Last Sunday’s 51-40 victory over the Carina Leagues Club Tigers allowed a full-strength Jets team to shrug off a Tigers outfit grasping to gain that crucial fourth place.
“Minor premiers is great, but the biggest thrill is having the whole team back,” Jets coach Paula Stuart said.
“The Tigers came out firing in the first quarter, but we settled in the second and took off. The older heads brought us through.”
The Jets now return to Nissan Arena for this Sunday’s first semi-final against the second-placed Gold Coast Titans, with the winner of that game to proceed through to the Grand Final on July 30.
It will be Jets' captain Hulita Veve’s last game before she joins the Tongan Talas at the Netball World Cup in South Africa.
“Hulita and I spoke at the start of the season, and because she was never going to be here for the prelims and finals, the main aim was to get into the top two,” Stuart said.
Given the Jets have taken the points on both occasions they’ve played the Titans in the regular rounds, the Ipswich franchise will head into Sunday’s game as the favourites yet Stuart recognises anything can happen come finals.
“Against the Titans, it’s always a really tough first half but we’ve come out on top in the second half,” Stuart said.
“But semis are so different and we need to step up another level. Crunch time is on.”
Sunday’s second semi-final pits last year’s minor premiers, the ACU Brisbane North Cougars, against a determined Sunshine Coast Thunder.
The Thunder scraped into the final four by pushing the Tigers out of the points on percentage.
For the HART Sapphire Series fixture, results and ladder, please click here.
