Melbourne Vixens showed why they’re the benchmark team in the trans Tasman netball competition with a powerful 74-49 win over the rising West Coast Fever at Perth’s Challenge Stadium.
With Sharelle McMahon (40-of-47) and Caitlin Thwaites (29-of-34) dominant in attack, the unbeaten Vixens cruised to a 23-goal triumph in the seventh round clash with the highest score of the season.
“We are always wary of anybody we play and everybody seems to like playing us. They had been playing well over the last couple of weeks, so we knew we had to bring our A-game away with us and we did that beautifully,” Vixens coach Julie Hoornweg said.
“Sharelle was sensational and it was her best game of the year. She has been threatening to play like that and Caitlin at the back is gaining confidence every time she plays. Now that they have that connection, they are playing great netball.”
After three straight wins, the Fever went down to the Queensland Firebirds last Monday in a loss star Bianca Franklin blamed on the referees, but bouncing back against the ANZ Championship-leading Vixens was beyond them despite a sellout crowd of 3247.
Caitlin Bassett was strong with 41 goals for the Fever, but Franklin struggled before going off and West Coast succumbed to Melbourne’s pressure.
The Vixens threatened to open up a commanding lead in the first half but a 7-1 run by the Fever midway through the second quarter after Josie Janz was benched, Johannah Curran moved to goal defence and Andrea Gilmore came on closed things up.
However, McMahon and Melbourne hit back to lead 34-28 at half time.
Janz returned for the Fever after the break to replace Susan Fuhrmann on McMahon, while the Vixens replaced Brooke Thompson with Chelsey Nash, and Melbourne broke the game open with a 9-1 run to quickly lead by 14.
By the last quarter, that ballooned out to 26 ahead as they proved far too strong all over the court.
Fever coach Jane Searle was disappointed the team couldn’t perform, but is still confident of a strong season after a bye.
“To have a sellout crowd here was fantastic, but we are just a bit sorry that we didn’t give them a better game,” Searle said.
“We can still beat them though. We really had a bad second half and are a lot better than that. We’ll certainly bounce back and it might be a timely lesson because we might have felt like we were cruising. We need our game faces on next time out against the Thunderbirds.”
West Coast (3-4) have the bye next weekend before home matches against the Adelaide Thunderbirds and Southern Steel, while Melbourne (6-0) hosts the NSW Swifts and Queensland Firebirds the next two weeks.
Vixens vs Swifts. Image courtesy of Joseph Sirucka.
Vixens vs Swifts. Image courtesy of Joseph Sirucka.
Vixens vs Swifts. Image courtesy of Joseph Sirucka.
Vixens vs Swifts. Image courtesy of Joseph Sirucka.
Vixens' Julie Corletto. Image courtesy of Joseph Sirucka.
Vixens' Sharelle McMahon, right. Image courtesy of Joseph Sirucka
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Greg Russell said | May 18th 2009 @ 1:19pm | Report comment
t’s clear that the Vixens are the gun Australian team this year, but at this stage I wouldn’t like to rate them against the Magic. It’s true that the Magic were anything but magic in losing in Brisbane to the Firebirds, but I think that surprise result has to be seen in two contexts:
(1) The peculiar record of all NZ teams being unable to win in Australia (not a solitary triumph in one-and-a-half seasons), and
(2) Having thrashed the Swifts the week before, the Magic probably thought they were bullet-proof in heading to Brisbane (we now know that the Swifts aren’t nearly the team this year that they were last year).
I do not yet see any evidence that the Vixens are capable of winning a final against the Magic in Hamilton, something which may yet come about.
What I would like to know is why the Vixens are so much better this year. Their team is basically the same as last season. Admittely they performed below expectation last year, but why are they so much better this year? Has Sharelle McMahon’s knee surgery really made such a big difference?
I guess this is another reason why I am still reluctant to say that the Vixens “are a cut above”. In terms of personnel I don’t see any reason to think that they are a cut above the Magic, or even the Thunderbirds for that matter. So I wonder whether their bubble will burst or, like the Swifts last season, they continue to perform better than other teams who match or exceed them on paper.
As for the Swifts: Selina Gilsenan, where are you? She was perhaps the best player in world netball without (many) people realising it. (OK, OK, of course Irene v D is the greatest player of all time, but you get my point.)
Vicki said | May 18th 2009 @ 4:07pm | Report comment
The way the Vixens are playing the Magic will be coming to Melbourne to play them in a final. don’t think the vixens are a cut above the thunderbirds well what’s your reasoning? Two wins speak for themselves I would’ve thought. I won’t go as far to say they will remain undefeated for the whole season but they are the benchmark team of the competition until someone prove other wise and we will see in three weeks when the Vixens travel to New Zealand to play the Magic if you’re right about Magic. New zealand netball isn’ the powerful force it was a few years ago.
Greg Russell said | May 18th 2009 @ 11:22pm | Report comment
It’s a no-brainer that the Vixens are playing better than the Thunderbirds, and I tried not to imply otherwise.
Rather, my comment was (emphasis added) “IN TERMS OF PERSONNEL I don’t see any reason to think that they are a cut above the Magic, or even the Thunderbirds”.
I mean, on paper McMahon-Thwaites is relatively even with Medhurst-Beveridge, as is Chatfield-Corletto vs Mentor-Gerrard. The C position (Nat v B vs Chokljat) should actually be a win for Adelaide. I’m not too up on the rest of the midcourt selections and form, but Laura v B should certainly not be a weakness for Adelaide!
But hey, there’s no denying that netball is played on court rather than on paper, and the Vixens are killing it on court.
I agree the final could be in Melbourne. The Magic will unquestionably win 8/8 against NZ opposition, while on current form the Vixens should do likewise against Australian teams. So it comes down to the 5 crossover games. The Vixens will definitely beat the bottom 3 NZ teams (independent of where these matches are played), and they have already thrashed the Steel. Even if they lose in Tauranga, they may still finish ahead of the Magic, who have already dropped one match. Maybe they will lose a second match in Australia, or maybe their % will remain under that of the Vixens.
One also shouldn’t forget that the Swifts finished second in the round-robin last year, but were able to host the final by virtue of winning their semi-final in Hamilton. So there’s also that route to a Melbourne final. Equally, it could go the other way around, i.e., Vixens (1) losing to Magic (2) in a Melbourne SF.
It’s great to see the Vixens playing so well, but one has to be wary of a team containing van Dyk, Langman and Williams – three super, super talents, each in a different third of the court. If the Magic hit their straps, they will be very tough to beat.
Vicki said | May 20th 2009 @ 9:57am | Report comment
When you put it in that contex Gregt I agree with you. If the Vixens play the magic in grand final it would be a great match. The swifts are in a form slump but as Liz Ellis said last Sunday they could come out of it at anytime. The vixens and the magic to me seem to be a cut above the rest and we will find out in two weeks where both teams are at when they play each other in New Zealand. It’s highly unlikely the Vixens will go undefeated for the whole season but it nice to watch them have a crack at it.