On The Punt: Gilbert Gardiner's best bets at Pakenham Synthetic on Monday
Form analyst Gilbert Gardiner thinks an Alex Rae-trained gelding is primed to notch a second career victory on Monday's meeting at Pakenham Synthetic.
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Super Netball Round-Up: Crackdown on backchat, Swifts hit rough spot and Diamonds coach helps lift Firebirds camp
It's hard to believe — given the poor start of some teams — but with a month left to go in the regular season, all eight Super Netball clubs can still make finals. The desperation was evident in round 10, as the bottom four desperately tried to keep their seasons alive. Sadly, for either the Queensland Firebirds or Melbourne Mavericks, their chances will be squashed in round 11, when seventh and eighth meet in Brisbane. Both teams gave their all on the weekend, as the Mavericks fell to the West Coast Fever, 69-63, and the Firebirds were defeated by the Adelaide Thunderbirds, 65-58. In her maiden campaign with the NSW Swifts, Grace Nweke became the first shooter to reach 500 goals this season. But she also registered her lowest individual score of 40 goals as she took a back seat while the NSW Swifts re-introduced Sophie Fawns to their line-up. The Swifts were undefeated for eight rounds before suffering consecutive losses in a surprising mid-season slump. First to the Fever and now the Melbourne Vixens, 70-68. Meanwhile, the Giants defied all odds to clinch back-to-back victories for the first time in two years. They beat the Sunshine Coast Lightning, 78-68, to move out of wooden spoon contention. If you missed it, don't worry — we'll get you up to speed with our Super Netball Round-Up. Twice throughout the second half of the Mavericks' game, midcourter Tayla Fraser had an infringement advanced when she expressed frustration at an umpire call. For anyone new to the sport, this means the opposing team gets to take the ball further up the court than where the infringement happened in order to gain a bigger advantage. At the time, Vixens captain Kate Moloney was in commentary for Fox Netball and remarked: "That's been something the umpires have been really hot on this season, is any reaction or any chat back to them, and that's why the ball was advanced there." However, Netball Australia's umpiring head coach Sharon Kelly told ABC Sport there has been no direction whatsoever of a crackdown and perhaps it is actually World Netball's rule changes that have made these instances more obvious. "The rule was adjusted at the beginning of last year that for 'disputed ruling', which used to be called 'dissent', it is now an advancement," Kelly said. "Prior to that, it was dealt with by proactive advice or a caution, so that may make people feel like it's being officiated a little differently. "The rule book now says that a disputed ruling will be an advancement underneath foul play, and I don't feel that there's been any more of it than usual. "The players seem to respond better to this, because I believe the caution was starting to become a little bit like white noise. "It wasn't being effective in changing the player's behaviour, whereas an advancement does." Another example worth noting was from the Swifts match two rounds ago, where Helen Housby was called for contact late in the third quarter and showed some dissent with regards to the call, raising her arms in protest. "Goal attack, be quiet," she was told by the umpire before the game played on. The umpire's assertion proved to work from that point on in the game where there was no longer any backchat from players. A harder stance on backchat at the Super Netball level has sparked some discussion at a community level. A parent of a junior netballer told ABC Sport hardline officiating with regards to backchat had been discussed within their club. There were concerns the stance may be copied by young impressionable umpires who officiate local games. "In Super Netball, the game is played at such speed that sometimes, whilst the umpires will try hard to give very succinct directions to a player, the wording comes out harsh," Kelly said. "We appreciate that we want to get it right so that we are respectful of each other and set an example, but we need to acknowledge that there's an example to be set by the players as well." What has happened to the Swifts' form? Their defeat to the Vixens was much tighter than their loss to the Fever (79-68) but they had to use the super shot to claw the score back. Without the 12 two-pointers the Swifts converted, the final score would've been 64-44. There have also been some interesting selection decisions made by head coach Briony Akle, who has put more faith in her 11th player than her senior athletes. The rule brought in last year, allowing each club to sign an extra player on top of their senior 10, means that player can rotate in and out of the squad at any time. Akle has opted to use Swifts No.11 Grace Whyte on a regular basis, as she looks for more midcourt cover from a wing attack, goal attack swing. As a result, Fawns has only just hit the court in round 10. Fawns played 12 minutes in total across the last three quarters, helping to share the super shot load with Housby. She did miss an attempt with 32 seconds to go to level the game, but we can't hold that against her, given it was Fawns' first game of the season. Nweke has been on fire in regular time but has missed all three of her attempts at a super shot. Although it's made sense for the Swifts to put all their eggs in one basket and focus on feeding Nweke while they've been winning, teams have now worked out the best way to combat them is to isolate Housby. And once she's cut off, they lack a second long bomb specialist. The other big talking point is their midcourt. By choosing both Whyte and Fawns for round 10, Akle then had to make a tough call on her middies. In the end it was Allie Smith — who has provided great impact off the bench — that missed out. There has been a lot of praise for the Swifts' versatility, but is constant rotation in the midcourt a good thing? Maybe it actually demonstrates that their starting combos aren't clicking the way they should, and they've struggled to find a consistent wing attack alongside Paige Hadley to replace Maddy Proud's spot while she's been on maternity leave. Akle made a total 26 changes in this game. The Vixens made zero. Plus, the Swifts lacked the punch through the middle that Smith provides at centre. So, who makes the cut for the upcoming NSW Derby against the Giants? After a great start, winning two on the trot, the Firebirds have found themselves in a world of pain. Yet after their eighth straight loss, there were actually a lot of positives to talk about. New head coach Kiri Wills has slowly identified her best combinations and these were on show in round 10. An appearance from Aussie Diamonds head coach Stacey Marinkovich at training last week also seemed to give the Firebirds squad a lift in energy. Marinkovich has been visiting all of the teams one-by-one as she finalises her decisions around national contracts. The 2025/26 squad is expected to be announced after round 14 at the end of the regular season. It is not known whether it was simply the Firebirds' turn or whether Marinkovich was asked to come along this week by Wills. But it is generous of the Diamonds coach to share her insights like this, especially with imports playing in the league from opposing countries like Ugandan She Cranes talent Mary Cholhok. Speaking of shooters, Abigail Latu-Meafou has been growing in confidence each week as an injury replacement for the Firebirds and was almost the hero of this game. The Samoan international brought the scoreline back within one with two and a half minutes to go. She probably deserves a full-time contract next season. Her hot hand in the super shot arc had us all on the edge of our seats, before a couple of mistakes were capitalised on by Thunderbirds captain Hannah Petty and the two-time defending premiers scored five times in a row to hold onto the lead. It was the same predictable outcome, sure. But overall, their performance was much improved and should give fans a glimmer of hope about where they're headed next year. Marinkovich's presence clearly made an impact and perhaps a different voice in camp gave them the push they needed to keep fighting.
