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Just over 12 months ago, the Fever's season was over. Some players were on holidays, others were getting ready for an Australian training camp, yet they were all watching the Lightning and Giants contest the inaugural Super Netball title. But not this year. On Sunday, the Fever will cap their meteoritic rise when they take to Perth Arena in their first ever home grand final. Winning just two games and finishing second last in 2017, the Fever had fallen into old ways. They were once again the competition's punching bag, while teams no longer feared travelling to the west. Now, after a refocus on the 'Fever brand' and an emphasis on their culture, a first Super Netball title beckons. "It has been a huge turnaround for us," Fever captain Courtney Bruce tells ESPN. "Last year we saw potential, we knew what we were capable of and I guess people saw glimpses of that throughout the year. "But this year, it's been a huge rise. A lot of what we focused on in our preseason was going back to basics; working on our culture, working on why we were here and working on what the club stands for and what we play for. We really found that passion and drive to want to play good netball with a really solid game plan behind us." Dominating this year's competition from the outset, the Fever took care of the Thunderbirds in emphatic fashion before they built a four-game win streak, already doubling their total wins from season before. No longer easy beats, Bruce credits a change in mentality for their rise in 2018. "We've had a bit of a mentality switch around. We now know that to have the pressure is an absolute privilege; we want to play the best teams and we want to play tight games. We know that the team that holds out the longest is going to walk away with the win. "We definitely now rise to the challenge instead of falling away from it; we welcome all those pressure situations cause we know that it makes us the better team."  Taking over four years ago, Fever coach Stacey Marinkovich was tasked with turning a team of underdogs into champions. At the top of her list was a change in club culture; in 2015 the Fever produced their best season yet, finishing third on the combined ANZ Championship table. But they began to freefall in 2017 when some of their biggest names found new homes ahead of the inaugural Super Netball season. They were forced to start all over again, and need to re-establish their cultural foundations. "We did lose some big name players [heading into Super Netball] and at that time it was disappointing, but now we definitely have 10 girls who love playing here and they love the sport," Bruce tells ESPN. "Stace [sic] has really worked on getting great people - not necessarily great netballers -- but 10 people that want to be here and work for each other. "Culture is everything. It's from doing those little one-percenters, to being able to have those critical conversations and real conversations and knowing that no one is bigger than the team. That's the culture that we have here, we're an equal 10 and a strong 10. It's accountability to each other and that drive to see each other get better and as a club get better." One of the biggest catalysts for change this season was the signing of Jamaican star Jhaniele Fowler. A towering shooter, Fowler brought an attitude that helped build the Fever through the season and into the big dance. Her amazing skills inside the circle certainly helped, too. "She [Fowler] brought a lot of confidence over with her," Bruce says of Fowler. "She's definitely someone that just believes in herself 110 percent, and her confidence rubs off on everyone here around the club. She brings a lot of strength into the goal-shooting position, but she brings more to the team with her confidence, belief and her experience. "But she's [also] super humble, she's definitely the first person to say that she couldn't get half the ball she gets without our midis [midfielders] doing their work for the centre pass and also us turning the ball over in the defensive end.  "She's 110 percent the person to throw everything back to us and the work we do, but I think that really ties into this team mentality that we have here at the club; that we're only as strong as the 10 we've got there and that we'll work for each other as hard as we." Having suffered just one loss at home all year, a trip to Perth has been arguably the toughest Super Netball assignment in 2018. With a sold-out Perth Arena predicted, the Lightning face far more than just the seven Fever players on court. "Obviously playing at home we want it to be a hard home court to come and play at," Bruce tells ESPN. "We said all season that the Perth crowd is quite hostile and if you want to come over here and play against us you have to play against the eighth player: the crowd. "When we play at home it's a fortress and we definitely try to have that mentality, that we show no mercy when you're playing us here. We're going to be unbeatable."
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