Match preview: Vixens vs Collingwood

The un-Vixen-like performance on the back of their second win for the season had head coach Simone McKinnis again searching for some intensity and answers from her team.

Vixens midcourter, Allie Smith, who made an immediate impact in the final half of Saturday’s game, said the team is far from impressed with the display they are currently producing, and hopes they can take extra motivation into their battle with Collingwood.

“The game on the weekend was definitely disappointing to say the least. We don’t go out there to lose by that much and play that standard of netball,” Smith said.

“This week we’ll definitely be stripping it back. We have had our performance analysis and we know what we need to work on going forward.

“It’s about finding where those errors occurred and breaking that down. Whether it is our decision making out on the court or our execution and giving each other the trust that we need.”

Sitting at the top of the ladder, the Swifts were always going to be tough to overcome, yet the challenges that presented themselves will now be the key takeaways the Vixens will have high on the agenda at training this week.

“We know that the Swifts are a strong team, and they really jumped us at the start [of the game] – which we already knew that is what they do well.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to put what we wanted out there at the start of the quarter. But the last quarter was good, so we really need to switch that round and make that fourth quarter into our first.

“By the time we did play some good netball in the last quarter, the game was already done.”

With the ever-evolving Covid restrictions across Australia, all eight Suncorp Super Netball teams will find themselves in Adelaide, as the league looks to finish off the season securely.

“We are really good at adapting…so we’ve trained hard this week and hoping to put out some good netball. “

While the Victorian derby always brings a new energy to the court, the Vixens will look to leverage the spirit of the South Australian crowd to get them across the line.

“The game against the Magpies last time was disappointing, and not what we wanted to put out there, but I think we know what we need to do going into this weekend’s game, and it all just comes back to basics – catching, throwing and having some fun out there because that’s what we really need to do.”

The Vixens will host the Magpies at Netball SA Stadium on Saturday, 18 July at 1pm. Tickets are still available on Ticketek, and viewers can catch all the action live on Channel Nine and the Netball Live app.