Magpies tempers flare as Giants take fourth spot

SUPER NETBALL, ROUND 10
Giants Netball 63 (Bassett 35, Harten 23, Austin 5) d Magpies Netball 56 (Nelson 40, Sinclair 11, Medhurst 5) at Melbourne Arena. MVP: Jo Harten (Giants).

It was a fiery sideline conversation that Magpies coach Rob Wright wishes had not been made public, while an on-court response from roasted wing attack Kelsey Browne and a much-improved last quarter were among few positives from a 63-56 loss to the Giants that sent Collingwood tumbling from the top four.

In the first match of Sunday's Melbourne Arena double-header, the home side entered with a three-point Super Netball buffer over their AFL-backed rivals, but ended up three in arrears as the Giants collected seven of the available eight points before a consolation last quarter reward for the Magpies.

Magpies midcourter Kelsey Browne in action against the Giants on Sunday.Credit:AAP

In the first match of the double-header, the home side entered with a three-point buffer over their fellow AFL-backed rivals, but ended up three in arrears after the Giants collected seven of the available eight points before a consolation last quarter reward for the Magpies.

Yet it was the dialogue between Wright and his vice-captain Browne captured by the Channel Nine cameras four minutes before half-time that revealed the extent of the Magpies' frustration, with the coach delivering instructions and the midcourter asking to be told "what I'm doing well … I just need some positives".

"How about doing some because at the moment, to me, you're not," Wright replied. "I can't give you a positive when you're not doing it."

After some more words from Browne, he then continued: "A bit less attitude I reckon, I don't need it. Do your role."

With Browne replaced by Kiwi Kimiora Poi, the courtside dialogue continued for some time afterwards, before the Magpies took a 23-34 deficit into what was sure to be a charged dressing room for Ash Brazill's 100th game. Browne returned to her usual wing attack position when the match resumed.

"If I had my time again we'd have had that (exchange) not in a camera, but unfortunately there's mikes there so I probably could have done that better," said Wright, the former Swifts coach in his first full season in the top job at Collingwood.

"But the good thing is that we can have a really good conversation and then she comes out and plays exceptionally well in the second half. I couldn’t fault her; I said that at three-quarter time. I thought her play in the third quarter was exceptional and then she can out and did exactly the same in the fourth quarter and look at the result we got in the fourth quarter.

"Look, it gives people some insight, and I'm always looking to do things better, so I can come up with a better way to do that."

Jo Harten of the Giants shoots in an MVP performance against the Magpies.Credit:AAP

In the round 10 resumption from the World Cup break, April Brandley and Nat Medhurst were other big-name Pies to spend time on the bench, Medhurst replaced by Gabby Sinclair after just five goals from seven attempts in the first half, and Brandley's colours lowered by England international Jo Harten, the match MVP, and one of three Giants to have played in Liverpool. Sinclair, ended with 11 goals from 15 attempts, playing out the front of Shimona Nelson (40/46).

The Pies' chronic inconsistency leaves them yet to record consecutive wins, and now needing results to fall their way in the four remaining rounds. A 22-11 finale – having faced an impossible deficit at the last break – delivered much more of what Wright wants to see, including vastly improved centre pass conversions and defensive pressure. Still, too little was also too late.

"We just came to life," he said. "There was no fear and they just let the ball go in attack … So I said that's the standard we need in the last quarter for the rest of the year.

"If we can be that quarter after quarter in the coming weeks then we put ourselves in (with) a real shot. But we're now having to rely on other people as well, probably, to lose games, which is never ideal. But at the moment we can still make it and I still believe we can make it."

The Giants will look to consolidate their top four spot over the next fortnight, with home games against both the Firebirds and Lightning. The Magpies face an away double – against the Thunderbirds in Adelaide and the Fever in Perth – before hosting the top-of-the-ladder Swifts in Tasmania and finishing the regular season with a local derby against the Vixens.

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