Attacker Kiera Austin believes the Melbourne Vixens can defy the doubters in their grand-final qualifier against the red-hot Adelaide Thunderbirds as they aim to overcome their late-season Super Netball slump.
Last year's premiers looked primed to earn a home major semi-final after sitting atop the ladder midway through the season, but their campaign dramatically derailed and the side lost four of their last five games, relinquishing top spot to Adelaide.
Although they had enough wins to secure a major semi-final berth, instead of hosting the grand-final qualifier in front of their home fans they must travel to South Australia to face the Thunderbirds - who are on an eight-game winning streak - on Sunday afternoon.
On May 31 Adelaide thumped the Vixens 61-42, before defeat against the third-placed West Coast Fever last Sunday compounded their misery.
Austin admitted Melbourne needed to have some hard conversations and spend time reflecting on what had gone wrong, but with those meetings now wrapped up the star attacker believes they can turn around their fortunes.
"When we reflect on our season last year, at the start of the season it was not going our way at all," Austin told AAP.
"Then we had similar conversations and really flipped the narrative and had an awesome, epic end to the year.
"There are so many different ways a premiership can be won, and just because you start strong and then have a dip doesn't mean you can't resurface."
The Fever's 64-55 win over the Vixens secured hosting rights for Sunday's do-or-die minor semi-final against the Melbourne Mavericks, with the winners to play the losers of the major semi-final next week.
Midcourter Alice Teague-Neeld says the Fever are out to complete unfinished business after narrowly losing to the Vixens in last year's grand final.
But she's approaching these finals with a sense of relief and calm, despite being omitted from the Diamonds' Commonwealth Games squad this week.
Teague-Neeld had received a call-up to the initial squad, but conceded that not knowing if she was in the final Glasgow line-up had caused her to worry about two things at once.
Now that her fate with the national team has been decided, the 30-year-old says she can focus on avenging last campaign's heartbreak.
"Every time you step on to the netball court, they (selectors) are always watching, so the more performances you put out that are really solid will help your case," Teague-Neeld told AAP.
"The first step is getting into the squad (Diamonds) ... (but now) we (Fever) are gunning for three weeks' time to be in the grand final in Melbourne."
