Cover Image: May Bailey
Writers: Ian Harkin, Jenny Sinclair, Katrina Nissen, Georgia Doyle, Andrew Kennedy
Photographers: Hannah Howard, Aliesha Vicars, May Bailey
RESULTS
West Coast Fever 69 def Melbourne Mavericks 63
Adelaide Thunderbirds 65 def Queensland Firebirds 58
Melbourne Vixens 70 def NSW Swifts 68
GIANTS Netball 78 def Sunshine Coast Lightning 68
MILESTONES
While we haven’t seen her on court this year as yet, El Cardwell made her commentary debut, providing some excellent tactical chat and analysis.
El Cardwell made her commentary debut. Image: Aliesha Vicars
INJURIES
Amy Sligar limped from the court late in the Giants’ home win with leg cramping, with medical staff already confident she will return to court in round 11.
LET’S TALK ABOUT:
News of the Week
There was a distinct netball flavour to the BigFreeze this year, where participating athletes dressed as their favourite Aussie icon in support of Neale Daniher’s FightMND cause. Plunging down the slide into an icy bath at the MCG was the Diamonds’ captain Liz Watson, dressed as Margot Robbie in the Barbie movie, and Alyssa Healy, who came as everyone’s favourite netballer, Sharon Strzelecki – complete with pash rash and neck brace!
Hannah Mundy revealed that her grandfather Graeme passed away from MND in 2023, just 14 months after diagnosis. Graeme was not only her grandfather, but the father of former Australian Diamond Shelley O’Donnell.
With different runs home for the teams still in contention for finals, who makes up the top four and in what order, could all come down to the final round. Swifts have by far the easiest road from here, whereas the other four teams have tougher finishes. That includes several matches amongst themselves which will be crucial to positions on the ladder. All of Lightning’s four remaining matches are against the other teams in the top five.
Swifts – Giants (A), Mavericks (H), Lightning (H), Firebirds (A) – 1 top five team
Fever – Thunderbirds (H), Lightning (A), Giants (H), Vixens (H) – 3 top five teams
Lightning – Vixens (H), Fever (H), Swifts (A), Thunderbirds (A) – 4 top five teams
Vixens – Lightning (A), Thunderbirds (H), Firebirds (H), Fever (A) – 3 top five teams
Thunderbirds – Fever (A), Vixens (A), Mavericks (H), Lightning (H) – 3 top five teams
Hannah Petty with a big offside. Image: Hannah Howard/On the Ball Media
Netball continues to raise awareness of the impact of domestic and family violence, with the Mavericks inaugural Orange Game. Craig Hutchison, CEO of SEN which owns the Mavericks, said “(It’s) a powerful reminder of the role sport can play in driving social change.” The initiative follows the Australian Netball Players Association drive for change, and Diamond Cara Koenen’s revelation that like one in four women, she’s experienced sexual assault.
The Sargeant-McKinnis Cup was introduced in 2008 for regular season matches between NSW Swifts and Melbourne Vixens. It was named after Vixens head coach, Simone McKinnis, and former Australian captain Anne Sargeant OAM. Incredibly, over the past 8 seasons, Vixens and Swifts have taken it in turns to win the Cup with neither able to hold on to it for more than one season. And 2025 has proven to be no different, with the Swifts taking it out. On the previous seven occasions, the winning team has won both matches for the season. But that wasn’t the case in 2025, with Swifts relying on goal difference to win.
2018 – Vixens
2019 – Swifts
2020 – Vixens
2021 – Swifts
2022 – Vixens
2023 – Swifts
2024 – Vixens
2025 – Swifts
We’ve now had 18 seasons of the Sargeant-McKinnis Cup and the overall record stands at Swifts 11 wins to Vixens’ seven. McKinnis has won six of the 13 series that she’s been involved with as Vixens’ head coach. With her leaving at season’s end, it will now be up to a new coach to see if they can keep the run of alternating wins going and coach the Vixens to victory in 2026.
Swifts took out the 2025 Sargeant-McKinnis Cup. Image: Aliesha Vicars
Stacey Marinkovich revealed in an interview that the Diamonds’ squad of around 22 players won’t be chosen until close to the end of the Super Netball season. Fans can read more here.
Geva Mentor has just played her last ever elite netball match. During the week, she spoke exclusively to Netball Scoop about her 25 year career. Read more about the legend’s journey here.
Super Netball Reserves
The undefeated Fever Reserves team are two games clear on top of the ladder and claimed the minor premiership. The finals series will be held from June 20th to June 22nd, with all matches televised via livestream on KommunityTV. In addition to the regular teams competing, a play-in tournament including Tasmania Wild, Capital Darters and Territory Storm will happen across 3 days leading up to the finals. You can find more information here and see the full home and away fixture here. Tickets are free for matches happening not consecutively with SSN matches.
Results:
Melbourne Mavericks Reserves 64 def Swifts Academy 53
West Coast Fever Reserves 67 def Vixens Academy 58
Melbourne Mavericks Reserves 61 def GIANTS Netball Academy 47
Swifts Academy 60 def Vixens Academy 52
Stay in the conversation with the Netball Scoop Forum.
Catch up with The Sporting Scoop podcast on Spotify and Youtube.
This week’s guest was former Thunderbird and current London Pulse player, Tyler Orr.
Stats of the Week
This week, we’re going to talk about “possession changes”. This is the total turnovers recorded against a team during a game, whether due to their own unforced errors or the opposition’s gains. Most fans would be familiar with general play turnovers, and those numbers are regularly used in coverage of netball. But there is another category, missed goal turnovers, which is when a team loses possession as a direct result of a missed attempt at goal.
Missed goal turnovers played a part in round 10, particularly in the match between Giants and Lightning. The general play turnover count in this game was 17-14 against the Lightning. That’s not great, but it’s not a discrepancy that would automatically count a side out. But the missed goal turnover count was a whopping 8-2 against them. When added together, that meant that the total turnover count was 25-16 against Lightning. Any team will struggle with those numbers.
In round nine, we saw a situation where Thunderbirds finished the game with just 11 general play turnovers, but lost to the Giants who had 18. That certainly confused some people. But Thunderbirds’ two-point shooting was way off in that game (2/16), and this had a big bearing on the result. Romelda Aiken-George was able to rebound several misses, but she couldn’t grab them all. As a result, Thunderbirds ended the game with seven missed goal turnovers to Giants’ two. And that proved crucial.
A few weeks back, we talked about winning match stats; that is statistics that lead to winning performances. How about this one? There have been 26 matches so far this season where one team has had at least five less total turnovers than their opponents. Every single one of those 26 teams has come away with the win, including all four winners in Round 10; Fever, Thunderbirds, Vixens, and Giants.
So let’s go through the season so far, firstly in the two categories, general play turnovers, and missed goal turnovers, then add them up to see who’s doing best (and worst) for total turnovers through the first 10 rounds.
General play turnovers
Fever – 154
Swifts – 166
Thunderbirds – 173
Lightning – 183
Firebirds – 183
Vixens – 184
Giants – 199
Mavericks – 200
Missed goal turnovers
Swifts – 28
Mavericks – 29
Fever – 34
Thunderbirds – 34
Lightning – 47
Vixens – 47
Giants – 47
Firebirds – 58
Total turnovers
Fever – 188
Swifts – 194
Thunderbirds – 207
Mavericks – 229
Lightning – 230
Vixens – 231
Firebirds – 241
Giants – 246
Abigail Latu-Meafou settled the Firebirds front line. Image: Hannah Howard/On the Ball Media
MATCH WRAPS:
Mavericks v Fever
Fever locked in their sixth consecutive finals berth after mounting a convincing win over the Mavericks. Despite some strong defensive efforts—particularly in deflections—by the Mavericks, they couldn’t translate that into scoreboard pressure as they still struggle to find consistency. They could only muster three possession gains for the 60 minutes, which equalled the record for lowest in Super Netball. The reverse was true for the visitors who never looked rattled despite a flurry of supershots from Uneeq Palavi for the homeside.
Since Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard returned to the team, Fever hasn’t lost. The eight straight wins, is one short of Fever’s best in SSN. Alice Teague-Neeld once again showed why she should be in serious Diamonds contention as she put up another MVP performance which included 33 feeds, one gain and a very tidy one turnover. Her direct opponent, Mavericks captain Amy Parmenter, struggled with discipline and impact as she notched 13 penalties for only one gain. Centre Molly Jovic is doing everything she can to help out her side.
Thunderbirds v Firebirds
The scoreline of this match doesn’t do justice to how tight the competition was. For 57 minutes either team could have claimed the chocolates but experience won out in the end with the Thunderbirds showing composure when the pressure was on. Latanya Wilson was at her menacing best in defence for the home team collecting nine gains, 10 deflections with a tidy 11 penalties. Romelda Aiken-George was as solid as a rock at goal shooter with 50/53 and no turnovers for the 60 minutes.
It was an encouraging performance from Firebirds who pushed Thunderbirds all the way, but it was still another loss, their eighth in a row, which is their worst losing streak in Super Netball. The last five minutes of quarters are proving to be a problem. Kiri Wills is still not settled on a super shot strategy with the Firebirds often ineffective in that period. Elevated training partner Abigail Latu-Meafou is making the most of the opportunity given to her sinking 16/17 (94%) including 6/7 supershots. Macy Gardner continues her strong form in the midcourt, but is perhaps lacking support.
Tilly Garrett comes through for the intercept. Image: Hannah Howard/On the Ball Media
Georgie Horjus ran most of the game at goal attack. Image: Hannah Howard/On the Ball Media
Romelda Aiken-George had the wood over Isabelle Shearer. Image: Hannah Howard/On the Ball Media
Vixens v Swifts
In the game of the round, the Vixens upset the Swifts by just two points after leading by 11 at one point. While the Vixens seem to have found their form and have won four on the trot, the Swifts are now looking slightly vulnerable having dropped two consecutive games. However, the Vixens had to do it the hard way after the Swifts banged in 12 super shots. Kiera Austin starred with 20/23 and two crucial gains, while her shooter to shooter connection with Sophie Garbin (47/49) was on point. Jo Weston received MVP for her 3 gains and role in tagging Helen Housby.
For the first time this season, Swifts included Sophie Fawns in their line, giving them greater supershot capability. While Housby finished with eight supershots and Fawns four, it came at the expense of omitting Allie Smith, who could have been useful for her role at centre. The Swifts were expensive through the midcourt, giving away 12 turnovers across the three positions, and offering the Vixens extra shots on goal. Swifts could only come up with four gains, while Sarah Klau was far too expensive with 22 penalties.
Kiera Austin finished with 20/23 in a superb game. Image: Aliesha Vicars
Other than a flurry of supershots by Helen Housby towards the end of the match, Jo Weston did an excellent tagging job on her. Image: Aliesha Vicars
Simone McKinnis chats to her bench. Image: Aliesha Vicars
Giants v Lightning
In what would be considered a second upset for the round, Giants came out firing from the first whistle and didn’t take their foot off the pedal. In their most consistent performance to date, Jo Harten led from the front using all her tricks and smarts to out manoeuvre all her opposition defenders. The ball speed she and Sophie Dwyer were able to create meant the Lightning defenders were constantly on the back foot, and struggling to win clean ball. The woes continued for the Lightning in the shooting end, with the long reach of both Casey Kopua and Erin O’Brien spooking them early, with Steph Fretwell in particular repeatedly passing out to reposition due to the immense pressure over the shot.
Lightning found their feet in the final quarter, with the pressure off and were able to make the scoreboard look a lot more respectable with a flurry of supershots from Reilley Batcheldor to draw the margin from 20 back to 10. For Lightning, the ever-reliable Liz Watson shone throughout, combining fantastically with Leesa Mi Mi to constantly backup and reoffer, providing safe hands, and beautiful connection in transition and from centre passes. At the back, Ash Ervin improved in the second half, finishing with two gains and seven deflections.
Jamie-Lee Price hits the circle edge ahead of Leesa Mi Mi. Image May Bailey/Clusterpix
Sophie Dwyer with a deserved MVP after sinking 32/35. Image May Bailey/Clusterpix
Erin O’Brien had another superb match out the front of Casey Kopua. Image May Bailey/Clusterpix
PLAYERS OF THE ROUND
Molly Jovic (Mavericks)
Jovic is an absolute workhorse for the Melbourne Mavericks. As she tried desperately to keep her side in the contest against Fever, Jovic’s work rate increased. She often took second phase in attack, collected loose ball pickups and contributed strong arms in defence. Her connection with Shimona Jok, in particular, was on song in today’s match as she put in 36 feeds (25 assists).
Latanya Wilson (Thunderbirds)
Wilson has starred at wing defence and goal keeper this year, and in round 10, she completed the defensive set by starring at goal defence as well. She was on fire right from the opening whistle, and remained a menace to the Firebirds almost all night. It was quite noticeable that in the third quarter, she was kept relatively quiet, and that was the only quarter that Firebirds won.
Kiera Austin (Vixens)
In a game where the whole team stood up, Austin was a class above. The goal attack not only sank 20 goals (including three super shots), she also contributed defensively with one intercept, two deflections and two pickups which helped her side get a win over the ladder leading NSW Swifts. Austin’s connection with Diamond’s teammate, Sophie Garbin has been in sparkling form the last few weeks which bodes well as her side looks to take on finals netball but is also a positive side for the national team.
Amy Sligar (Giants)
The circle defenders have been getting all the credit for the Giants of late, but this game Sligar stood up and showed that she deserves her own highlight reel. Tasked with battling it out against the Diamonds captain, Sligar was not content just playing a shut down role but also took the opportunity to add to her stat sheet with three intercepts and four deflections. Particularly good were her smart reflexes to deflect and stifle balls around the circle edge, and her authoritative drives down court when transitioning to attack. With multiple positional switches between Liz Watson and Leesa Mi Mi to try and quell Sligar’s influence, none were successful as she continued her dominance regardless of who she was suited up against.
Latanya Wilson was best on court for the Thunderbirds. Image: Hannah Howard/On the Ball Media
LADDER
Team / Pts / %
Swifts . 32 . 109%
Fever . 32 . 107%
Lightning . 24 . 106%
Vixens . 24 . 102%
–
Thunderbirds . 20 . 105%
Giants . 12 . 91%
Mavericks . 8 . 93%
Firebirds . 8 . 89%
NEXT WEEK
(Round 11)
Fri, Jun 20
8pm – FEVER v THUNDERBIRDS (6pm local time)
Sat, Jun 21
5pm – LIGHTNING v VIXENS
Sun, Jun 22
2pm – SWIFTS v GIANTS
4pm – FIREBIRDS v MAVERICKS
