Thunderbirds 52
Swifts 38
Suddenly the ANZ Championship play-offs aren't so cut and dried after all.
The Adelaide Thunderbirds delivered the transtasman league finals a much-needed shake-up, with a shock win over title favourites the NSW Swifts in last night's major semifinal.
All the pre-match talk had centred on not whether the Swifts would win, but by how much. However, the Thunderbirds proved there is some truth to the old cliche that anything can happen in finals netball - slaughtering the Swifts by 14 goals.
The win sees the Thunderbirds go straight to the grand final, while the Swifts will battle it out with the winner of tonight's minor semifinal between the Magic and Steel for the other spot.
Led by a ferocious defensive effort from Geva Mentor and Mo'onia Gerrard, who played with great physicality, the Thunderbirds hassled and harried the Swifts' attack, forcing them into uncharacteristic errors. The close attention from the defenders restricted the Swifts' shooters to just 67 per cent.
This was not entirely unforeseen.
In their previous two encounters this year, the Thunderbirds upset the rhythm of the Swifts' typically slick attack line. But where the Adelaide side fell down in those matches was in their execution on attack.
They were much improved in that area last night, with coach Jane Woodlands-Thompson finally binning the "twin towers" approach to her shooting end, benching Kate Beveridge in favour of the more mobile Erin Bell to partner Jamaican Carla Borrego in the goal circle.
