Minor Semi-Final Preview: Health and Life Phoenix v The Royal Cougars

Netball SA Stadium, 8:30pm Thursday, Court 3

While the winner of this match continues through to week 2 of the 2012 Subway Cup finals series, the defeated sides’ season will end.

These two teams will be desperate to continue their finals campaign. Health and Life Phoenix were only just reinstated into premier league netball at the start of the 2012 season. The Royal Cougars have been finals netball outcasts for over a decade.

This sets up what should be an entertaining match and if both sides play to their full potential, it should also be a very close match.

Inconsistency is the word that perfectly describes each of these sides’ 2012 season. Both teams ended the season with 8 wins with the Phoenix finishing with a draw against Spring Gully Newton Jaguars to give them a point more then the Cougars.

The Phoenix will be looking to turn some recent bad form around after finishing the minor round season with two losses and a draw.  However, they will be comforted by their season results against the Cougars. The Phoenix are undefeated against the cougars the season and won each of their matches with apparent ease. The lowest margin being 8 goals in their round 11 match.

Although results show an inconsistent side, the Phoenix can take stock knowing their defensive end is in good hands. Co-captains Dalice Kennedy and Luka Thompson, along with Nadia Mapunda and Edwina Gosse manufacture excellent defensive pressure. The outcome is often a hesitant opposition attack, forcing loose, searching passes that either go over the sideline or into intercepting hands.

The Cougars boast a defence of formidable height that will serve them well in the circle against the Phoenix shooting trio comprising Kylie Jarrett, Mel Rowland and Mel Gibb. The return of Amehlia Schmidt from Thunderbirds duties is timely for the side adding greater flexibility to a defence that includes Tamsin Petzer, Sarah Klau and Ashton Hurn. Their height closes space and forces opposing sides into hesitant decision making, with Hurn deadly at picking up loose passes.

The mid-court battle will feature some determined competitors and are closely matched. However, the key for both sides in the mid-court comes down to one player, Leigh Waddington.

Waddington has been superb during the Subway Cup this year and her good form warranted a call up to the Thunderbirds bench late in their season. Waddington’s combinations with Hurn and goal attack/wing attack Jo Nixon have become stronger throughout the season.

The Phoenix have a hard working mid-court with Gosse, Kate Kilpatrick and Erin Scheepens. Kilpatrick provides good drive up the court while Scheepens and Gosse are good at working their way into space to provide a receiving option, often getting their side out of trouble.

The Phoenix main shooting target is Kylie Jarrett. She scored 473 goals in the minor rounds, second to Laura Packard. After suffering a bout of injury late in the season, Jarrett was back to her best in their round 22 match against Jags scoring 39 from 42 attempts. Joining her in the circle will either be Thunderbird squad member Mel Rowland or Mel Gibb, both are likely to feature during the match. The Phoenix GA usually goes looking for the ball outside the circle to give Jarrett a one-on-one contest where she can use her strength.

When it comes to shooting flexibility no team is better served than the Cougars. Coach Scott Waddington used four shooters in their round 22 win against Woods Panthers and while injury cut their stocks throughout the season, they seem to be back their full compliment. Jessica Roberts has been their main goal scorer with 413 goals this season. However, the Cougars are likely to explore all their options consisting of Laura Marslen, Sarah Carver and Caroline Davey.

The importance of this match is obvious, winner stays in the hunt for premiership glory while the loser is eliminated.

The fans of these two teams could be in for an intense experience on Thursday night as both sides have the ability to play entertaining netball with plenty of momentum swings. It just depends on if they can play consistently for 4 quarters of netball.

Previous Results:

Round 4:   Phoenix 58 d Cougars 44

Round 11:   Phoenix 52 d Cougars 44

Round 18:   Phoenix 58 d Cougars 43

Last 5 Matches:

Phoenix:   W L L B D

Cougars:   L W B B W

Major Semi-Final Preview: ETSA Contax v Contours Matrics

Netball SA Stadium, 8:30pm Thursday, Court 1

The Contax and Matrics have definitely been the two dominant sides of the 2012 Subway Cup season so far and once again they will come together to produce what should be another tense encounter.

After finishing the minor rounds undefeated the Contax definitely have the momentum going into the finals and have beaten the Matrics three times throughout the season.

However, the Matrics have reduced the gap as the season has progressed and only lost by four goals the last time these sides played in round 19.

Defence will play a big part in this match and both sides have formidable defensive ends. The Contax goal circle defensive combination of Jane Fitzgerald and Bianca Reddy have been outstanding all season and are part of the reason the Contax have conceded just 678 goals, 168 less then second ranked Woods Panthers.

The Contax defend really well as a unit and use constant pressure to force turnovers from the opposing team. Once they gain possession quick ball movement is the key, particularly through their speedy mid-courters Lauren Hyde, Madeleine Proud and Georgia Beaton.

The Matrics, on the other hand, have been a side good at absorbing attacking pressure when not in possession, forcing sides to make errors moving across the defensive third line.

A big loss for the Matrics is goal defence Sarah Kennedy. Kennedy was in excellent form before a broken wrist ended her season. Her ability to come out of the circle and intercept searching passes into the defensive third were a standout feature of the Matrics game. Adjusting to her absence will prove crucial for the Matrics but they are fortunate to have plenty of depth in their defensive end.

The mid-court battle will be an entertaining as the sides use different tactics through this area of the court. Both sides use speed but there is a difference in execution.

The Matrics combination of Kyra Brown at centre and Sheree Wingard has been strong throughout the season. Wingard’s speed and drive into the attacking third compliments Brown’s composed circle feeding.

The Contax look for an up-tempo game speed through snappy player movement and quick passing down the court. The Matrics may look to slow the game down on transitional play so their defenders don’t get caught out of position.

When it comes to the attacking end, the Matrics shooting trio of Laura Packard, Stephanie Hentschel and Cody Lange have scored more goals then any other team in the competition combining for 1031 goals.

The standout here is Packard who has scored an incredible 518 goals, the only player to reach that milestone in the minor rounds.

It is not only total goals scored where the Matrics have it over their major-semi counterparts, they are also more accurate. The experience of Amanda Martin will be vital for the Contax in such an important match. She has guided young shooters Chelsea Lemke and Casey Gregory extremely well all season and will need to be at her best on Thursday.

This game is sure to be intense with the winner moving straight through to the Grand Final with a vital weeks rest to prepare. The loser will play either Health and Life Phoenix or The Royal Cougars depending on the result of the minor semi-final.

Previous Results:

Round 5:   Contax 59 d Matrics 49

Round 12:   Contax 57 d Matrics 49

Round 19:   Contax 49 d Matrics 45

Last 5 Matches:

Contax:   W W W W W

Matrics:   W L D B B

ETSA Contax send ominous warning with dominant final round win

It may have been a top versus bottom clash in the final round but ETSA Contax displayed no mercy in defeating Stellar Homes Garville 62-35 at Netball SA Stadium on Friday night.

As the two teams celebrated their 60 year rivalry the Contax showed that the occasion and their last placed opposition would not distract them into complacency, as they continued on to complete a perfect season in the minor rounds.

But if the dominant Contax display and final margin were not warning enough, than the thought of Contax coach Leanne Eichler saying that her side still had improvement in them definitely is.

“We always say that you’ve got to be better than you were in your last performance.” She said.

“We could still value the ball a lot more and it is probably just our finesse in passes, we sometimes do miss the target or give the defender a bit of a sniff, so we have to improve on that.”

Their major semi-final opponents, the Contours Matrics, watched on in the stands and would have struggled to identify any weaknesses as the Contax demolished Garville by 27 goals.

The Contax clicked into gear right from the opening whistle scoring the opening 6 goals of the match. Garville struggled to penetrate the Contax defence but soon scored 3 of their own to reduce the lead to 3 goals.

The Contax ball movement and speed down the court wasn’t allowing the Garville defenders time to get into good defensive position giving their shooters, Casey Gregory and Chelsea Lemke plenty of freedom in the circle. At quarter time they had amassed 18 goals to Garville’s 8.

Play was a bit scrappy to start the second quarter with only 2 goals going down in the first 3 minutes. Garville WA Hannah Horlin-Smith was busy for her side but Garville couldn’t convert turnover opportunities.

Once again the ladder leaders hit their stride continuing their quick game play. While Garville put in their best efforts, Contax continued to dominate across the court taking a 15 goal lead into halftime.

The third quarter was looking all too familiar as Contax increased their lead to 21 goals mid-way through the quarter.

The Contax defensive trio of Georgia Beaton, Jane Fitzgerald and Bianca Reddy were showing no mercy and combined well with C Lauren Hyde and WA Madeleine Proud to get the ball moving on transitional play. At the final break their lead was 24 goals.

The two sides went goal for goal for much of the last quarter as fatigue began to set in. However, Contax continued their excellent team performance to stretch their lead to 26 goals with a few minutes remaining.

Garville would not give in, though, and continued to make Contax work right up until the final whistle. At fulltime the margin was 27 goals.

The Contax clearly had finals in mind and were looking to gain as much as they could out of their final round match.

“Tonight was all about sticking to a game plan and doing what we do because it was an important game for our finals preparation,” coach Leanne Eichler said.

“Matrics had the week off, so we needed to make sure we tried to stay one step ahead of them and use this game as a purpose.

“Probably our first and third quarters were our best on turnover rates. We did make the most it and that’s what you’ve got to do when it comes to finals because you won’t get as many.”

One feature of Garville’s play throughout their season had been their never say die attitude and although trailing by such a large margin continued their commitment to the final whistle. A facet of their game they should all be very proud of.

Coach Jackie Blyth said that along with her side’s commitment she saw them improve as the season went on.

“As the season has progressed we’ve got better and better and I think if there were more games to go we would improve,” she said.

“To me it’s about trying to put some knowledge and unity amongst the side for next year.

“We’ve re-signed everybody for next year and I’m really pleased about that because the youth coming through, long-term, is going to help us. The core of the team we’ve got this year will really be super-competitive next year.”

In the other final round matches, The Royal Cougars prevailed in their match against Woods Panthers to consolidate fourth spot on the ladder and move into to the finals winning, 53-46. Health and Life Phoenix and Spring Gully Newton Jaguars played out the third draw for the season with the final result 50-50.

The semi-finals will be played at Netball SA Stadium on Thursday the 26^th of July at 8:30pm. Court 1 will feature the major semi-final between ETSA Contax and Contours Matrics while the minor semi final between The Royal Cougars and Health and Life Phoenix will be held at the same time on court 3.

Quarter-by-quarter scores:

Q1:   Contax  18 – 8  Garville

Q2:   Contax  33 – 18  Garville

Q3:   Contax  48 – 24  Garville

Q4:   Contax  62 – 35  Garville

Match Shooting Stats:

Contax   62/81   76.54%

C. Gregory:   30/36   83.33%

C. Lemke:   32/45   71.11%

Garville   35/41   85.37%

G. Virgo:   21/24   87.50%

C. Drogemuller:   6/6   100%

H. Edge:   8/11   72.73%

Subway Cup final round full of showdowns

The last of the minor rounds of the 2012 Subway Cup will be held tonight and Saturday at Netball SA Stadium and all three matches are vital to the teams taking part.

Two of the matches will decide the make-up of the 2012 Subway Cup final series and the other involves a rivalry that has lasted 6 decades.

With three teams still able to grab fourth spot to and feature in the finals there is sure to be some tense moments coming up on both Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

Stellar Homes Garville and ETSA Contax will celebrate 60 years of rivalry with a ‘Rival Revival’ legends match to kick off the round at 6:30pm this evening. The match will feature past greats from both clubs and will be sure to provide plenty of entertainment.

Then the serious stuff begins.

Following the legends match on court 1 at 7:30pm is the Subway Cup Premier League match between Stellar Homes Garville and ETSA Contax.

Garville will be looking to end their season with back-to-back wins and show the rest of the competition that the currently undefeated ETSA Contax can be beaten going into the finals.  Contax will be trying to do the opposite and a big win against their long time rivals could boost the sides intimidation factor, as they look to complete a perfect season.

Lots of attention will be focused towards court 2, also at 7:30pm, as The Royal Cougars take on Woods Panthers.

The equation is simple for the Cougars. Win and they will go through to play finals netball, lose and they won’t. Woods also need to win to go through, they trail the Cougars, who currently sit in fourth, by a single point on the ladder. However, if Woods win then they will have an anxious wait to see whether they will be in the finals. 

At 2pm on Saturday afternoon Spring Gully Newton Jaguars will be up against Health and Life Phoenix.

A remarkable win for Garville in round 20 against Woods gave the Jaguars a second chance at the finals, along with their draw against Contours Matrics. The Jaguars will be desperate for a big win in this game as percentage could play a big part in final ladder positions, but first and foremost for the side is a victory. Phoenix will be looking to regain momentum, as the outcome of this match will determine if they finish third or fourth, having already sealed a finals berth.

Jaguars will be buoyed by their excellent performance against Matrics in round 20, a match they probably deserved to win after leading for the entire match.

Although resting a little easy, Contours Matrics will be watching on with interest to see who they will play in the first week of the finals. They will finish at second on the ladder and currently have a 10-point gap to third placed Phoenix.

With so much importance on the final round matches there is sure to be some great netball being played so get down and support your team this weekend at Netball SA Stadium.

For further information on the ‘Rival Revival’ legends match and final round match times, go to www.subwaycup.com.au

Woods Panthers use first quarter to propel them closer to Subway Cup finals

The Woods Panthers have defeated Health and Life Phoenix 48-35 on Tuesday night after a dominant first quarter performance set up the win at Netball SA Stadium.

The win propels Woods to fifth on the Subway Cup ladder and they trail Spring Gully Newton Jaguars by just one spot as the race to the finals continues to intensify.

Woods coach Trudy Barker was unsurprisingly positive after defeating third placed Phoenix and falling one goal short of second placed Contours Matrics last Saturday.

“If we can stick to that momentum, we will challenge any team above us and that’s what we’re hoping for and you never know who’s going to lift to the occasion.”

“Finals are finals, it’s anyone game.” 

Woods dominated the start and finish of the first quarter to grab the lead and their consistent effort kept the Phoenix at arms length for the following three quarters.

Woods GS Kim Walker was strong under the net making some wayward feeds look very good and WA Alice Murt displayed her usual speed around the mid-court. Woods took an 8-goal lead into the first break.

After a slow start to the match Phoenix found some of their recent good form to convert some extra possession into goals, scoring 3 in a row to narrow the margin. After trailing by 10 goals mid-way through the second, things seemingly couldn’t get any worse for Phoenix.

But then they did. GS Kylie Jarrett was forced from the court with an injury complaint, which allowed Steph Ventrice an opportunity in the Premier League. Her extra mobility around the circle seemed to help though and Phoenix cut the margin back to 7 ad half time.

Quick work was needed from the Phoenix attack to try and move Woods’ GD Fiona Crowe and GK Sally Fuller around the circle in the third. Although they were successful early in the third quarter cutting the lead to 5, the Woods defence regained control.

A nice intercept from WD Claire Alvino stopped crucial Phoenix momentum. Woods were executing much better then Phoenix and led by 8 goals at the last change.

Once again Phoenix tried to fight their way back into the game but Woods remained focussed throughout the final quarter. Any chance of a comeback was controlled and with time running down, Woods extended their lead to win by 13 goals.

Barker acknowledged the importance of the match and credited her side with a wonderful team effort saying that finding a best player would be difficult.

“It was an important win, more so for our confidence and our playing style, to get it right. To win every quarter was a great effort by all the girls defensively and in attack, so yeah it was good,” Barker said.

“That first quarter our start was amazing so credit to the girls, they’ve learnt their lessons, they can push on they just believed in themselves.

“It was a good team effort from every single one of them, it’s going to be hard to pick a best player.”

Phoenix coach Lee Anne Cummins while disappointed with the loss was able to find some positives from the match. And while finals would be in the back of her sides’ minds the focus will be on their round 20 encounter with competition front-runners ETSA Contax.

“It’s obviously disappointing, we’ve beaten them the previous two times so you sort of want to finish off in that minor round clean sweep,” she said.

“Woods certainly put a lot of physical pressure on which made it hard for us to adjust and made us hesitate with giving that first ball, which obviously then made us second guess and set some opportunities up for them as well. So we just need to make sure that we’ve got the confidence to give it to our teammates.

“Training tomorrow night will just to be re-group and focus on Contax.”

In the other matches played, The Royal Cougars defeated Stellar Homes Garville 61-46 to keep their finals hopes alive. ETSA Contax survived a close encounter with Contours Matrics winning 49-45 in a match that featured multiple lead changes.

Quarter-by-quarter

Q1:   Woods  16 – 8  Phoenix

Q2:   Woods  25 – 18  Phoenix

Q3:   Woods  33 – 25  Phoenix

Q4:   Woods  48 – 35  Phoenix

Match Shooting Stats

Woods   48/65   73.85%

K. Walker:   37/45   82.22%

E. Thomas:   11/20   55%

Phoenix   35/45   77.78%

K. Jarrett:   8/10   80%

M. Gibb:   21/25   84%

S. Ventrice:   6/10   60%

Consistent Health and Life Phoenix create third spot buffer with defeat of The Royal Cougars

Health and Life Phoenix have created a 4-point buffer for themselves, in third spot, after defeating The Royal Cougars 58-43 at Netball SA Stadium on Friday night.

Assisting their cause was ETSA Contax who thrashed Spring Gully Newton Jaguars by 22 goals, also on Friday night.

Phoenix coach Lee Anne Cummins said that while the points buffer is nice, her side couldn’t look to far ahead.

“It puts us two games clear so it does take a little bit of the pressure off, it doesn’t mean we can relax though too. We’ve got to face up against Contax yet and Jags got thumped by them tonight,” Cummins said.

The same cannot be said for the Cougars with the loss adding a little more pressure on the side. 


Captain Leigh Waddington says they must address the importance of their remaining matches if they are to feature in finals netball.

“They’re very important games and I don’t think we should shy away from that, we have to look at that and they are hard games. Positivity and, forget that game, now move on to next week.”

The opening quarter was fairly even between the two sides as a regular pattern formed in the play. Phoenix continually gained a 2-goal advantage only for the Cougars to level scores with back-to-back goals each time.

Phoenix were displaying good pressure in defence early and a sound attacking line with GS Mel Gibb and GA Mel Rowland looking in good touch. Gibb in particular was in nice touch considering her being bed ridden for 3 days prior to the match. Phoenix led at quarter time by two goals.

The second quarter saw a small adjustment to the Cougars attack with Jo Nixon shifting to GA and Leigh Waddington to WA, which was a good move with them combining well. The Cougars settled mid-quarter after trailing by 4-goals.

However, the Phoenix defence continued their good pressure not allowing the Cougars any momentum and the Phoenix attacking line was proving efficient as they went to the half-time break leading by 2.

Phoenix co-captain Dalice Kennedy came on at GK in the third quarter, shifting the Phoenix players one position up court with WA Erin Scheepens coming off. This move did not unsettle the side at as the Phoenix continued their consistent performance from the first half.

Kennedy’s direction was proving extremely useful for her side as the Cougars lacked execution with the ball. The lead stretched to 6 goals early in the third, Mel Rowland proving unstoppable as she continually shot from mid-range. Phoenix extended their lead at the final break to 7 goals.

The Cougars faced an uphill battle in the final quarter, even though they trailed by just 7 goals going into it. The Phoenix defence was not letting up and on the back of their good work they moved out to a 13 goal lead with just six and a half minutes remaining.

It was a disappointing finish for the Cougars who just lacked a bit of experience in the closing quarter of an important match. The Phoenix were continued on realising that percentage was important with such a tight competition ladder, going on to win by 15 goals.

Cummins happy with her side’s four-quarter performance particularly after sickness had affected them.

“Happy with the effort probably over the four quarters, still some lapses in each quarter but also too we had quite a bit of illness in the team, Mel Gibb had been in bed for three days and Dalice has been crook so to be able to run the game out was a bonus.”

“I thought that Kate gave us a little bit more drive at WA which helped and Dalice’s talk and direction from the back is always a bonus.”

Cougars captain Leigh Waddington identified that her side need to put in a stronger effort over four quarters, especially against sides like Phoenix.

“They can play hard one-on-one [defence] or they are very good at offline and coming out at the ball but it’s not even that, they were very accurate tonight, they had Mel Rowland and she doesn’t miss a goal.”

“It’s tight, but you know what, it makes it exciting and hopefully it makes the girls want it more for these last two games. We just need to put in an effort for four quarters, we seem to slump, we can go with teams for three quarters and then we drift off.

In other results, the ETSA Contax kept their perfect season thus far intact defeating the Spring Gully Newton Jaguars 56-34. Contours Matrics held off a determined Woods Panthers side but just one goal in an entertaining match, the final score 41-40.

Quarter-by-quarter score:

Q1:   Phoenix  11 – 9  Cougars

Q2:   Phoenix  28 – 26  Cougars

Q3:   Phoenix  43 – 36  Cougars

Q4:   Phoenix  58 – 43  Cougars

Match Shooting Stats:

Phoenix   58/70   82.8%

M. Gibb:   27/31   87.1%

M. Rowland:   31/39   79.5

Cougars   43/58   74.1%

J. Roberts:   29/38   76.3%

S. Carver:   3/5   60%

J. Nixon:   11/15   73.3%