{"id":35461,"date":"2026-06-21T08:08:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T08:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/35461\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T08:08:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T08:08:18","slug":"super-netball-2026-west-coast-fever-on-verge-of-grand-final-after-four-goal-win-against-melbourne-mavericks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/35461\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Netball 2026: West Coast Fever on verge of grand final after four-goal win against Melbourne Mavericks"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Coast Fever are a win away from a fifth grand final berth in their history, outclassing a physical and frustrated Melbourne Mavericks by four goals in a thrilling minor semifinal.<\/p>\n

After a slow start, Fever fought back to gain control of the match and ensure the Mavericks wouldn\u2019t taste victory in their first finals appearance, winning 56-52 in front of 12,332 at RAC Arena.<\/p>\n

Fever will now head east for the preliminary final, taking on arch-rivals and reigning premiers the Melbourne Vixens at John Cain Arena on Saturday night in a rematch of last year\u2019s grand final. The victor will face Adelaide in this season\u2019s decider.<\/p>\n

Young defender Ruth Aryang (four gains and three deflections) was the catalyst for the comeback after quarter-time, with her athleticism and talent causing havoc for the visitors\u2019 ball movement when she was injected into the game.<\/p>\n

Fever were on top whenever the young goalkeeper was on court, challenging Mavericks shooter Shimona Nelson (33 goals at 100 per cent accuracy) who had no answer for her dominance.<\/p>\n

At the other end of the court, Fever shooters Romelda Aiken-George (42 goals from 46 attempts) and Sasha Glasgow (14 goals including eight super goals) held their nerve against the brutality of former West Coast defender Kim Brown as well as Jessie Grenvold and Charlotte Sexton.<\/p>\n

\"RomeldaCamera IconRomelda Aiken-George. Credit: Michael Wilson\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

Fever were error-riddled early, coughing up a whopping seven of their 17 general play turnovers in the first term as they struggled to deal with the Mavericks\u2019 physicality.<\/p>\n

For much of the first half, they were kept in the game by the accuracy of Glasgow and Aiken-George, who didn\u2019t miss until the former went for a mid-range shot midway through the second term.<\/p>\n

The Mavericks\u2019 pressure caused Fever to be too hesitant when trying to move the ball and meant Aiken-George couldn\u2019t take advantage of her height advantage against goalkeeper Grenvold.<\/p>\n

Ryan pulled a switch in defence during the second term, benching star goalkeeper Kadie-Ann Dehaney in favour of youngster Aryang and was instantly rewarded with the youngster pulling off a fantastic intercept and gain.<\/p>\n

Down by four goals at the first break, Fever calmed, and they began to turn the momentum of the match to lead by one goal at half-time.<\/p>\n

After an indifferent first half, Fever goal defender Fran Williams became a significant factor in the third term with two important gains which both led to goals as the home side took total control.<\/p>\n

\"FranCamera IconFran Williams. Credit: Michael Wilson\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

Down by four goals at the final change, the Mavericks injected Uneeq Palavi into goalshooter as they desperately tried to find a game-changer with their season slipping away.<\/p>\n

It mattered little early in the last as Fever dominated, blowing the lead out to 11 goals as they looked well on their way to a comfortable win.<\/p>\n

However, errors again crept in, and the Mavericks began to fire from super goal range, getting within three goals with 90 seconds left.<\/p>\n

Melbourne had too much do though, with Fever holding on for a big finals win as they now hunt for a second premiership in club history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Coast Fever are a win away from a fifth grand final berth in their history, outclassing a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[260,8378,261,8377],"class_list":["post-35461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-melbourne","tag-netball","tag-sport","tag-west-coast-fever"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}