Dominant goal shooter, Jhaniele Fowler, was named as the West Coast Fever’s Stacey Marinkovich Medal recipient for the fifth time after another dominant season in the Suncorp Super Netball League.

The medal, named after former Australian player Stacey Marinkovich, is awarded to the team’s Most Valuable Player for the season.

Fowler, who has also been named MVP of the league for the last five seasons, led the league in net points with 1516.5 and goals with 872, respectively.

Her 872 goals put her more than 200 goals clear of anybody else, with Donnell Wallam of the Queensland Firebirds coming closest with 669.

Fowler was also selected as the Fever’s Players’ Player of the Year.

Either way, a Jamaican player would have become 2023 Suncorp Super Netball League champion but at the end of an intensely grand-final at the John Cain Arena on Saturday, it was the Jamaican defensive pair of Shamera Sterling and Latanya Wilson that sealed the deal as Adelaide Thunderbirds defeated New South Wales Swifts 60-59 in overtime.

Three-time champion Romelda Aiken-George who led the Swifts’ scoring with 27 goals had to settle for the position of runner-up in a match-up that will be remembered for ages.

Sterling was the first to make her mark on the match battling Aiken-George for the ball and drawing the offensive contact to put the Thunderbirds ahead.

Following suite, her teammate Wilson controlled the ball for another gain and the Thunderbirds then blitzed out to a five-goal lead.

Swift Helen Housby had her eyes firmly locked on the goal when she entered the Suncorp Super Shot zone during the Power Five to confidently narrow the Thunderbirds’ lead.

However, Sterling prevented the Swifts from getting too close with an intercept before the end of the quarter allowing the Thunderbirds to head into the break in front 16-12.

Eleanor Cardwell led the scoring for Adelaide with 31 goals and Lucy Austin had nine goals as Adelaide extended their advantage to eight points at half time after outscoring their opponents 19-15 in the second stanza to take a 35-27 led into the break.

The break proved to be a welcome one for New South Wales, who had eliminated last year’s champions West Coast Fever in last week’s preliminary final.

They emerged from the break with renewed focus and cut decisively into Adelaide’s lead after outscoring them 13-8 in the third quarter and was only down by three heading into the final stanza.

They used that momentum to outscore Adelaide 14-11 in the final quarter as the final whistle sounded with the scores locked at 54-54.

Overtime proved just as intense both Helen Housby and Cardwell stepping up to the challenge early slotting Super Shots for their respective teams.

However, the Thunderbirds’ defensive pressure forced the Swifts into a held ball and Cardwell capitalized again but then an offensive contact had the Swifts charging.

Fawns levelled the scores for the Swifts but Sterling showed why she’s the best interceptor in the league burying the Swifts dreams as her teammates made the intercept count.

The Swifts tried their hardest, however, were unable to halt the pink tide with the Thunderbirds winning by one goal.

Romelda Aiken-George’s New South Wales Swifts stunned Jhaniele Fowler’s defending champions West Coast Fever 65-64 to advance to the grand final of the Suncorp Super Netball League.

The Fever got out to a 19-15 lead at the end of the first quarter at the Qudos Bank Arena in New South Wales on Saturday.

An 18-16 second quarter win for the Swifts meant the deficit between the teams at half-time was just two, with the defending champions ahead 35-33.

After the third quarter, the Fever enjoyed a 51-46 lead and looked set to get a chance to defend their title.

The Swifts had other ideas, however, and produced a stunning fourth quarter comeback, outscoring the Fever 19-13 to secure the one-point win and a trip to the title decider.

Aiken-George led the way with 25 goals from 26 attempts for the Swifts while Fowler scored 55 goals from 56 attempts for the Fever.

Their opponents in the Grand Final will be the Adelaide Thunderbirds, home of Sunshine Girls Shamera Sterling and Latanya Wilson.

The Swifts will be looking for revenge after the Thunderbirds beat them 64-62 in the preliminary finals.

Spurred by Jhaniele Fowler’s 55 goals, defending Suncorp Super League champions, West Coast Fever, defeated Melbourne Vixens 64-57 on Sunday to advance to the preliminary final against New South Wales Swifts on July 1.

 The winner will the Adelaide Thunderbirds in the Grand Final set for July 8.

The Thunderbirds defeated the Swifts 64-62 on Saturday night.

In what was a tough match, Fowler playing before her home crowd at the RAC Arena, missed just one shot as Fever led each quarter 15-14, 17-16, 16-14, before opening up a seven-point lead after taking the final quarter 16-13.

Mwai Kumwenda only missed one of her 40 attempts to lead the scoring for the Vixens.

Over at the Qudos Bank Arena, Romelda Aiken George’s 29 goals were not enough to get the New South Wales Swifts against the Thunderbirds, who pulled off a dramatic 64-62 victory to book a place in the Grand Finals.

Helen Housby added 15 goals for the Swifts but Eleanor Cardwell’s 18 goals, 13 from Lucy Austin and 11 from Tippa Dwan were just enough to seal the Thunderbirds’ place in the final.

While acknowledging that playing in Australia has assisted in her development as a player to arguably become the best goal shooter in the world, Jamaica's ace Jhaniele Fowler says international players have given the Super Netball competition more flavour and flair.

Fowler, who represents the West Coast Fever shared her views in the midst of a debate about whether Super Netball should have a cap on international players, who currently make up 17.5 per cent of all players in the tournament.

Fowler, a five-time league MVP, believes the competition should remain open.

“International players do come in and make the competition rounded and exciting. We do bring a little bit of different flavour, a bit of flair, but just more talents and more skill set,” Fowler said in a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.

Though the Australia Football League (AFL), the Australia Football League Women’s (AFLW) and the A-Leagues don’t have any official caps on international players –with the caveat that salary caps can limit star imports –the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) limits imports to two per team, while the National Basketball League (NBL) is capped at three.

In a global context, the Women’s Super League soccer competition in England has a “home grown players” clause where in a squad of 25 players registered in their squad cap, there must be at least 15 registered home-grown players. A home-grown player is someone who, irrespective of their nationality, has been registered with a club affiliated to the Football Association for three seasons – or 36 months – before their 21st birthday.

In the UK-based Netball Superleague, teams are permitted up to two overseas players, but a team cannot have more than one overseas player in the attacking, midcourt or defensive positions on the court at once.

But, where Super Netball is concerned, Fowler is one of seven Jamaican players in the Australian league, including Thunderbirds defensive duo Shamera Sterling and Latanya Wilson and Collingwood’s Shimona Nelson.

For Fowler, moving to Australia has made her a more complete player, as she pointed to improvements to her craft under elite coaches and, by extension, playing against the best in the world each week. But in the same breath, she is of the view that it is also a two-way street, as the Jamaican players have made the game more exciting.

“They’re amazing, they’re so athletic,” said Fowler.

“Just week in, week out, when you see the Jamaican players go out there, the commentators, everyone, has to talk about them because they have made such an impact in this league in their teams,” she added.

Former Diamonds head coach, and a current coaching mentor, Lisa Alexander, didn’t think there should be a cap on international players, but her stance was different while she was Australia’s coach.

“As a national coach with a different purpose, I thought differently in the past and did call for restrictions to be two imports per team. If we eventually become the best in the world like the NBA [is to basketball], then we must have a draft and salary cap,” she said.

Alexander explained that, without a cap, the Super Netball competition would continue to provide a world-class competition for Australian athletes to compete in, week in, week out.

Netball legend and Hall of Famer Jill McIntosh praised the strength of the league but pushed for a cap on the number of international players allowed in the competition.

McIntosh, who captained Australia to their 1983 World Cup win, said that while imports have been good for the league, she is worried that without a limit, potential Diamonds players could be benched.

“We’re not in the Olympics, so our World Cup is our pinnacle,” McIntosh said. “I want to see the sport survive and thrive.”

Meanwhile, veteran netballer Ash Brazill said she would like to see more teams added to the competition to give more opportunities to local players, given the spots taken up by international players.

“I can’t wait to see extra teams added to our league because in the end there are only 80 spots, and we have 25 internationals. It’s pretty hard as Australians to get one of those 55 spots that are left. I think we definitely need some more teams for the Australian pool,” said Brazill.

However, Fowler reiterated international players also improve world netball by affording more opportunities for players in countries that don’t have avenues to develop or play.

“I reckon it should just stay open because, if you look, there are still teams in the league that do not really have an international player on their team yet. I reckon I can safely say that, and if anything, some teams just maybe have one international player,” Fowler argued.

She continued: “But I reckon, yeah, bring the international players in, also give them the experience because other countries don’t have the competition back home to develop players.

“So, it would be good for netball on a whole because then you will see that the competition is not just Australia, New Zealand, England or Jamaica in top four – other countries are putting out and delivering as well. And then netball is just going to be even more exciting. You just don’t want to see the same countries winning all the time.”

That international rivalry will be put on show at the upcoming World Cup in Cape Town in next month, but first Fowler has a Super Netball semi-final to win.

Despite West Coast having an inconsistent season with “ups and downs”, the 36-year-old Fowler said they are proud to have finished in third spot, meaning they take on Melbourne Vixens in a knockout grand final rematch in which the Fever will have home-court advantage.

“Definitely, it will be pretty good coming up against the Vixens. They’re going to be a really tough team to beat, but we know that we have what it takes to win,” Fowler declared.

“The green army, they’re really loud, and they also always help to get us over the line, so we’re going to make sure to capitalize on having the home court,” she ended.

In an impressive display of shooting prowess, Jhaniele Fowler led the defending Suncorp Super League champions, West Coast Fever, to a 72-61 victory over the GIANTS at the RAC Arena on Saturday. Fowler's scoring prowess was on full display as she matched the GIANTS' final score of 61 points, missing only one shot throughout the match.

Contributing to the Fever's success, Sasha Glasgow maintained a perfect shooting record, going three for three and nailing four super shots. By halftime, the Fever held a narrow 37-33 lead.

Despite Jo Harten's 19 goals and the combined efforts of Matisse Letherbarrow and Sophie Dwyer, who both scored 10 goals, the GIANTS found themselves trailing by 10 points at the end of the third quarter. The Fever outscored them 21-15 in a dominant display.

Although the final quarter was a more evenly contested affair, the outcome of the match had already been decided.

With this victory, their ninth of the season, the Fever climbed to second place in the league standings. The New South Wales Swifts remain at the top of the table after a convincing 78-65 win against the Queensland Firebirds at the Nissan Arena. Romelda Aiken-George led the charge for the Swifts, racking up an impressive 43 goals. Supported by Helen Housby's 17 goals, the Swifts secured their 10th win of the season.

Despite Donnell Wallam's 34 goals for the Firebirds, it was another defeat for the team, marking their ninth loss of the season, and leaving them in seventh place in the league.

In the meantime, former league leaders Adelaide Thunderbirds slipped to third place after suffering a close 56-54 loss to the Sunshine Coast Lightning at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

Adelaide Thunderbirds suffered their third loss of the season and have fallen to second place when they went down 53-50 to bottom-placed Collingwood Magpies on Saturday.

Shimona Nelson scored 44 goals and Sophie Garbin nine, in a 100 per cent shooting effort as the Magpies in their final season in the Suncorp Super Netball league overcame the defensive efforts of Shamera Sterling and Latanya Wilson.

Collingwood led 16-12 after the first quarter and held a 27-23 lead at half time.

Collingwood widened their lead with another 16-12 effort in the third quarter and held on for the win despite a fourth-quarter rally from Thunderbirds who outscored Collinwood 15-10.

Eleanor Cardwell scored 27 goals from 29 attempts in the loss that saw Thunderbirds’ record fall to second place in the league table with eight wins, one draw and three losses this season.

The new league leaders are the New South Wales Swifts who defeated GIANTS 68-63 thanks in part to Romelda Aikens-George’s 32 goals from 39 attempts and Helen Housby’s 100 percent shooting for 18 goals.

Matisse Leatherbarrow and Jo Harten each scored 13 goals while Sophie Dwyer had 11 from 13 in the losing cause.

The Swifts now boast a record of nine wins, one draw and two losses after 12 rounds.

In the other game on Saturday, Queensland Firebirds defeated Melboune Vixens 76-71.

Jamaican goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler scored her 5000^th Suncorp Super Netball league goal as her West Coast Fever narrowly came out 69-65 winners over the Sunshine Coast Lightning on Saturday.

Fowler converted 19 of her team’s first 20 goals in the first quarter as the Fever built a seven-point lead entering the second period.

The Lightning then had an improved showing in the second quarter, eventually losing 14-17 to enter halftime facing a 27-37 deficit.

The lead built by the Fever proved to be extremely important as the Lightning came out blazing in the second half winning the third and fourth quarters by six points, eventually coming up just four points shy of their opponents at the end of proceedings.

In total, Fowler converted 54 goals from 58 attempts to keep the defending champions third in the table on 32 points, two behind the Adelaide Thunderbirds and New South Wales Swifts, from 12 games.

Key defensive plays from Shamera Sterling and Latanya Wilson overcame another high-percentage shooting performance from Jhaniele Fowler as the Adelaide Thunderbirds pulled off another thrilling one-goal win 54-53 over the West Coast Fever at the Netball SA Stadium on Saturday.

Fowler, the Suncorp Super Netball League’s leading scorer, converted 42 of 43 attempts but it was not enough to prevent the reigning champions from falling to their fourth defeat of the season.

Wilson earned 74.5 Nissan Net Points and Sterling 63 for defensive play that held off the defending champions who led 20-12 after the first quarter. However, the league leaders managed to close the gap by the half-time interval after outscoring Fever 14-11 in the second.

The low-scoring encounter saw the Thunderbirds win the third and fourth quarters, 13-10 and 15-12, respectively to snatch another close win. Eleanor Cardwell converted 26 of her 30 shots and Lucy Austin scored six from six in the hard-fought victory.

Adelaide Thunderbirds now have eight wins and just two losses from their 11 games this season while Fever dropped to seven wins and four losses and are only third on goal difference over Melbourne Vixens who also have a record of seven wins and four losses.

The Vixens suffered their fourth loss of the season going down 70-62 to New South Wales Swifts, who got 29 goals from Romelda Aiken-George from 34 attempts and a perfect 16 from 16 from Helen Housby.

Mwai Kumwenda scored 33 of her 35 attempts for the Vixens.

Meanwhile, Shimona Nelson scored 53 goals from 56 attempts for the Collingwood Magpies, whose miserable season will be their last in the Suncorp Super Netball League, as they suffered yet another defeat.

The Magpies were outscored 66-62 by the Sunshine Coast Lightning in what was their ninth loss of the season.

Cara Koenen scored 34 from 35 and Steph Wood 20/24 for the Lightning who were picking up their fourth win of the season and are current fifth in the league standings.

Defending Suncorp Super Netball League champions West Coast Fever rebounded by last weekend’s loss with a record-breaking performance against the Queensland Firebirds on Sunday.

Having lost to New South Wales Swifts by a single goal last week, and three of their last four to slip to third in the league table, the Fever responded by crushing the Firebirds 97-63 at the RAC Arena. The 97 goals scored was the highest number of goals scored in a single match in the league.

Led by Jhaniele Fowler’s 52 goals from 56 attempts and Sasha Glasgow’s perfect 15 of 15, the Fever led by 10 (27-17) at the end of the first quarter and extended the lead to 20 at half time after outscoring Queensland 23-13 in the second.

The Firebirds managed to rally in the third quarter in which they were outscored 21-18 but the Fever put their foot back down on their necks in the final quarter 26-15 to win by a massive 34 goals.

Donnell Wallam led the scoring for the Firebirds with 37 goals from 40 attempts.

Fowler scored her 500^th goal of the season and ended the match with a tally of 552, 75 more than Wallam.

The Fever’s seventh win of the season saw them maintain third place in the league standings despite Adelaide Thunderbirds falling to a massive 21-point loss to Melbourne Vixens on Saturday.

The league leaders suffered only their second loss of the season 60-39 due mainly to outstanding defensive play by the Vixen’s mid-court.

Shamera Sterling had a strong start for the Thunderbirds, with a rebound, two intercepts, and a deflection in a formidable first term. Her performance spurred the Thunderbirds to a three-point lead (14-11) over the Vixens as the first quarter came to a close.

However, the Vixens defense were relentless. Emily Mannix had an impressive display with five intercepts, four deflections as the Vixens stamped their authority on the encounter.

Mwai Kumwenda (21/22) and Kiera Austin (23/30) led the scoring for the Vixens while Eleanor Cardwell scored 21 of 24 and Georgie Horjus scored eight goals for the Thunderbirds.

In another lop-sided match on Saturday, Romelda Aiken-George scored 26 from 32 attempts, Helen Housby 14 from 17 and Sophie Fawns 17 from 22 as the New South Wales Swifts swamped Collingwood Magpies 85-56 at the Ken Rosewall Arena despite Shimona Nelson’s 35 goals from just 37 attempts.

It was the Swifts’ largest margin of victory this season.

Defending Suncorp Super Netball champions West Coast Fever lost their third match of the season going down 65-64 to New South Wales Swifts and slipped to third in the league standings after what was their third loss in their last four games.

The win means the Swifts, led by Romelda Aiken-George, who scored 28 of 34, leapfrogged the Fever into second place in the standings going into round 10 of the competition.

Jhaniele Fowler, the league’s leading scorer, scored a game-high 53 goals from 55 shots, and Natalie Butler three of four for the Fever, who were without their vice-captain Jess Anstiss and goal attack Sasha Glasgow, who were ruled out due to Covid-19 Health and Safety Protocols.

The Swifts led 32-20 at half-time and despite a late rally from the Fever, they came up a goal short in the end.

Meanwhile, the Adelaide Thunderbirds maintained their position at the top of the standings after crushing the Queensland Firebirds 63-46.

Eleanor Cardwell led the scoring for the Thunderbirds with 27 from 32 and Lucy Austin, who supported with 19 from 21, while Shamera Sterling had six interceptions in what was a close match heading into the final quarter.

However, the Thunderbirds dominated the final stanza 24-9 to claim victory.

Shimona Nelson’s perfect night, scoring 46 goals from as many attempts, was unable to prevent the Collingwood Magpies from going down 69-56 to GIANTS.

Following their victory over GIANTS, Shamera Sterling’s Adelaide Thunderbirds are the new leaders of the Suncorp Super Netball League after defending champions West Coast Fever suffered only their second loss of the season on Saturday.

Led by Eleanor Cardwell near perfect 26 goals from 27 attempts and Lucy Austin’s 13 from 15, Thunderbirds led 18-13 at the end of the first quarter. However, Jo Harten who scored 23 goals from 25 shots and Sophie Dwyer (17/20) closed the gap to three by half-time as GIANTS outscored Thunderbirds 15-13 in the second stanza.

GIANTS dominated the third quarter 13-9 and take a slim lead into the final quarter of the game but Thunderbirds rallied to win the quarter 14-9 and take the game 54-50 for their sixth win of the season.

Fever, meanwhile, went down 74-73 in a thriller to Melbourne Vixens despite a game-high 48 goals of 49 attempts from the league top scorer Jhaniele Fowler, who now has 446 goals on the season.

However, after both teams traded goals for the entire match, it was Kiera Austin’s super shot at the buzzer than kept the Vixens unbeaten at home this season and handed the defending champions their second loss of the season.

Mwai Kumwenda led the Vixens with 45 goals from 50 attempts while Austin scored 23 from 29 for her side that outscored Fever 18-16 in the first quarter before sharing honours 19-19 in the second to take a two goal lead into the break.

Fever rallied to take the third quarter 19-16 but thanks to Austin’s super shot, Vixens edged the final quarter 21-19 to secure their fifth win of the season.

In the battle between the teams at the foot of the table, Donnell Wallam scored a game high 64 goals from 65 attempts to lead the Queensland Firebirds to their second win of the season, a 73-67 win over Collingwood Magpies.

Shimona Nelson scored 56 goals from 58 attempts for the Magpies who were losing their sixth game of the season.

Defending Suncorp Super League champions West Coast Fever suffered their first loss of the season, going down 64-63 to the Adelaide Thunderbirds at the RAC Arena on Saturday.

Led by the league’s leading scorer Jhaniele Fowler, who scored 51 goals from 53 attempts, the Fever outscored the Thunderbirds 20-17 and 15-14 over the first two quarters, respectively, to take a 35-31 lead into the half-time break.

Fowler has now scored 331 goals this season.

However, despite winning the third quarter 15-14, the Fever were unable to hold off the Thunderbirds, who stormed back to outscore the champions 19-13 in the final stanza to snatch victory. Eleanor Cardwell led the Thunderbirds scoring with 33 goals from 34 attempts but key to their victory was that she hit eight of her 14 super shots.

Wing Defence Latanya Wilson and Goal Keeper Shamera Sterling played key roles on the defensive side with nine intercepts between them. The much-anticipated battle between Jamaican teammates Fowler and Shamera Sterling proved decisive as the Goal Keeper, who had six deflections, made it difficult for Fever to connect into the circle and suffered their first loss of the season on home court.

On the back of 46 goals out of 52 attempts from Jamaican shooter Romelda Aiken-George, the New South Wales Swifts completed a remarkable fourth quarter comeback to beat the Melbourne Vixens in their Suncorp Super netball League game at the Ken Rosewall Arena in New South Wales on Saturday.

The Vixens won the first quarter 16-15 before a 15-15 tie in the second meant they entered halftime with a 31-30 lead.

The Melbourne-based outfit then produced some excellent Netball in the third quarter, winning 22-16, to enter the fourth and final stanza with a daunting 53-46 lead.

The Swifts had other plans, however, winning the final quarter 21-14 to complete a narrow 67-66 win.

British goal attack Helen Housby provided good support for Aiken-George with 12 goals from as many attempts.

Malawi’s Mwai Kumwenda tried her best for the Vixens with 47 goals from 50 attempts.

After five rounds of matches in the 2023 Suncorp Super Netball League, Jamaican players are dominating the elite netball league on both sides of the ball.

Many-time West Coast Fever MVP and 2022 champion Jhaniele Fowler leads all scorers with the most goals scored (280) and the most attempts (284). The towering Jamaican shooter has missed only four times since the start of the season for the unbeaten West Coast Fever.

Shimona Nelson who plays for the Collingwood Magpies is third in the standings with 217 goals and is also third in the number of attempts at 226.

Shamera Sterling of the Adelaide Thunderbirds has been just as impressive on the other side of the ball. The defender leads in the number of defensive rebounds (16) and deflections (40). She also leads in the number of Nissan Net Points (539).

Fowler lies fourth with 491.

Nissan Net Points are Suncorp Super Netball's first overarching player metric. They are a stats-based scoring system, run by Champion Data, that measures every player action on the court. Every time someone scores a goal, blocks a pass, gets a defensive rebound (and so on), they get points.

The bigger the impact, the bigger the points. If players make mistakes or cause turnovers, they lose points. At the end of the game, each player receives an individual Nissan Net Points score, which represents their contribution to the match.

Also on the defensive side, Jodi-Ann Ward of the Collingwood Magpies leads the league with 19 intercepts followed by Kadie-Ann Dehaney of Sunshine Coast Lightning with 15. Sterling is fourth with 12.

Romelda Aiken-George of New South Wales Swifts leads the league with 22 offensive rebounds while Nelson has 17 for third in the standings.