Netball’s hottest player-coach partnership has steered the Sunshine Coast Lightning into a third straight Super Netball grand final after a 58-48 major semi-final win against the NSW Swifts.
Coach Noeline Taurua and captain Laura Langman have positioned their team within reach of a premiership hattrick which, if successful, would be the first secured in elite Australian domestic netball since the old Sydney Swifts outfit of 2006-08 in the now defunct Commonwealth Bank Trophy – two national leagues ago.
The New Zealand duo have only lost once across 15 domestic and World Cup games since the beginning of June.
Langman and her midcourt partner Laura Scherian moved with finely-tuned precision to break down the Swifts’ resistance. While Scherian at just 167cm initally struggled with the height of New Zealander Katrina Rore (187cm) towering over her in wing defence, once she adjusted her game to prioritise hitting the circle edge, she was able to get quick feeds into the moving circle.
Shooters Cara Koenen (30/32) and Steph Wood (22/29) then kept the scoreboard ticking over as the Swifts’ defensive pairing of Sarah Klau and Maddy Turner struggled to keep pace with the speedy duo. Peace Proscovia entered the game early in the fourth quarter, which changed up the dynamic of the circle, but the Lightning barely missed a beat.
The Sunshine Coast team are now straight into the grand final in Brisbane on 14 September. While not the fortress that their stadium in Sippy Downs is, it is still a world away from the hostile environment at Perth Arena where the Lightning won their second consecutive Super Netball premiership in 2018.
In great signs for world netball and the increasing star power of international players, only half the starters across both teams were eligible for Australia.
Both Langman, who was named player of the match, and South African goal defence Karla Pretorius, were absolutely pivotal. Langman had two gains, two intercepts, two deflections and two pick ups for the game, while Pretorius raked in four gains, three intercepts, four deflections and a pick up.
The Swifts now head home to Sydney to face the winner of Sunday’s minor semi-final between the Melbourne Vixens and the Collingwood Magpies.
