Finals Day 1 SN Reserves match report | Vixens Academy vs Tasmania Wild

Vixens Academy put out a full-squad performance for a resounding 69-31 win over Tasmania Wild to begin their 2026 Super Netball Reserves Finals campaign on Friday 12 June.

Showcasing their depth and versatility, the Victorian side won every quarter against the young Tasmanian team.

Q1 | Vixens Academy 15 – 5 Tasmania Wild

To kick off their first finals match, Vixens Academy head coach Wendy Jacobsen opted for one of her most experienced lineups, except for training partner Georgie O'Brien who earned her first start of the season at wing defence. Tasmania Wild began with the same lineup who started in their 1-point win over Territory Storm on Wednesday.

Vixens Academy got off to one of their trademark good starts, scoring the first 5 goals before Tasmania got on the board. The Victorian side picked up gains through full-court pressure, causing multiple balls over Tasmania’s baseline, and disrupting soft passes. With Vixens Academy goal shooter Bella Hodgson often under pressure, Mia Lavis was able to sweep the front of the circle and help split the shooting load. Errors eventually crept into Vixens Academy’s game, allowing Tasmania to go on a 3-goal run impacted by Isabella Sherriff coming at centre. Up by 3 going into the power five, Vixens Academy took the opportunity to bring pull further ahead by bringing Ruby Turner on at goal defence and sinking super shots through Hodgson and Lavis. Goal shooter Amber Brown scored Tasmania’s only goal of the final five minutes to create a 10-point lead to Vixens Academy at quarter time.

Q2 | Vixens Academy 32 – 13 Tasmania Wild

Taylah Brown came on for her first minutes of the game at wing defence for Vixens Academy. Tasmania Wild made no changes to commence the period but soon brought Danielle Laugher into wing attack.

Tasmania started the quarter well while Vixens Academy adjusted to the play. They found their form through the experience of Maggie Caris, whose elevation caused doubt to Tasmania’s feeders sending the ball into Brown. Caris’ height also worked to disrupt the shot of Tasmanian goal attack Sophie Sherriff playing alongside her twin sister Isabella in centre. Unable to completely put the foot down, Vixens Academy rang in the changes, bringing Georgia Moody into wing attack, followed by Ruby Pekin-Schlicht at goal defence, and Zali Anderson into centre. After a 2-goal run to Tasmania in the power five, it was all Vixens Academy’s way, with Anderson using front cuts to find space and feed into Lavis and Sahara Ball, who was injected at goal shooter with three minutes to go. Vixens scored 3 super shots via Lavis in the third quarter and converted additional gains through Caris. By scoring the last 8 points of the quarter, Vixens Academy were able to establish a healthy 32-13 margin at half time.

Q3 | Vixens Academy 54 – 18 Tasmania Wild

It was another high scoring quarter for Vixens Academy created by defensive pressure in regular time and accurate super shot attempts in the power five. The Victorian side made no changes to begin the quarter, while Tasmania Wild brought three of their starters back on court: Sophie Blackberry returning to goal attack, Gemma Collyer to goal defence, and Abbey Geappen to centre. Mackenzie Graves also returned to wing attack midway through the period.

Brown delivered the energy in this quarter, picking up two intercepts to help Vixens Academy push further ahead, enhanced by the impact of training partner Charli Nicol coming on goal defence. Georgia Moody was dominant getting to circle edge and re-offering from wing attack. The depth of Vixens Academy was again on show when training partner Casey Dunstan came on at centre and immediately gained an intercept. Already up by 26 heading into the power 5, Vixens Academy injected Gabby Dwyer at goal keeper, and didn’t hesitate to add to the scoreboard when Tasmania made multiple changes. Lavis scored 2 super shots, and Ball 1, while Tasmania Wild were unable to convert their own attempts via Blackberry and Grace Close at shooter. Vixens Academy outscored Tasmania Wild 10-0 in the final five minutes to create a third quarter margin of 36.

Q4 | Vixens Academy 69 – 31 Tasmania Wild

With the lead well established, head coach Wendy Jacobsen took the opportunity to mix up her lineup with some relatively untested combinations including O'Connor at wing attack, Moody at goal attack, and Turner at wing defence. Tasmania made no changes to start, but Macie Petterwood returned at goal defence shortly into the period.

Vixens Academy’s Dwyer was impressive at goal keeper in this quarter, managing to stay clean while applying strong body-on-body pressure to pick up gains. O’Brien returned at centre, followed by Pekin-Schlicht at goal defence, whose combined presence was immediately felt alongside Ally O’Connor who kept balls alive. Tasmania brought Sophie Sherriff back into the game at goal attack to again combine with her sister Isabella. It was Tasmania Wild’s highest scoring quarter of the game by 5, and they outscored Vixens Academy in the closing power five by 2, but the Victorians came out on top in the period by 2 and won the game by 38.

THE COACH SAYS

Head coach Wendy Jacobsen said what separated Vixens Academy from Tasmania Wild in this game was her side’s defensive pressure and ability to mix it up in attack. “We had smothering defence that created 38 gained balls and converted 33 into goals using a variety of attack and defence strategies.”

Vixens Academy co vice-captain Zali Anderson added, “We haven’t had much experience against those players… They had a strong, tall goal shooter who was such a target. To combat, we implemented different defensive set ups and a huge credit to our defenders for getting so many gained balls.”

Jacobsen was proud to see all Vixens Academy athletes take their opportunities in this match and contribute to the dominant win. “We have such depth in our team, and it was so great to be able to expose all 14 Victorian athletes to this level of competition. Every athlete brings something slightly different, and we were able to utilise this today in all four quarters.”

The coach was also pleased with her side’s execution of the super shot that allowed them to pull ahead from the first quarter. “2-point time has been a real growth area in our game throughout this competition. We got 8 super shots in this match and our ability to handle and shoot and score 2s was excellent today,” said Jacobsen. “Introducing this rule into the Victorian Netball League (VNL) would really be a great addition to the Championship competition.”

Vixens Academy co vice-captain Maggie Caris added, “Our shooters were incredible today. It is such a different game plan compared to VNL. For us, we have four goalers who have incredible accuracy and we back them to shoot them.”

NEXT UP

Vixens Academy will play their final match of the 2026 SN Reserves season against 9th seed Capital Darters on Sunday 14 June at 8am AEST. The ACT side have already shown their potential when defeating Queensland Firebirds Futures by 1 on Friday morning.

Find out more and purchase tickets to SN Reserves finals here.

Stream all Super Netball Reserves games via Kommunity TV/Code Sports and keep up to date with scores via Play HQ.