Netball
Adrian Warren 7y

Giants coach feared missing netball finals

Netball

There were times this year Giants coach Julie Fitzgerald feared her fledgling club wouldn't make the Super Netball semi-finals let alone Saturday's grand final.

The Sydney based club, which also plays home games in Canberra, oppose another new franchise in Sunshine Coast Lightning in the season decider in Brisbane on Saturday.

Giants were the early pacesetters, winning their first five games.

But losing captain and midcourt linchpin Kimberlee Green to a season-ending knee injury after round five was a big blow and their form dipped.

They went 5-4 for the remainder of the regular season, not winning any game by more than four goals and entering the finals with successive losses.

"We had games where we didn't play very well at all," Fitzgerald told AAP on Thursday.

"We went through a stage where we won a couple of games very ugly.

'I knew if we continued to play that sort of netball, we weren't going to be in the finals so there were definitely times I was concerned we wouldn't even get to the last four."

Replacement captain Jo Harten said the team leant how resilient they were after going through that adversity.

"We've come back from the depths of despair a couple of times this season and we're reaping the benefits in this finals series," Harten said.

The Giants dropped from first to third but have won two finals games.

For those matches, Fitzgerald opted to shift veteran shooter Susan Pettitt to wing attack and start Kristina Brice in the circle alongside Harten.

"KB (Brice) is killing it at the moment," Harten said.

"For someone to come off the bench in the regular season and be required to start two games in finals and play out those games with the intensity of finals is awesome."

Asked what had suddenly clicked for her side Fitzgerald said "I think you just keep working away at it, these guys worked terribly hard.

"They've supported each other all the way though and you do things like a couple of weeks ago suggest to Pettitt that she might like to be a wing attack.

"She's probably one of the world's best shooters and she said 'ok, whatever you need'. That sort of attitude really helps the team click."

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