Vixens' fourth-quarter miracle seals grand final spot, crushes Swifts' premiership hopes

News.com.au

3 days ago

Melbourne Vixens are one win from sealing a fairytale finish to the career of coach Simone McKinnis after a 66-65 preliminary final win against the Swifts.
The Swifts led 31-29 at halftime, before dominating the third quarter to open a 51-41 advantage.
But the Vixens stormed back, outpointing their rivals 25-14 in the last to clinch victory and a spot in the grand final against West Coast Fever.
Earlier this year, McKinnis announced this would be her final year in charge of the Super Netball team.
- Jenny Sinclair
Melbourne Vixens are riding high after a last ditch effort to beat the NSW Swifts by 66 to 65 points, to book their place in the 2025 Super Netball grand final.
They came from behind in the dying seconds of the game, and will go into next week's match full of confidence having won eight of their last ten games.
Standing in their way however, will be the formidable West Coast Fever, who demolished the Swifts by 32 points in last weekend's major semi-final.
'I'm exhausted but I'm so bloody proud,' said Vixens captain Kate Moloney.
'We were down by ten goals and we found something in that last quarter and they just never stopped fighting.'
Coaching her second last match with the Vixens, Simone McKinnis said her side took their shot at victory.
'We weren't going to walk away from here afraid to take risks,' she said.
'They saw a glimpse and a hope and away they went.'
It was a dismal end to the season for Swifts, despite the return of inspirational captain Paige Hadley who has missed the last two rounds with a foot injury.
While she provided a calm head and safe pair of hands, the Swifts have been bundled out of the finals in straight sets, after looking untouchable as they went undefeated through the first eight rounds.
There was immense pressure from the opening whistle, causing fumbles, stray passes and uncharacteristic missed shots.
The Swifts were first to take advantage of those errors, going long and high to Grace Nweke in the circle.
Despite her athleticism, some balls were sprayed over her head or swatted away by goal keeper Rudi Ellis who finished with six gains, allowing the Vixens to shift gears and take a three point lead into the first break.
The Swifts hit the front in the second quarter as their confidence grew, with Helen Housby raising the bar after a quiet few weeks.
Passes started going in more smoothly to the circle, with Nweke lifting her shooting from a subpar 77 percent in the first quarter to a total of 53/58 at 91 percent across the match.
With the Swifts' Sharni Lambden applying enormous pressure at wing defence, Vixens' skipper Moloney did everything she could to pull her side over the line.
She had a strong connection with Sophie Garbin under the post, who picked up the slack while the hero of so many victories, Kiera Austin, struggled for influence early on.
The Vixens seemed down and out of the contest with the deficit sitting at 11 points and their penalties twice their opponents, until Lily Graham sank consecutive supershots to bring the margin back to single digits.
In an inspirational last quarter Austin finally switched on her radar when it counted, firing in three long range shots to finish with 12/16 including four from five supershots, while her partner Garbin had a solid 46/47. The Vixens found another gear and rolled over the Swifts in highly emotional scenes.
MCKINNIS MAGIC
Simone McKinnis will make her final appearance as Vixens' coach in next weekend's grand final, after 212 games in charge of the club. Across 13 years, she's taken them to two titles, three minor premierships and a further three grand final appearances, and will leave massive shoes to fill.
Remarkably, the previous three Super Netball preliminary finals have been decided by a solitary point, with the Vixens taking out two of those wins, and the Swifts the other. Despite moving on into the grand final, neither side was then able to steal the ultimate victory.