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Super Netball round five has come and gone and yet the West Coast Fever and Melbourne Vixens still remain undefeated.
Fever came close to their all-time record score in a match on Friday night, smashing the Queensland Firebirds 94-58, before the Vixens clinched the first instalment of the Sargeant-McKinnis Cup for 2024 in a tight win over the NSW Swifts, 61-59.
After showing so much promise to secure their first-ever club win in round four, the Melbourne Mavericks completely fell apart against the Adelaide Thunderbirds, 59-37, as another shock signing made their debut in the sky-blue dress for a third straight week.
But the biggest talking point of all came on Saturday night in Sydney between the Giants and Sunshine Coast Lighting, where a scoreboard error saw the two sides play extra time 50 minutes after the final whistle.
Eventually, it was the Giants who overcame their worst-ever start to a season since their inception in 2017 to triumph, 86-80, after the Lightning originally thought they had won the game.
If you missed it, don't worry — we'll get you up to speed with our Super Netball Round-Up.
Are we ready for expansion?
The first two games of the round were very one-sided and featured huge winning margins to the Fever (36 goals) and Thunderbirds (22 goals).
Although the fans of both these teams would have absolutely loved this, it does make us worry about the entertainment factor of the league – especially at a time when expansion has been touted as a priority when the current broadcast deal ends at the end of 2026.
Ahead of this season, all eight captains spoke about how tight they expected the competition to be, and yet after five rounds it is starting to become apparent very quickly which three teams, maybe even two, are the most likely contenders for the trophy.
These blowouts aren't isolated to just round five either — every week there has been at least one landslide result, sometimes two.
If our top eight teams in Australia — jam-packed with internationals — are struggling to keep a game close, particularly with the two-point super shot in play, then do we have enough talent ready to step on court and compete at this level to fill another two to three teams?
The Mavericks are a good case study as the newcomers this year replacing the Collingwood Magpies.
As we edge towards the midway point of the season, they're well and truly still finding their feet.
Of course, there are some important factors that have hampered their prep, like a shortened pre-season due to the CPA dispute and multiple injuries. This aside, it's clear how quickly a new team can be undone when one or two senior players are out of action.
The Mavericks' roster is largely made up of last year's bench players looking for opportunity, and it's been interesting to see how these impact specialists are still adjusting to a) a starting position and b) the intensity of a full 60 minutes of Super Netball.
So, although we've previously been advocating for more Australian teams when it comes to expansion, is it a bit of a pipedream? Or will we be fine in three years' time?
It may well be a safer option to grant Netball New Zealand the licences they're after and hope that their very best players condensed into a few franchises will be able to play at the required level with the added challenge of adapting to Super Netball's rule innovations.
Drawn game debacle
Saturday night's scoreboard error at Ken Rosewall Arena was another example of Super Netball not operating at a fully professional standard, despite claiming to be the world's best league and wanting to be considered as a key player amongst the big Australian sporting codes.
Fans sat in the cold at the Sydney venue for 50 minutes as a score review took place and they waited for an outcome after the Lightning thought they'd won the match 71-70 and the Giants were certain it was a tied game, 71-71, that needed to be decided by extra-time.
Both teams were desperate for victory, as the Giants were winless after four rounds and the Lightning weren't in a much better position on a three-game losing streak.
Either way, it was not a good look for the league and is likely going to lead to rule changes, as it did with the double-centre pass saga involving the Vixens last season.
Prior to 2024, a player couldn't officially ask an umpire to check if they had the right centre pass, only the bench had that privilege, but now any on-court player can query it before it is taken.
Similar clarity has been found after the controversy surrounding last season's Super Netball game between the Swifts and Thunderbirds, when a decal issue and power outage delayed their contest and eventually saw it abandoned at half-time.
As a result, it is now well-known that the league's rules allow for a delay of up to an hour, with an agreed warm-up period determined by team medical staff and bench officials.
This came into place on Saturday when the review found that the match was indeed a draw, and the Giants and Lightning were allocated 10 minutes to warm up before extra time got underway.
The Lightning were annoyed, understandably, as there had been poor communication around the review, leading them to leave the arena and head to their change rooms, where they started to celebrate their win, cool down and take off their strapping tape.
Meanwhile, the Giants had remained on court and were raring to go with a game plan. That was evident when they attacked that extra-time period with everything they had.
There was also a nervousness about whether 10 minutes was enough to warm up to resume play, considering the Lightning had three players returning from ACL injury in their camp. This also impacted the Giants, with their co-captain and most experienced shooter Jo Harten ruled out for the rest of the night given her previous knee trouble.
Instead, they put their faith in 22-year-old Matisse Letherbarrow in just her 19th Super Netball cap and the youngster relished the opportunity to get some court time, shooting 9/11 including three super shots to overcome a shell-shocked Lightning team.
The visiting side were understandably disappointed, going through a rollercoaster of emotions — experiencing a win, a draw and a loss all in one night — and although the league has accepted the blame and apologised, there is no way for them to challenge the result.
There are a couple of quick fixes Super Netball can make if it hopes to avoid this again.
In-stadium, when a timeout is taken, the score disappears and instead replaced by a clock counting down the time left in the tactical break.
They need to find a way to keep the score visible at all times. This is a simple and urgent change that could have helped avoid the whole drama.
A process must be put in place to quicken up a score review and there needs to be something in writing that outlines the communication required so both teams and the umpires are in the loop.
Lastly, a priority must be underlined to address the issue as soon as it arises, allowing either team to query the score before they walk back out on court rather than waiting till the next break.
Butler signing falls flat for Mavs
Over the past three weeks, the Mavericks have shocked us with three debutants.
In round three, it was the elevation of their 11th player and Jamaican shooter, Shimona Jok, who then went on to feature at both ends of the court despite never having played the position of goalkeeper at the professional level before.
In round four, it was the signature of former Giants defender Kristiana Manu'a as an injury replacement player, after the dual-international returned from the New Zealand Premiership this year to play closer to her family in the NSW state league.
Then in round five, it was the game-day announcement that three-time World Champion goal attack Nat Butler would be debuting as a temporary injury replacement for Eleanor Cardwell.
At 40 years old, Butler's netball career has had a bit of a John Farnham feel to it, after she retired in 2020 whilst at the Pies before appearing as a reserves player for the Fever at the 2022 Australian Netball Championships and later signing with their Super Netball team as a training partner for 2023.
Now the former Diamonds star has added a fifth Australian club to her resume with a start at the Mavericks, but of all the bold moves Tracey Neville has pulled in her inaugural year as a Super Netball coach, this was the one that fell flat as the side slumped to their biggest loss so far.
This is not a criticism of Butler, mind you, as she proved she could still match it with the best during her Fever stint. It has more to do with the fact that this time, the circumstances were different, as Butler hadn't trained with Mavericks in the lead-up, had only found out the day before she would be playing and hadn't been keeping match fit in the WA state league.
In her 16 minutes on court, Butler shot 4/7 and had three general play turnovers.
It was a tough ask coming up against last year's Super Netball MVP and Thunderbirds goalkeeper Shamera Sterling at the peak of her powers, and trying to find connections with her fellow Mavericks teammates when they'd not had a single training session together.
Aside from the lovely nostalgia fans had seeing Butler back on court, there was some confusion as to why Neville didn't just use Mavericks training partner and Tonga Tala shooter Uneeq Palavi — who was one of the up-and-coming stand-outs at last year's Netball World Cup.
Palavi had played for the City West Falcons in the Victorian Netball League (VNL) during the week and instead took the court for Hastings in her local grassroots competition on Saturday.
During the off-season signing period, Neville told the media she understood it would be important to sign Victorian talent in order to build a fan base around the new side, but her recent signings have included a Jamaican, a NSW defender and WA-based retired shooter.
Even Aussie Diamonds captain Liz Watson said on Fox Netball's show Pivot on Sunday: "We don't know what's happening at training with Uneeq, so maybe something is going on in that environment. Still, I'm surprised across the whole of the VNL there wasn't a shooter that could be in their training environment and actually getting to know the players better to be ready to be put into this match."