Sunshine Coast Lightning just two wins away from rare feat

SUNSHINE Coast coach Noeline Taurua knows that reigning champions in the world’s best netball league rarely get a shot at back-to-back titles.

So the Lightning plan to make the most of their chance to strike twice.

After sensationally claiming the 2017 title in their inaugural year, the Sunshine Coast spent most of the 2018 regular season in Suncorp Super Netball outside the top four after dropping their opening three games.

But they have finished with a wet sail winning six of their last seven games — including their last five — to be just 60 minutes of good netball away from their second-straight grand final berth.

The Lightning qualified for Sunday’s preliminary final against the Giants in Sydney with a nailbiting 57-56 victory over the Queensland Firebirds at Boondall on Sunday.

A win over their fellow expansion club will see the Lightning take on West Coast Fever at Perth Arena in the 2018 season showpiece on Sunday, August 26.

In the old Commonwealth Bank Trophy competition that ran from 1997 to 2007 with just Australian sides, three teams went back-to-back — Adelaide Thunderbirds (1998-99), Melbourne Phoenix (2002-03), Sydney Swifts (2006-07).

In the expanded ANZ Championship trans-Tasman competition from 2008 to 2016, only the Queensland Firebirds won consecutive titles in 2015-16.

It was a regular occurrence for reigning champions to not even make the top four the following year.

“It’s just about enjoying the moment. Not very many teams that win the premiership go back-to-back or even make the top four so we are grateful for where we are,’’ Taurua said.

“We’re not taking it for granted that we are here knowing it’s been a bit of a battle for ourselves to get here, especially at the beginning of the season.’’

Taurua said the attitude at training in the build-up to the “Sunshine Shootout” was top-shelf and the first three quarters of the sudden-death derby was some of the best netball the Lightning had played in 2018.

But the fourth quarter left a lot to be desired from Taurua’s viewpoint and the Lightning need to finish off better against the Giants.

“I don’t think we had that attitude in regards to being quite relentless, that we should of but I think we were quite smart in the end,” she said.

“Some of the stuff we’ve been doing in training, it’s really pleasing to see that out on court.

“We felt good coming into this. We had done as much as we could, we just needed to execute.’’

The last time the teams met was in Round 8 at USC Stadium when they fought out a 53-all draw.

“It’s going to be a hard grind (against the Giants). Everyone in this top four, we are all vying for No.1. It’s dog-eat-dog and the team that can execute under pressure will do the job,’’ Taurua said.

“It’s all going to be in the head. We can’t really squeeze anything out of what we are doing physically … we can’t include anything that is new so we’ve just got to try and make it better than we currently are.’’

SUPER NETBALL PRELIMINARY FINAL

Giants Netball v Sunshine Coast Lightning

Sunday (Aug19)

1pm

Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney

TV: Ch 9 and Netball Live app

Previous meetings in 2018:

Round 1 — Giants 54 d Lightning 51 (at Qudos Bank Arena)

Round 8 — 53-all draw (at USC Stadium)

Ladbrokes odds: Giants $1.80, Lightning $1.95