Unlike our Round 1 game against the Adelaide Thunderbirds where a broken hair tie pushed me to the brink of tears, I felt completely confident going into battle with the GIANTS. We had put in a solid week of training. Our on-court sessions had been pertinent and left me feeling physically prepared. Our off-court debrief, video analysis and match preparation had re-focused my mind. Having been to Sydney a few weeks prior to visit friends, I was prepared for the travel and the hotel we were staying at and venue we were playing at were both comfortable and familiar, having been based at the same place throughout the 2015 World Cup. Oh… and let’s not forget that we came up against an almost full-strength GIANTS twice in the pre-season where we were able to turn a 13 goal deficit to a three goal loss within a matter of days.
So what the hell happened?? Trust me, this is a question that we’ve all been asking ourselves this week. Staring down the barrel of two losses, it would be extremely easy to go into panic mode and start re-evaluating every aspect of how we operate as a Club. However, we have complete confidence in our game plan and that the Fever way will be a force to be reckoned with when executed to plan. Subsequently, our ambitions for the season remain realistic, whilst the solutions to the problems that we have encountered, or even created ourselves, lie within reach.
In my constant endeavour to not let netball completely absorb me, this week I squeezed in some all important beach time with Summer slipping away, managed to get through an entire book and continued my physical and mental recovery (aka torturing my UK friends with social media posts)! I also attended my first ever game of AFL (combined with my first snow cone) and was really impressed by the physicality of the game between the Fremantle and Adelaide women’s teams.
Our performances have yet to equal the capacity of this group which is motivation in itself and to be able to step into Round. 3, our first home fixture of the 2017 season at Perth Arena against another winless team is precisely the platform that we need to capitalise on. I can’t wait to feel the full force of the state behind us an walk out to an audible sea of green. KB’s potential 150th national league game seems like added motivation to be able to pull out a cracking team performance.
Tickets are still available here.
Frank x
Twitter/Instagram: @StcyJyneFrancis
