Why i love the ANZ Championship

Who doesn't love this glorious netball competition called the ANZ Championships we have the pleasure of enjoying for 17 weeks of the year.

With only 2 round remaining in the regular season and the majority of the finals contenders already finalised, its fantastic to see that on any given day, each of the teams in our competition can cause an upset.

On Saturday afternoon the Melbourne Vixens and NSW Swifts did battle for the Sargeant McKinnis trophy for the second time this season and with the Melbourne Vixens sitting 2nd on the ladder, and the Swifts down in 8th position, many including myself predicted a Vixens win. Yes the Swifts have found some late season form over the past couple of rounds but I don’t think anyone would have predicted a Swifts victory, and definitely not by 9 goals.

This season the Swifts have unfortunately had one to forget, no huge personel changes from last season, but with a tough road trip to start the competition they never really got out of 1st gear, until Round 9 with a close loss to the Thunderbirds. By this stage the season was well and truly gone. However they followed this up with a victory against the Mystics and another close loss to the Thunderbirds, it was looking like a strong performance was potentially on the cards before the season ended.

The Swifts went out there and with nothing to loose they pushed the Vixens and perhaps showed a couple of weak spots at the business end of the competition. During the 2013 season English import Sonia Mkoloma has been the highest penalised player in the compeition, however this game she kept that number down to 11. Both her and Mo'onia Gerrard kept the Vixens shooters to just 49 attempts at the end of the game, with an impressive second quarter where they only managed 6 goals.

If the Swifts had showed this form earlier in the competition then perhaps the ladder would look a little bit different.

The game certainly kept me enthralled as always but i do particularly love an underdog fighting through and toppling one of the competition favorites. Doesnt matter what sport. There is something special when it does happen. It has been why this ANZ competition has been so strong since day one.

Any team on their day can cause an upset and show that it really is an evenly matched competition.