By Stephanie Smarrelli
The final countdown has begun.
A loss last weekend puts the reigning champs on the back foot.
And the ladder leaders were knocked back a notch.
But there’s one team stepping up and rising the ranks - the Vixens.
They’ve been outside the top four all season but find themselves among the league’s best with only a few rounds to go.
The odds have tipped in their favour with Champion Data’s ladder simulator predicting they’re more likely to play finals than they are to miss them.
The Vixens have moved into fourth on the ladder.
And with the Grand Final to be played in Melbourne at Rod Laver Arena, head coach Simone McKinnis departing at the end of the season and last year’s Grand Final heartbreak on their minds they’ve got plenty of reasons to fight to keep their spot.
But they’ve got a tough task ahead of them this week up against a wounded Swifts.
The Swifts head into the match off the back of their first loss and now we get to see what they’re truly made of.
Do they fire back up or do the cracks get bigger?
Fever laid out the blueprint to defeating the Swifts last weekend and while the last time the Vixens matched up against the Swifts they lost by eight, the margin doesn’t indicate how fierce a battle this will be.
Grace Nweke was tested by the Fever defence last weekend and this week she’ll face Origin Diamonds defenders Rudi Ellis and Jo Weston in the goal circle.
Nweke was challenged by Fever last weekend.
Weston is likely to match up against England Rose Helen Housby.
Housby’s had a quiet couple of weeks by her standards but at her best she demands the ball, is a key playmaker and can turn a game on its head.
She’s second in the league for Super Shots scored and won’t hesitate to inflict damage to the scoreboard when it’s needed.
In the midcourt Verity Simmons and Paige Hadley have been prolific for the Swifts but Vixen Kate Eddy knows her role and plays it well in wing defence.
The last time the two sides met Sarah Klau had a field day, Vixens head coach McKinnis readjusting her shooting line up throughout the match to find an answer.
Klau finished the game on nine gains and five intercepts.
Klau was strong against the Vixens earlier in the season.
While battling for ladder points, the teams will also be fighting for the Sargeant-McKinnis Cup.
The last seven times the winner has alternated between the two sides. In what could be foreshadowing for the weekend’s result, the Vixens won it in 2024, and the Swifts have one hand on the trophy with their win in Round 5.
REST OF THE WEEKEND
Carrying plenty of confidence after defeating the Swifts, Fever will match up against the Mavericks on Saturday night.
Fever are a match clear of Lightning in third place on the ladder and only one win behind the Swifts.
Each win is important heading into the final stretch of the season with Fever chasing a home court advantage for finals.
While the Mavs are unlikely to play finals, they'll be keen to knock off as many contenders as they can before season’s end.
The Mavs have only won two games.
Then the Thunderbirds go head-to-head with the Firebirds.
The Firebirds are hungry to put an end to their long streak. A loss this weekend and they’ll officially be on their longest losing run in SSN history.
While the Thunderbirds threepeat dreams are hanging by a thread, relying on them getting back into the top four and staying there.
The Thunderbirds find themselves outside of the top for the first time since Round 1 2023 and they’ll be desperate to get back there.
Rounding out the weekend the GIANTS host the Lightning.
The GIANTS will be feeling rejuvenated by their Round 9 win against the reigning premiers, but Lightning will be raring to go.
The GIANTS have claimed back-to-back wins against the reigning premiers.The Sunny Coast outfit have the league’s best defensive record conceding an average of only 59 goals per match while the GIANTS have the worst conceding 69 per match.
But don't let that fool you, while the GIANTS won’t play finals this season, they’re still determined to bring their best each week.
Goaler Matisse Letherbarrow leads the league for Super Shots and could be a deciding factor if the game gets close this weekend, not to mention Sophie Dwyer and Jo Harten come into the match fresh having only missed one goal between them last week.
