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Posted: 2024-04-29 08:31:16

Last week we pondered whether the league was as close as had been talked up in the pre-season after watching three one-sided matches.

But in round three, Super Netball – mostly – got back to its entertaining best, with two extra-time thrillers.

In a weird coincidence, both of these contests were won by the visiting team and by a margin of four goals, as the Adelaide Thunderbirds beat the Sunshine Coast Lightning, 60-56, and the NSW Swifts claimed their State of Origin-style clash against the Queensland Firebirds, 77-73.

Meanwhile, despite losing a third straight match, the Melbourne Mavericks will be proud they were the first team to really challenge the ladder-leading West Coast Fever.

The new side only went down by seven goals, 69-62, after the Fever demolished more established teams like the Giants (19 goals) and Lightning in earlier rounds (25 goals).

The one lowlight of the weekend came in the final game between the Giants and Melbourne Vixens.

The Vixens are the only team alongside Fever to still remain undefeated as they handed the western Sydney-based side their second 19-goal loss in the space of three weeks, 63-44.

If you missed it, don't worry - we've got you covered with our Super Netball Round-Up.

Jok shocks in goal keeper

It was likely Jamaican Shimona Jok was going to get a call-up and make her Mavs debut leading into round three, after the new team struggled to find a solid target in their first couple of games.

But nobody quite anticipated we'd see their 11th player donning a goal keeper bib.

Shimona Jok

Jok was signed as an 11th player for her shooting prowess and got the call up in round three ahead of Rolene Streutker.(Getty Images: Jenny Evans)

Speaking with ABC Sport a couple of weeks ago, Jok did say to expect the unexpected and that she'd become a whole new player since getting married and changing her last name in the off-season, but we more so anticipated that she was alluding to a cameo in goal attack.

If you knew little about netball and just saw Jok (195cm) and fellow Sunshine Girls shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard's height on paper (198cm), you might have thought this was an obvious match-up between the Mavericks and Fever.

But Jok has rarely ventured far from that GS position during her time at the top, making this a very left-field decision by coach Tracey Neville.

It was already a big deal that Jok had been named as the side's starting goal shooter and when the switch-up in the second super shot period of the game came, it shocked fans and Fever alike.

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