The NSW Swifts booked a trans-Tasman netball home final after beating the West Coast Fever at Perth Arena without captain Kimberlee Green, but coach Rob Wright knows they need to improve to keep their season going beyond Friday.
The Swifts beat the Fever 63-56 at Perth Arena, enough to secure the elimination final against the same team in Sydney on Friday.
That will be the last game of 2015 for the loser while the winner will go on to play in the Australian conference final in Brisbane against the Queensland Firebirds.
The Swifts will head in with plenty of momentum having won their last five matches while the Fever have lost three of their last four since going unbeaten over the first nine rounds.
But Wright knows his team will need to again lift.
"We love playing at home just like the Fever do, but at the end of the day you have to play wherever. In reality we know that it could be our last home game so it's always nice to get back in front of our home crowd," Wright said.
"Not that there's anything wrong with Perth, but we were going to be staying here and be on the road for 10 days if we didn't win. The girls are all pleased now that we can head home.
"Because we played each other we both learned so much from this game that we will both need to come up with whole new ideas for next week. Hopefully we get Kim Green back as well so that will be exciting."
Stacey Rosman has done a terrific job qualifying the Fever for the finals for the first time and she is hoping her players learn quickly from the loss to the Swifts.
"Our intensity was just a little bit up and down, and we had opportunities in that last quarter but turned the ball over three times and didn't get the opportunities to score," Rosman said.
"We showed that we have the capability of getting the ball, but we can't rush things and when you play against such a high calibre team every ball counts."
Share
