After a euphoric reaction to keeping their 2017 season alive, GIANTS Netball are refocused and ready to meet the Minor Premiers, Melbourne Vixens, in the inaugural Suncorp Super Netball Preliminary Final this Saturday night (10 June) at Hisense Arena.

Having come from behind in the final quarter to defeat the Magpies Netball Club in the Minor Semi Final, the GIANTS are one win away from featuring in the title-decider; all that stands in their way are the Vixens. 

The last time the two sides met was in Round 12, with the GIANTS putting out arguably their most consistent 60 minute game for the season to finish 56-52 victors at Canberra’s AIS Arena. 

However Head Coach and Captain, Julie Fitzgerald and Jo Harten, were both in agreement when speaking to GIANTSNetballTV that Finals netball is a whole different ball game.

“Our defence all over the court was particularly good that day and we cherished the ball really well. But Finals netball is a totally different game so I try not to read too much into what happened in the (regular season),” Fitzgerald said.

“Obviously you learn from it but you don’t read too much into it.”

The GIANTS will take plenty of learnings from their one-goal victory last Saturday night, with Harten admitting while the team clearly enjoyed the moment when the final whistle sounded their attentions have quickly shifted to the Vixens.

“We addressed the (Magpies) game on Tuesday and said that wasn’t going to be our final; it’s now about preparing for the Vixens this week,” Harten said.

“(We’ve now got to) go back to the drawing board, working hard, knowing we’re playing a quality team in their home venue. (Beating the Vixens) is a tough ask, but we’re up for the challenge.

“Melbourne is one of the best places to play netball in the world, so it’s an opportunity to play a great game in front of a great crowd. We’ll just soak it all in and do what we can – we know we’ll have a small number of orange Fans down there and we’ll lift for them when we hear them.” 

There will be plenty of support from the GIANTS AFL side at the game on Saturday night with the team in Melbourne preparing for Sunday’s game against Carlton. You can catch all the action this Saturday night on GEM from 7pm.