10-05-2025
Super Netball: Wilson stars as Thunderbirds bounce back, beat Firebirds
The Adelaide Thunderbirds have arrested a recent form slump, beating the Queensland Firebirds by nine points and inflicting their third consecutive loss. It's a stunning reversal of fortunes for the Firebirds, who started the Super Netball season with two wins but - results pending - could drop out of the top four and as low as sixth by the end of the round.
The Thunderbirds' 62-53 victory was set up by MVP Latanya Wilson, who pulled in 10 gains to give her side plenty of scoring opportunities.
Wilson stepped up in the absence of the world's best goal keeper, Shamera Sterling-Humphrey, who's now on parental leave after announcing her pregnancy two weeks ago.
As a result the Thunderbirds have looked below their dual premiership winning form recently, but did enough today to celebrate captain Hannah Petty's 100th national league match celebrations.
The skipper has been inspirational as she's kept the Thunderbirds settled and on track during their recent challenges.
Speaking post match, a disappointed Firebirds' coach Kiri Willis said, 'We did enough defensively to win that game, so we are very frustrated today. It's little things like missed shots, misplaced pass, those little things are starting to hurt us. The competition is so tight and every possession counts. We need to be better at converting those small moments.'
Both sides had a jittery start, with the Thunderbirds' Romelda Aiken-George unusually inaccurate at the post. It allowed the Firebirds to shoot out to a five point lead, but a quiet second quarter, in which they scored just 11 points, saw them rapidly overhauled and three points down by half time.
However, the Thunderbirds weren't able to push the lead out by much, under strong pressure from the Firebirds. 22 year old goal keeper Isabelle Shearer, despite giving away almost 16 years of experience to opponent Aiken-George, came up with six gains as she hassled the veteran into shooting just 34/46 at 74 percent.
The third quarter was a low scoring slog, as each side continued to up their defensive pressure. The Firebirds' introduction of Abigail Latu-Meafou into the shooting circle led a comeback, narrowing the deficit to just one point midway through the term. However Wilson wove some more defensive magic to push the Thunderbirds ahead again and take out the win.
Missed shot conversion proved costly in clutch moments for the Firebirds, as they sat as just 38 percent compared to the Thunderbirds 50.
Firebirds' co-captain Ruby Bakewell-Doran, who's been in strong form this season, played in her 50th national league match.
She was tasked with defending Lauren Frew, who put in an exceptional performance under the post with 22/23.
'Her speed is amazing and she's still learning at times when to put that into play,' said Thunderbirds coach Tania Obst of Frew.
'She's still learning her craft and understanding her impact and what impact that has on the team.'
LADDER LOSERS
With five Super Netball teams all sitting on eight points at the end of last week's matches, Round 5 could shake up the log jam like few other fixtures do.
Having lost today's match the Firebirds could drop as low as sixth place, other results pending, in a massive fall from grace at this point of the season.
With 14 rounds before finals, they will have to quickly find a way to reverse their fortunes if they want to be premiership contenders.
SHAMERA SUBSTITUTE
It's no easy feat to cover the loss of the world's best goal keeper, but the Thunderbirds are giving it a red hot crack.
In the last two weeks they've used fellow Jamaican Latty Wilson, Australian Tilly Garrett, and replacement player, South African Sanmarie Visser.
While all three athletes have the hops, it was Tilly Garrett who was given the job today, allowing Wilson free range to hunt the ball in front of her.
