

βMum modeβ: Ryan on star shooter
The Fever coach has lauded his superstar Jamaican shooter after their epic Semi Final victory.

The Fever coach has lauded his superstar Jamaican shooter after their epic Semi Final victory.
By Matt Fotia
West Coach Fever coach Dan Ryan has declared Jhaniele Fowler is the best goaler in netball history.
Fowler-Nembhard celebrated her birthday by putting on yet another shooting masterclass on Sunday afternoon.
The five-time league MVP shot 67 goals from 69 attempts (the two misses were late super shot attempts), as the Fever downed the Sunshine Coast Lightning by 10 goals to set up a Preliminary Final clash with the Melbourne Vixens.
She once again leads the competition for Nissan Net Points (1704.5) and goals scored, shooting her 880 goals at a shooting accuracy of 96%.
Ryan didnβt hide his admiration for his first-choice goal shooter after the Minor Semi Final victory.
βSheβs the greatest goal shooter our game has ever seen,β Ryan said.
βBecause she has such high standards every single weekend, everyone has such incredibly high standards of her.
βWeβre so grateful that sheβs in our team and we have a real priority to ensure we get the best out of Jhaniele, with who sits in front of her.
βSheβs been an incredible leader, the way sheβs leading that front line, sheβs happy to take a 2v1 if she needs to, sheβs backing in Shanice when she needs to.
βWeβre seeing mum mode from Jhaniele out there and we absolutely love it.β

Fowler-Nembhardβs perfect first half performance kept the Fever in touch with the Lightning on Sunday, before the 2022 champions put the foot down in the second half to keep their premiership hopes alive.
They outscored the Lightning 36-27 after the main break, had nine gains (eight of which they converted to goals) and five defensive rebounds, to put an end to the Lightningβs season.
Ryan was happy to see his side find another level after half time.
βWeβve been tracking really nicely over the last month and playing some great netball,β he said.
βWe knew we were in a good spot heading into todayβs game, and we really wanted to make sure we found an extra gear.
βThe first half was a real grind and a real challenge, and we were certainly under the pump.
βReally proud of the girls for the way they stuck at their jobs and when the moments popped up in that second half, we took them.
βTo win by ten in a do-or-die semi-final is an amazing result.β
The Fever have now won their last four games, finding form at the right time, after a mid-season wobble where they to string together back-to-back victories.
Ryan said the takeaways from those mid-season blues will hold his side in good stead ahead of their return to John Cain Arena this Saturday.
βOur teamβs been on a really important journey across the season, and we always connect back to the mid part of the season where we went win-loss-win-loss for a while,β Ryan stated.
βThe learnings we were getting out of those moments were invaluable and weβve got great confidence now in these pressure games.β
βWeβre really grateful for another opportunity to play netball under finals pressure,
βWe know weβre in great form and weβre going to be really hard to beat at our best.β
