Hard lessons just the tonic for stumbling NSW Swifts

Justin Chadwick | July 18, 2025

Losses are never fun, but NSW Swifts coach Briony Akle is confident her team’s poor end to the regular season will hold her players in good stead for their major semi-final against West Coast Fever in Perth.

The Swifts were the benchmark team for most of the Super Netball season after opening their campaign with eight straight wins.

Their run started with a 67-49 demolition of the Fever in round one, and they were aiming for nine victories in a row by the time they faced the Fever again in round nine.

But Fever’s 79-68 win on enemy territory sparked the start of a big drop in form for the Swifts, who ended the regular season with four losses from their final six games.

NSW’s struggles were highlighted in the final round, when they needed extra time to scrape past the last-placed Queensland Firebirds.

West Coast (12-2) are on a 12-match winning streak and will start as hot favourites against the Swifts (10-4) in front of more than 13,000 screaming fans at RAC Arena.

But Akle feels her team’s tough run-in to the finals will prove to be a blessing in disguise.

“I feel like a run of nine (victories) is amazing, but it doesn’t teach you a lot. I feel like our losses have really taught us a lot,” Akle said.

“We’ve gone back to look at how we can be better in those clutch moments.

“We’ve had hard training sessions, really good feedback to each other, and I think these guys are ready to face the Fever.”

Sunday’s blockbuster will feature the two best goal shooters in the league.

At one end is Fever superstar Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard, who has scored a competition-high 724 goals this season despite missing the first two rounds.

The Swifts boast New Zealand star Grace Nweke, who has scored 718 goals in a standout first season of Super Netball.

“I feel like it will be the battle of the one-point game, and who is going to break first,” Akle said.

“And it may come down to the Super Shot in the end for both teams.

“I think it will be exciting. It will come down to that last quarter and that last five minutes I think.”

The Swifts are still sweating on the fitness of co-captain Paige Hadley (foot), who missed the win over the Firebirds.

The winner of the major semi-final will go straight into the August 2 decider in Melbourne, with the loser relegated to a home preliminary final.

The minor semi on Sunday pits two-time defending champions Adelaide Thunderbirds up against last year’s beaten grand finalists Melbourne Vixens in Adelaide.

The losers of that match are eliminated, with the winners progressing to the preliminary final.

Meanwhile, Giants inaugural coach Julie Fitzgerald has stepped down from her role following the team’s sixth-placed finish this year.

Fitzgerald’s National League coaching career, which spans just shy of three decades, includes five premierships across stints with the Sydney Swifts and NSW Swifts, the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic in New Zealand, and the Giants.

Under Fitzgerald’s guidance, the Giants claimed two minor premierships, played in two grand finals, and reached the finals in four of the past nine seasons.