This Sunday, at Nissan Arena, Stuart will guide her minor premiers into battle against Temepara Bailey’s Gold Coast Titans with a direct slot into the August 4 grand final on the line.
Both sides will be at full strength, and while the Jets recorded victory twice against the second-placed Titans in the regular rounds, Stuart said that means little come finals.
“The Titans are known for their zone defence, so we’ve worked on combating that,” Stuart said.
“We’ve got better on the two-point shot, on when to take it and what to do in both attack and defence. Josie Bingham is known as one of the best two-point shooters in the competition so that’s one we need to stop.”
It may be a case of third time lucky for a core group of Jets’ players, who’ve fallen a win short of the premiership in recent years, but Stuart’s not thinking any further ahead than this weekend’s challenge.
“Our leadership on court has been great,” she said.
“The girls have worked so hard. We’re hoping to have a good start and lead from the front the whole way instead of playing catch-up.”
Bailey and the Titans will have something to say about that, as they embark on creating history by securing the franchise’s first title.
“That’s the proof of the pudding, where the ingredients need to rise to the occasion and we get that beautiful experience for the club,” Bailey said.
“This is more about the players I think, their expectations of themselves going into this weekend are demanding and high. We’re really excited as we’ve got the Ruby Series team in the same position and it would be amazing if both went straight through to the grand final, but we have to do the hard work to get there.”
While the victor secures a spot in the HART Sapphire Series grand final, the remaining team will face the winner of this Sunday’s minor semi-final between the Sunshine Coast Thunder and Bond University Bull Sharks.
Thunder coach Simone Nalatu has juggled a roster diminished by Suncorp Super Netball commitments, as well as injury, but remains confident of her side’s ability to come out on top.
“Even though we know we beat the Bull Sharks both times in the regular season, that means nothing now,” Nalatu said.
“Mia (Stower) is definitely a threat, prolific in that two-point shot time. We’ve got to be good in the one-point game, and defend like hell in the two-point period because she’s lethal.”
The Bull Sharks have propelled from last in 2023 to a top four position with the inclusion of the former Queensland Firebird in attack.
“She provides such leadership because we’re still relatively young,” Bull Sharks coach Bec Stower said.
“We’ve grown from the experience last year as well, gradually performing better and taking on board the learnings from last season.”
Stower said they’re in a solid mental and physical space to take on the Thunder this Sunday, and keep their season alive.
“More than anything we have to look after our own business, scoring off turnovers and looking after possession,’ she said.
“We don’t need to make it too hard. We’ve been focusing on ourselves throughout the year, and have been really good at the small stuff.”
MINOR SEMI-FINAL: Sunshine Coast Thunder (3) vs Bond University Bull Sharks (4), Nissan Arena Show Court - Sunday, 4pm (Live on KommunityTV)
MAJOR SEMI-FINAL: TAE Aerospace Ipswich Jets (1) vs Gold Coast Titans (2), Nissan Arena Show Court - Sunday, 6pm (Live on KommunityTV)
