Queensland Firebirds coach Roselee Jencke wanted the perfect game.
Instead, she got the perfect feeling as her side stole victory from the jaws of defeat in a thrilling trans-Tasman netball grand final against the NSW Swifts on Sunday.
The Firebirds were uncharacteristically erratic, spending almost the entire match trailing the Swifts - but they took the lead for the first time with 15 seconds to go, when Gretel Tippett scored the decisive goal, and suddenly everything that came before that was irrelevant.
"I didn't expect it to be the last minute, but if it has to be, it has to be," Jencke said.
"We were on the right side of the scoreboard and in a final that's all that matters."
Tippett's goal triggered an almighty roar from the sellout 7000-strong crowd as the Firebirds held on for victory at Brisbane Entertainment Centre, sealing their first title since 2011 with their 13th consecutive win.
Firebirds captain Laura Geitz said the final whistle came as "so much relief", with her side just mere moments away from a third successive grand final failure.
"In previous years, there's times where you sort of go 'oh, this is where we fail a bit, we choke,'" Geitz said.
"It just wasn't the case, it was the complete opposite effect and feeling tonight.
"That's this team in a nutshell - in the pressure moments, never give up."
Given next to no chance of spoiling the Firebirds' unblemished run to the ANZ Championship decider, the Swifts looked good value to do just that but stumbled late, allowing Queensland to score the last five goals of the game.
The Firebirds' league MVP Romelda Aiken was at her prolific best, scoring 47 out of 51 attempts, and while her partner Tippett (10/17) was comparatively shaky, she came good when it counted.
Injury-dogged NSW captain Kimberlee Green played a full game and was at the heart of everything the Swifts did, while grand final MVP Sharni Layton and Julie Corletto barely gave Queensland an inch in defence.
"We're pretty devastated," Green said.
"It's a tough pill to swallow because we were right in the match the whole game."
The result continues NSW's poor record in Queensland, with the franchise yet to win a game in Brisbane.
In scenes reminiscent of the Australian conference final two weeks ago at the same venue, NSW started the much stronger side and their dominance continued into the third term, as they opened up a game-high six point advantage.
But they were powerless once the Firebirds smelled blood.
"I don't know if anything really went wrong - we probably just had some lapses of consistency," Swifts coach Rob Wright said.
"Momentum is everything, I think, in any sport and they showed that."
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