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NSW Swifts will finish the Super Netball regular season as minor premiers after defeating Queensland Firebirds 78-65 to lock in top spot with one round to play.
The Swifts put in a clinical performance at Brisbane’s Nissan Arena on Sunday to complete their ninth win on the trot and capitalise on a horror form slump from former ladder leaders Adelaide Thunderbirds to claim the minor premiership.
After missing a semi-final berth in 2022 in agonising circumstances when Collingwood pushed them out of fourth spot in the final round, the Swifts will enter the finals as favourites to claim their third championship in five years.
“I think we’ve had some challenges over the past 18 months to two years and to be in the position that we are today, they’ve worked so hard for it and, yeah, a very proud coach sitting here today,” Briony Akle said.
Languishing on one win and one draw following their 11-goal loss at home to West Coast Fever in round four, the Swifts came to life after pulling off dramatic one-goal wins in back-to-back games to trigger their unbeaten run.
“We’ve talked about those one-goal wins and, for us, that’s a skill even to come back and win by one,” Akle said.
“Today’s scoreboard is a reflector of the hard work that they’re certainly putting in at training and they’re doing a great job of moving forward, those little steps along to the finals.”
The Swifts will be gunning for a 10th win in a row against the Thunderbirds next Saturday before hosting the major-semi final in Sydney the following week.
The seventh-ranked Firebirds dented Melbourne Vixens’ chances of a top-two finish with an upset five-goal win last week and were aiming to play the role of spoiler again against the Swifts.
The home side made a promising start by overcoming an early five-goal deficit to close the first quarter locked at 17-17, then remained level with the Swifts with less than five minutes remaining in the half.
But Helen Housby demonstrated why she is one of the competition’s most in-form players with a surge of four two-point goals to lift the Swifts to a 38-33 half-time advantage.
NSW then piled on eight of the first 10 goals of the second half to take control of the contest as Sarah Klau and Maddy Proud continued to dominate their positions.
A 24-16 third quarter from the Swifts put the result beyond doubt but Firebirds goaler Donnell Wallan provided a fourth-quarter highlight by gathering an errant pass that ricocheted off the post and flicking the ball into the goal as she was falling out of play.