The Melbourne Mavericks have gone down to the West Coast Fever in a nailbiter, 51-55, in their second practice match in front of a sellout crowd at Waverley Netball Centre.
The Mavs came out of the blocks firing with a hot first term, with a strong starting seven taking to the court, comprising mainly of the contracted ten players, but Nyah Allen out at wing attack, as Sasha Glasgow was managed amidst of a hectic schedule of pre-season matches. The Mavs jumped out to a 16-12 lead at the first break – their largest lead of the match.
The Mavs started strong again in the second term, winning back lots of ball. Kim Brown and Kristiana Manu’a – fresh of a successful campaign captaining Samoa to victory at last week’s Pacific Aus Sports Netball Series - combined well in circle to shut down Fever’s goalers. In her highly anticipated debut in Fever green, the visitors then bought on experienced goaler, Mwai Kumwenda, who led the Fever to five goals in a row, forcing the Mavs to a time out. With the scores now even, the Mavs struggled to convert centre passes against a strong Fever defensive box. Uneeq Palavi finished the quarter strongly for the Mavs, with a Super Shot allowing the Mavs to finish the term one goal up; 26-25.
The Mavs started the second half strongly, with some pinpoint passes into Shimona Jok at Goal Shooter. Emma Walters entered the court in Centre, and proved vital to both the Mavs’ attack and defence. Tayla Fraser worked tirelessly to receive centre passes, using her speed and strength to dominate the line. The combination of Jessie Grenvold with Brown in the defensive circle also saw some great hunts and tips. An early time out in the term - called by the Mavs - lead to an increase in defensive pressure, however the Mavs still struggled to convert on turnovers. The connection between Palavi – out at Goal Attack - and Jok strengthened throughout the quarter with some impressive goaler-to-goaler balls. The start of the Super Shot window saw the Fever capitalise, with four in a row, but the Mavs stepped up with three consecutive Super Shots of their own to keep the scores level (39-39) at three quarter time, setting up a huge final quarter.
Liv Lewis re-entered the court for the final quarter, and her tenacity forced missed shots under a heap of pressure. At the other end of the court, Palavi – back at Goal Shooter - remained strong under the post. A crucial intercept by Manu’a shifted the Mavs into another gear, with both attack and defence stepping up, forcing Fever to take a time out. Fever came out of their time out strong, however, with three consecutive goals, before the Mavs strung together a lovely play to score. Fever played a smart possession game in the final minutes, and even a strong Mavs defence were unable to win any ball back. A convincing Super Shot from Fever’s newest recruit, Kumwenda, in the final minute sealed the with for the visitors, with the final score 51-55.
Mavs head coach, Tracey Neville, said overall she was pleased with her side’s performance and improvement since their last pre-season hit out.
“I think there are some huge positives from that game in respect to how we come back at the [opposition] team. We’re still making too many general play turnovers - which is something we have to go away and look at - but there is evidence from our training now starting to shine through some of the game play, and hopefully when we get all of our contracted ten back in the team we can really start to build on that,” Neville said.
Neville spoke of the significance of the last term in particular, when there were six Mavs’ Training Partners on the court.
“I think it was a real positive. I set them the challenge - they were playing against Fever’s contracted ten, every single player on the court [in that term] was part of their contracted ten – and I think that’s a real positive for the Training Partners. They all want one of those contracted ten places, and they get to realise what it’s like out there and what they’ve got to do to actually be up there with the best.
“For us, we have to give them some reward [for effort and commitment to the team] – in season that’s very, very difficult to give them some reward, but in this we get the opportunity to expose them to the best, which is important for the future and the next generation of Mavericks coming into the team.”
With no time to rest on their laurels, the Mavs will now prepare to fly to Brisbane on the weekend, where they will play the Queensland Firebirds in a closed practice match.
They will then return to Melbourne to prepare for the Team Girls Cup in Adelaide from March 14 to 16, followed by their final practice game ahead of the season proper, against the Northern Mystics on March 27.
