International Player Watch – Suncorp Super Netball League 2022 Round Five

The Suncorp Super Netball League in Australia reached Round 5 this weekend, with all teams taking to court live on NetballAustralia.TV.

The round consisted of league upsets, with unbeaten records coming to end and some very high scoring games too.

Lightning 71 – 58 Vixens

First up, bottom of the league Lightning took on top of the league Vixens and in a shock change of events the hosts finished on top lifting themselves up one place in the league and moving Vixens down to second.

Vixen’s defeat means their unbeaten run had now come to an end.

The standout international player in Lightnings dominant performance was goal attack Steph Wood (Australia Diamond) who scored four super shots in the third quarter taking Lightning’s lead to 24-14 which proved too much for Vixens to come back from.

Giants 76 – 61 Magpies

Next up, was a bottom half of the table clash with Giants taking on Magpies.

A strong start from Giants, saw them lead 21-13 after just the first 15 minutes.

From there a shooting masterclass from England Rose Jo Hartern, and Sophie Dwyer secured the win.

Harten shot at 100% scoring all 50 of her shots, including two super shots, whilst Dwyer scored 23/26 of her shots, only missing two normal shots and one normal shot.

Fever 76 – 58 Swifts

The penultimate game of the weekend was another high scoring match, with Fever joining Lightning and Giants in the 70’s club.

Fever’s high score was thanks to Jamaican Sunshine Girl Jhaniele Fowler only missing three shots all game, and scoring 60 goals, 2 of which were super shots.

At the other end of the court Australian Dimond Courtney Bruce dominated as she made 12 possession gains and was eventually awarded Player of the Match.

The victory meant that Fever were able to move back top of the table, capitalising on Vixen’s shock defeat to Lightning.

Firebirds 60 – 50 Thunderbirds

Finally, Firebirds took on Thunderbirds in the closest contest of the weekend.

Despite being on the eventual losing side, it was Jamaican Sunshine Girl and World Netball Ambassador Shamera Sterling that stood out in the match.

Sterling had 12 gains, including six intercepts but it just wasn’t enough to stop the Firebirds taking the victory.

Coming up…

The next round of Australia’s Suncorp Super Netball League begins on the 23rd April, with all teams taking to court once again.

You can view the full fixture list here.

You can view the league table here.

International fans can watch every game of the 2022 Suncorp Super Netball Season live and on-demand as part of NetballAustralia.TV, the official international subscription service for fans outside of Australia and New Zealand.

To find out more about elite domestic netball leagues in other World Netball Regions, click here.