenvold was named player of the match, ending with four intercepts and six deflections in a supreme display down back, while Nelson (86 net points, 57 goals at 95 per cent) and Price (77.5 net points, 24 goal assists) were also brilliant.
Maddy Proud led the way at centre for the Swifts despite the loss, racking up a game-high 88 net points to go with 17 goal assists.
The Mavs will head to Ken Rosewall Arena next Sunday afternoon as they look to make it three wins on the trot and take a big step towards finals when they face the GIANTS.
