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Vic Fury to meet NSW Waratahs in Australian Netball League final

The Australian Netball League will have a new champion in 2019, after both of last year’s grand finalists were sensationally knocked out in the semi-finals.

In an exact flip of last year’s semi results, defending champions the Tasmanian Magpies were defeated by the Netball NSW Waratahs, while the Victorian Fury toppled the Canberra Giants at Melbourne’s State Netball Hockey Centre.

The Fury and Waratahs will play for gold tomorrow at 12.30pm in a game that could go either way, with the teams splitting their two encounters during the regular season.

Read on for our full semi-final match reports.

ANL FINALS SCHEDULE

*** ALL GAMES LIVE STREAMED ON NETBALL AUSTRALIA’S FACEBOOK PAGE ***

BRONZE MEDAL GAME
10.30am AEST
Tasmanian Magpies vs Canberra Giants

GOLD MEDAL GAME
12.30pm AEST
Victorian Fury vs Netball NSW Waratahs

Victorian Fury vs Canberra Giants

The Victorian Fury are one step closer to avenging last year’s Australian Netball League finals disappointment, defeating the Canberra Giants in the first of the competition’s semi-finals.

The Fury, who finished atop the ANL ladder last season but were knocked out of the gold medal running by the fourth-placed Giants in a shock semi-final result, put those ghosts to bed in a hard-fought 59-50 win 12 months on.

The Victorians again finished first at the end of the regular season, but this time the Giants had few answers for towering former Melbourne Vixens goal shooter Emma Ryde, who finished with 50 goals and was the clear difference between the two sides.

The result was up in the air until the last five minutes, however, with the Fury withstanding a final-quarter Canberra charge to seal the win.

Fury captain Jacqui Newton said the team had spoken about last year’s disappointment and were determined not to let it happen twice.

“Yeah we did (talk about it.) Finishing first doesn’t mean anything. You can bomb out and it means nothing once you get to finals. Everyone’s got the exact same opportunity,” she said.

Newton said the Fury wanted the match on their terms from the outset, but said there was plenty of work to do before Sunday’s final.

“We knew our ball speed is our biggest asset and if we could just get the ball moving and slow them down then we’d be right.”

“There were some really good patches but then there were just some really sloppy (parts). I think we took our foot off the pedal at some stages. We really talked at half-time and three-quarter time about just really punishing them and putting the foot down and building out our lead, but that didn’t happen as much as we would have liked, so tomorrow we’ll really focus on going into fifth gear.”

While the Giants did well to slow the Fury’s much-vaunted speed in attack throughout the first half, Victoria still looked the better of the two teams early, taking control halfway through the first quarter to score five goals in a row and lead 13-8.

The margin was soon six after a contact call on Canberra goal shooter Georgia Marshall (31 goals from 38 attempts), but the Giants were sparked into action with a couple of quick turnovers, and when goal keeper Teigan O’Shannessy finally got some reward for her work on Ryde with a crucial deflection inside the last minute, the Giants were able to square the ledger at 15-15.

Victoria wasted no time in turning to their bench to start the second quarter, replacing Melbourne Vixen Lara Dunkley with pocket rocket Ellie Leydin, whose ability to find Ryde under the post was telling as the match wore on.

The teams traded goals for most of the quarter, with neither able to break away as every turnover was greeted almost immediately by another from the opposition.

Giants goal attack Angelina Frketic (13 from 14) had become a major factor with five from five for the quarter, but a held ball inside the last 90 seconds gave the Fury an opening, and they quickly found Ryde again – twice – to grab a 31-28 lead at the long break.  

The turnovers flowed freely in the third quarter, with a flurry of five coming without a score at one point, until Leydin again found Ryde to push the score to 34-29.

The Fury had their biggest lead of the game when Ryde scored her fourth in a row to take an eight-goal advantage, but again the Giants had answers, with three quick goals of their own to reduce the gap to five, until a centre pass break from Giants wing attack Taylah Davies allowed the Fury to push it back to eight.

The Fury’s 2018 demons looked like rearing their heads again early in the final term, with Marshall netting the first goal to kick off the quarter, quickly followed by a call against Leydin for not setting a penalty, and the margin was soon back to five again.

Canberra, spurred on by a very vocal bench, lifted their pressure and grabbed another intercept intercept to help shave the margin to four, but Dunkley, now in wing defence, produced one of her own at the other end to relieve the pressure.

Goal shooters standing 197cm tall don’t get any shorter in big moments, and Ryde continued to impose herself, with the Fury re-establishing their eight-goal edge after a loose pass from the Giants’ attacking unit.

It was all or nothing for the Giants inside the last five minutes, with another turnover cutting the margin to six, but the Fury weren’t letting this one go, hanging tough in the dying minutes to win by nine.

Netball NSW Waratahs vs Tasmanian Magpies

The Netball NSW Waratahs will play off for gold in the Australian Netball League grand final, after coming from behind to defeat 2018 premiers the Tasmanian Magpies in a thriller.

Almost a year to the day after the Magpies knocked the Waratahs out of gold medal contention, the Waratahs returned the favour with a 51-47 win, despite trailing by as many as nine goals early in the match.

It was NSW’s teenaged goal circle of Matisse Letherbarrow (25 from 29) and Sophie Dwyer (18 from 22) that stood tall when it counted, with the pair combining perfectly and sinking shot after shot under immense pressure in the second half to put the Magpies to the sword.

The Waratahs will now play the Victorian Fury in the final on Sunday.

Letherbarrow, who entered the game for Alison Miller (eight from nine) in the second quarter, said she battled some early nerves, but that the result was a fitting reward for her team after a huge ANL campaign.

“I was pretty nervous coming on, but I just had to focus on my role and what I had to do. I’ve got an amazing team around me who are bloody good,” she said.

“It feels so amazing, we’ve worked so hard every week and obviously this is the end goal (being in the final),” she said.

“The Magpies are such a good team, they always bring it to us, so to get that win is absolutely amazing, it’s such a good feeling.”

Letherbarrow said while before the game they were conscious of not falling at the first hurdle for a second year, the squad felt different this time around.

“The dynamic of our team is extremely different this year. Obviously not getting the win last year was in the back of our minds, but I think it makes us a lot hungrier and wanting to win.”

The opening minutes of the game were error-strewn as both teams struggled to settle, but it was the Magpies who gathered themselves first, taking a 9-5 lead.

Tasmania defenders Brooke Allan and Matilda Garrett were having a huge say, producing a string of turnovers late in the quarter as their lead grew to six when goal attack Sam Gooden (14 from 19) potted one from long-range.

A late Waratahs goal had them trailing 10-15 at the break.

The Magpies scored the first two goals to open the second quarter, and soon their lead was nine as Gooden and her teammates started to find 201cm target Jane Cook (32 from 50) under the post.

Lauren Moore was introduced at goal keeper for NSW and the experienced defender had an immediate impact, deflecting a ball intended for Cook to help keep her team in touch.

An errant pass from Magpies centre Kelsie Rainbow and subsequent goal to Letherbarrow allowed the Waratahs to cut the gap to four, and soon it was two, after more Magpie errors en route to the goal circle.

A late Tasmania goal had them in front 27-24 at half-time.

A nervous Cook missed twice from close range to start the third quarter, but Letherbarrow was having no such trouble at the other end, scoring six of the quarter’s first eight goals to tie the scores opening minutes and then put her team in front.

The Waratahs’ physical brand of defence had the Magpies rattled and they remained in front 38-35 at the end of the third.

The Magpies scored four of the first six goals to start the final term, but the Waratahs had a quick response, nailing seven of the next eight to move seven goals clear. A late burst of Tasmanian goals kept things interesting, but they got no closer than three as the Waratahs closed it out.

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