Why Parmenter is embracing the challenge

By Stephanie Smarrelli 
 

As the race for finals continues to heat up Melbourne Mavericks’ captain Amy Parmenter knows what’s at stake.

Her side has spent most of the season sitting inside the top four but this week they’ll face a challenge in West Coast Fever.

For Fever, a win would likely secure a seventh straight finals appearance.  

For the Mavericks, however, the stakes feel even greater.  

They are chasing something the club has never achieved before, a maiden finals berth.

"We've definitely got a lot to play for this weekend,” Parmenter said.

"We don't want this season to come down to that last game of the year and be relying on other teams’ results.

“We want to lock it in and go ahead with the confidence that we will have a spot in finals.”  

That opportunity is part of what has Parmenter so excited about the challenge ahead.

“I’m super excited to be coming up against Fever,” she said.

“We all walked away a bit disappointed last time; we had a pretty rubbish start out of the blocks and were down by 10 plus at quarter time.

"We saw what we could do against them during the rest of the match, we just let ourselves down in that opening quarter, so we’ve taken a lot of learnings from that game.”

Those lessons have helped reinforce a message the Mavericks have leaned on throughout the season. 

“Win, lose or draw we keep our processes the same and keep ticking boxes,” Parmenter said.

“Sometimes when you have a few wins you can get a little complacent and we've been very aware of that.  

“We want to make sure we're doing everything right, it's been a long season, we've had a lot of travel recently, so we’re going above and beyond in that recovery space, especially with this trip to Perth we’re doing all the little things and ticking all those boxes.”

While not wanting to get complacent Parmenter confessed the Mavs are feeling confident about their finals opportunity this year having been consistently in the top four or just underneath.  

“You have to take confidence where you can find it and that's been a really nice positive for us,” she said.

“It’s something we're definitely unfamiliar with but with that confidence also comes the motivation that we don't want to lose that top four spot.

"We continue to do the work because once you get to finals anything can happen.  

“Finals would be huge for the club, especially if we can get a few wins and one against Fever would mean there's potential for a home final as well.”

Still, the run home won’t get any easier.

The Mavericks face two more difficult opponents to close the regular season, including the Melbourne Vixens — who pushed them to extra time earlier this year — and the Queensland Firebirds, who they narrowly defeated in Round 7.

"We’re so excited for the Melbourne Derby,” Parmenter said.

“We are desperate for that win regardless of what the ladder looks like, we've come so close and I know the game's been sold out for weeks at John Cain Arena so there’s going to be a great crowd.  

“The Vixens have been playing some really good netball, we haven't quite got to that yet but we're going one week at a time, so we'll see.  

“Then Firebirds are a really quality side, they're playing some good netball, and they match up well against us so it's going to be an exciting battle.”  

While finals remain in focus, Parmenter acknowledged what this season means for the club overall.  

“Finals would be huge,” she said.

“But regardless of what happens this season has been such progress for us at the Mavs and we've really been able to see some of the outcomes of some really hard work over the last few years.

“Especially in that defence, we've had a lot of years of working on it now and Richo [Nicole Richardson] has put her blood, sweat and tears into her vision which has finally come to fruition.

“I'm really proud of what we've done over the past few months, regardless of the stuff a bit out of our control we’re focusing on finishing off the year with some really good netball, playing as best as we can and hopefully playing finals.”  

The Mavericks have been criticised by some this season for their ‘physical’ defensive style, but Parmenter doesn’t see it that way.

"My whole career playing with Jamie-Lee, together we've been called ‘physical’ which is so funny because I think where it comes from is the way we play is that fly and feel style,” Parmenter said.  

“If you slightly mistime that there can be quite big collisions and that's what people deem as physical.  

“We obviously don't want to be hurting anyone but when I'm playing, I look at a team and I'm like if they're flying and filling space then they're not on me all the time.  

“I would say a physical game is when someone's literally on top of me, I can't get any space and there’s a really suffocating defence.  

"It's interesting to see everyone’s interpretations.”  

Regardless of the outside noise, Parmenter believes the Mavericks’ defensive pressure could be the difference-maker against Fever.

“Our defensive end is really clicking this year, we play quite a different style to other teams,” she said.

“We look to get intercepts and deflections more than just that one-on-one grind, we definitely want to shut players down but our style's a bit different, especially in that circle we've been winning a lot of ball that way this season.

“Then in attack Shimona's just a powerhouse, Jamie-Lee and Maddie Hay are feeding her so well and Reilley’s growing and growing every game.

"We've learned a lot from the last time we played Fever, Fran Williams had a great game against us, so we've been looking at her a lot, working out how she won that ball and definitely trying to avoid that.

“There's lots of things that we've been working on this week to try and counter some of the things that let us down last time.”  

Parmenter has belief the Mavs can get the job done across the next few weeks as they’ve figured out how to win the close games.  

“We've had all sorts of games and results this year,” she said.

“To have evidence and know we can close out tight games and can really grind it out, even on the weekend against Lightning it was a really close game for the majority of it and then to be able to push on in that last five minutes it’s proof we can do it.  

"Sometimes the key is just holding your nerve and being comfortable in the uncomfortable and hopefully that'll put us in good stead for what's to come.”  

That calmness has also extended to the younger players in the squad, who Parmenter believes are embracing the moment without fear.

"Sometimes there's a bit of that ignorance is bliss in not knowing how rare it is to be in finals and how awesome that opportunity is,” she said.

“They don't have any of that expectation or preconceived ideas, they’re just going in a bit blind and taking it for what it is.

“That youthful energy is awesome for us, Charlotte's been grabbing the last few weeks with both hands and I'm sure she'll do that in finals as well.

"Having Tara Hinchliffe on the sideline being your biggest fan and mentor is huge for the girls as well, I can see how much of an impact she's had on Jessie and Charlotte, she's just stayed so involved in the club and is an incredible person.”  

Parmenter, meanwhile, knows better than most how brutal finals netball can be.

“It feels like a lifetime ago that I got to play finals,” she said.

“At the GIANTS, we lost the Grand Final to the Swifts during covid and that was devastating but a bit of a weird time because there wasn't much of a crowd.  

“But then we had a prelim final against the Vixens the year after, we were up by 10 and ended up losing it in the last few seconds.  

“That one's really stuck with me, that hurt.

“It would be so good to get an opportunity to change that narrative and get deep into the finals this year.”