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The 2018 Suncorp Super Netball season was the second season of the premier netball league in Australia. The season began on 28 April and concluded with the Grand Final on 26 August 2018. The start of the season was delayed to late April due to the 2018 Commonwealth Games, which was held earlier that month on the Gold Coast. The fixtures for the season were released on 11 October 2017.

Sunshine Coast Lightning were the defending premiers and successfully defended their title, defeating West Coast Fever in the Grand Final at Perth Arena.

Overview

Teams

Team	Captain	Coach	Home Courts	Ref.
Adelaide Thunderbirds	Leana De Bruin	Dan Ryan	Priceline Stadium Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Collingwood Magpies	Madison Robinson	Kristy-Keppich Birrell	Hisense Arena Margaret Court Arena Silverdome
Giants Netball	Kimberlee Green	Julie Fitzgerald	State Sports Centre Qudos Bank Arena AIS Arena International Convention Centre
Melbourne Vixens	Kate Moloney	Simone McKinnis	Hisense Arena Margaret Court Arena
New South Wales Swifts	Abbey McCulloch	Briony Akle	State Sports Centre Qudos Bank Arena
Queensland Firebirds	Gabi Simpson	Roselee Jencke	Brisbane Entertainment Centre Coomera Sport and Leisure Centre
Sunshine Coast Lightning	Geva Mentor	Noeline Taurua	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
West Coast Fever	Courtney Bruce	Stacey Marinkovich	Perth Arena HBF Stadium

Format

The season is played over fourteen rounds, allowing every team to play each other twice, once at home and once away. The top four teams on the ladder at the conclusion of the regular season qualify for the finals series. In the first week of the finals series, the 1st ranked team hosts the 2nd ranked team in the major semi-final (with the winner of that match to qualify for the Grand Final) and the 3rd ranked team hosts the 4th ranked team in the minor semi-final (with the loser of that match eliminated). The loser of the major semi-final then hosts the winner of the minor semi-final in the preliminary final. The winner of the major semi-final then hosts the winner of the preliminary final in the Grand Final.

Rule changes

Netball Australia announced a change to the points system for the regular season, with bonus points being introduced. Under the new system, teams earn 4 points for a win and 1 point for every quarter won in a match. A drawn match earns a team 2 points and drawing a quarter earns no points. The winning team can earn a maximum of 8 points per match.

Additionally, teams can request up to two time-outs per half and at any point in time while play is in progress, any one member of the team bench (players and team officials) listed on the official score sheet shall be permitted to move up and down their team bench within the bench zone to communicate with their on-court or off-court players. Finally, umpires can now award a penalty pass for delaying play or intimidation and quarter time and half time breaks will be increased by one and three minutes respectively.

Broadcast

The Nine Network televised two matches each round during the regular season and also televised all finals matches. Telstra televised the other two matches each round. Every match of the season was available to be streamed live via the Netball Australia App. Unlike 2017, Nine telecast their two matches on the main channel, rather than secondary channel 9Gem. The two matches broadcast on Nine were on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

Regular season

Round 1

Sat 28 Apr	Melbourne Vixens	59–58	Collingwood Magpies	Hisense Arena
3.00pm	Kumwenda  41/42 (98%) Philip  18/20 (90%)	Stats	Thwaites  36/38 (95%) Bell  22/29 (76%)

Sun 29 Apr	Adelaide Thunderbirds	56–74	West Coast Fever	Priceline Stadium
12.30pm	Nelson  37/42 (88%) Latu-Meafou  10/13 (77%) Hodges  9/10 (90%)	Stats	Fowler  66/68 (97%) Medhurst  5/6 (83%) Stanton  3/3 (100%)

Sun 29 Apr	Giants Netball	54–51	Sunshine Coast Lightning	Qudos Bank Arena
1.00pm	Harten  33/36 (92%) Pettitt  21/28 (75%)	Stats	Bassett  36/41 (88%) Wood  15/16 (94%)

Sun 29 Apr	New South Wales Swifts	54–53	Queensland Firebirds	Qudos Bank Arena
3.00pm	Housby  24/31 (77%) Garbin  18/19 (95%) Wallace  12/17 (71%)	Stats	Aiken  45/51 (88%) Tippett  8/11 (73%)

Round 2

Sat 5 May	Adelaide Thunderbirds	48–71	Giants Netball	Priceline Stadium
2.30pm	Nelson  34/38 (89%) Hodges  11/14 (79%) Leta-Meafou  3/3 (100%)	Stats	Brice  29/29 (100%) Harten  25/32 (78%) Pettitt  17/20 (85%)

Sat 5 May	West Coast Fever	68–57	Collingwood Magpies	Perth Arena
7.00pm	Fowler  62/67 (93%) Medhurst  6/7 (86%)	Stats	Thwaites  39/45 (87%) Bell  17/27 (63%) Brown  1/2 (50%)

Sun 6 May	Queensland Firebirds	55–52	Sunshine Coast Lightning	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
1.00pm	Aiken  39/45 (87%) Tippett  16/21 (76%)	Stats	Bassett  35/36 (97%) Wood  17/18 (94%)

Sun 6 May	Melbourne Vixens	63–61	New South Wales Swifts	Margaret Court Arena
3.00pm	Kumwenda  34/34 (100%) Philip  29/32 (91%)	Stats	Wallace  37/38 (97%) Housby  24/25 (96%)

Round 3

Sat 12 May	Melbourne Vixens	55–59	Queensland Firebirds	Hisense Arena
3.00pm	Kumwenda  29/32 (91%) Philip  26/29 (90%)	Stats	Aiken  40/47 (85%) Tippett  19/22 (86%)

Sat 12 May	Sunshine Coast Lightning	55–56	West Coast Fever	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
5.00pm	Bassett  33/39 (85%) Wood  22/25 (88%)	Stats	Fowler  39/44 (89%) Medhurst  17/21 (81%)

Sat 12 May	Collingwood Magpies	70–50	Adelaide Thunderbirds	Hisense Arena
7.00pm	Thwaites  55/57 (96%) Bell  15/21 (71%)	Stats	Nelson  37/42 (88%) Hodges  9/14 (64%) Latu-Meafou  4/6 (67%)

Sun 13 May	New South Wales Swifts	55–54	Giants Netball	Qudos Bank Arena
1.00pm	Housby  23/27 (85%) Garbin  17/18 (94%) Wallace  15/18 (83%)	Stats	Harten  38/41 (93%) Pettitt  16/19 (84%)

Round 4

Sat 19 May	Giants Netball	53–51	Queensland Firebirds	State Sports Centre
3.00pm	Brice  27/31 (87%) Harten  18/20 (90%) Pettitt  8/9 (89%)	Stats	Aiken  32/38 (84%) Tippett  19/19 (100%)

Sun 20 May	Adelaide Thunderbirds	50–72	Melbourne Vixens	Priceline Stadium
12.30pm	Nelson  37/41 (90%) Hodges  13/15 (87%)	Stats	Kumwenda  47/47 (100%) Philip  25/27 (93%)

Sun 20 May	Collingwood Magpies	50–52	Sunshine Coast Lightning	Margaret Court Arena
1.00pm	Thwaites  36/41 (88%) Bell  14/20 (70%)	Stats	Bassett  37/37 (100%) Wood  15/22 (68%)

Sun 20 May	West Coast Fever	63–54	New South Wales Swifts	HBF Stadium
1.00pm	Fowler  53/59 (90%) Medhurst  8/8 (100%) Stanton  2/5 (40%)	Stats	Wallace  24/28 (86%) Housby  24/31 (77%) Garbin  6/7 (86%)

Round 5

Sat 26 May	Queensland Firebirds	71–61	West Coast Fever	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
3.00pm	Aiken  45/51 (88%) Tippett  26/28 (93%)	Stats	Fowler  48/49 (98%) Medhurst  11/14 (79%) Stanton  2/2 (100%)

Sun 27 May	New South Wales Swifts	64–54	Collingwood Magpies	State Sports Centre
1.00pm	Wallace  43/48 (90%) Housby  21/23 (91%)	Stats	Thwaites  39/44 (89%) Bell  14/21 (67%) Teague-Neeld  1/2 (50%)

Sun 27 May	Sunshine Coast Lightning	60–51	Adelaide Thunderbirds	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
3.00pm	Bassett  43/47 (91%) Wood  17/20 (85%)	Stats	Nelson  30/34 (88%) Hodges  12/14 (86%) Latu-Meafou  9/12 (75%)

Sun 27 May	Giants Netball	58–51	Melbourne Vixens	State Sports Centre
5.00pm	Harten  24/28 (86%) Brice  17/20 (85%) Pettitt  17/22 (77%)	Stats	Kumwenda  38/38 (100%) Philip  13/19 (68%)

Round 6

Sat 2 Jun	Sunshine Coast Lightning	64–56	Melbourne Vixens	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
3.00pm	Bassett  51/53 (96%) Wood  13/17 (76%)	Stats	Kumwenda  31/33 (94%) Philip  22/28 (79%) Gooden  3/4 (75%)

Sat 2 Jun	West Coast Fever	63–61	Giants Netball	Perth Arena
7.00pm	Fowler  53/56 (95%) Medhurst  10/11 (91%)	Stats	Pettitt  26/29 (90%) Brice  20/23 (87%) Harten  15/16 (94%)

Sun 3 Jun	New South Wales Swifts	51–49	Adelaide Thunderbirds	State Sports Centre
1.00pm	Wallace  30/34 (88%) Housby  15/20 (75%) Garbin  6/9 (67%)	Stats	Nelson  33/39 (85%) Latu-Meafou  12/14 (86%) Glasgow  4/8 (50%)

Sun 3 Jun	Collingwood Magpies	67–62	Queensland Firebirds	Silverdome
3.00pm	Thwiates  34/40 (85%) Bell  33/39 (85%)	Stats	Aiken  42/51 (82%) Tippett  20/21 (95%)

Round 7

Sat 16 Jun	Melbourne Vixens	74–60	West Coast Fever	Hisense Arena
3.00pm	Kumwenda  49/51 (96%) Philip  31/35 (89%)	Stats	Fowler  56/60 (93%) Stanton  3/5 (60%) Medhurst  1/2 (50%)

Sun 17 Jun	Adelaide Thunderbirds	42–66	Queensland Firebirds	Priceline Stadium
12.30pm	Nelson  23/25 (92%) Hodges  14/19 (74%) Latu-Meafou  5/5 (100%)	Stats	Aiken  46/61 (75%) Tippett  20/21 (95%)

Sun 17 Jun	Giants Netball	63–60	Collingwood Magpies	Qudos Bank Arena
1.00pm	Pettitt  29/31 (94%) Harten  25/28 (89%) Brice  9/11 (82%)	Stats	Thwaites  38/40 (95%) Bell  22/26 (85%)

Sun 17 Jun	New South Wales Swifts	59–56	Sunshine Coast Lightning	Qudos Bank Arena
3.00pm	Wallace  43/45 (96%) Housby  16/19 (84%)	Stats	Bassett  34/36 (94%) Wood  22/25 (88%)

Round 8

Sat 23 Jun	Sunshine Coast Lightning	53–53	Giants Netball	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
3.00pm	Bassett  40/44 (91%) Wood  13/16 (81%)	Stats	Harten  30/33 (91%) Pettitt  21/25 (84%) Brice  2/5 (40%)

Sat 23 Jun	West Coast Fever	76–56	Adelaide Thunderbirds	Perth Arena
7.00pm	Fowler  66/73 (90%) Medhurst  10/11 (91%)	Stats	Nelson  47/51 (92%) Hodges  7/11 (64%) Latu-Meafou  2/3 (67%)

Sun 24 Jun	Collingwood Magpies	57–65	Melbourne Vixens	Margaret Court Arena
1.00pm	Thwaites  49/51 (96%) Bell  8/16 (50%)	Stats	Kumwenda  42/43 (98%) Phillip  23/24 (96%)

Sun 24 Jun	Queensland Firebirds	60–57	New South Wales Swifts	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
3.00pm	Aiken  43/49 (88%) Tippett  17/18 (94%)	Stats	Housby  25/32 (78%) Garbin  19/23 (83%) Wallace  13/15 (87%)

Round 9

Sat 30 Jun	New South Wales Swifts	58–65	Melbourne Vixens	State Sports Centre
3.00pm	Wallace  48/50 (96%) Housby  10/11 (91%)	Stats	Kumwenda  37/39 (95%) Philip  28/30 (93%)

Sat 30 Jun	Collingwood Magpies	57–70	West Coast Fever	Margaret Court Arena
7.00pm	Thwaites  43/50 (86%) Teague-Neeld  11/13 (85%) Bell  3/6 (50%)	Stats	Fowler  62/66 (94%) Medhurst  8/8 (100%)

Sun 1 Jul	Sunshine Coast Lightning	58–57	Queensland Firebirds	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
1.00pm	Bassett  34/38 (89%) Wood  24/27 (89%)	Stats	Aiken  33/39 (85%) Tippett  24/25 (96%)

Sun 1 Jul	Giants Netball	63–44	Adelaide Thunderbirds	AIS Arena
3.00pm	Harten  30/34 (88%) Pettitt  27/35 (77%) Brice  6/6 (100%)	Stats	Nelson  23/27 (85%) Glasgow  11/16 (69%) Hodges  10/14 (71%)

Round 10

Sat 7 Jul	Queensland Firebirds	57–58	Melbourne Vixens	Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre
3.00pm	Aiken  38/47 (81%) Tippett  19/20 (95%)	Stats	Kumwenda  29/32 (91%) Philip  29/35 (83%)

Sat 7 Jul	West Coast Fever	59–58	Sunshine Coast Lightning	HBF Stadium
7.00pm	Fowler  50/56 (89%) Medhurst  9/12 (75%)	Stats	Bassett  43/47 (91%) Wood  15/19 (79%)

Sun 8 Jul	Adelaide Thunderbirds	48–58	Collingwood Magpies	Adelaide Entertainment Centre
12.30pm	Nelson  32/34 (94%) Hodges  11/11 (100%) Tuivaiti  5/5 (100%)	Stats	Thwaites  50/54 (93%) Bell  8/13 (62%) Teague-Neeld  0/2 (0%)

Sun 8 Jul	Giants Netball	66–56	New South Wales Swifts	International Convention Centre
5.00pm	Harten  29/37 (78%) Pettitt  19/21 (90%) Brice  18/21 (86%)	Stats	Wallace  40/45 (89%) Housby  16/18 (89%)

Round 11

Sat 14 Jul	Sunshine Coast Lightning	58–56	Collingwood Magpies	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
3.00pm	Bassett  43/43 (100%) Wood  15/18 (83%)	Stats	Thwaites  30/36 (83%) Bell  26/31 (84%)

Sat 14 Jul	New South Wales Swifts	68–74	West Coast Fever	State Sports Centre
7.00pm	Wallace  35/40 (88%) Housby  23/26 (88%) Garbin  10/12 (83%)	Stats	Fowler  61/65 (94%) Medhurst  13/15 (87%)

Sun 15 Jul	Queensland Firebirds	64–50	Giants Netball	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
1.00pm	Aiken  35/51 (69%) Tippett  29/31 (94%)	Stats	Harten  25/29 (86%) Pettitt  23/26 (88%) Brice  2/4 (50%)

Sun 15 Jul	Melbourne Vixens	73–48	Adelaide Thunderbirds	Hisense Arena
3.00pm	Kumwenda  52/56 (93%) Philip  17/20 (85%) Gooden  4/7 (57%)	Stats	Tuivaiti  28/29 (97%) Hodges  13/15 (87%) Nelson  7/9 (78%) Pitman  0/1 (0%)

Round 12

Sat 21 Jul	Collingwood Magpies	57–57	New South Wales Swifts	Hisense Arena
3.00pm	Thwaites  34/37 (92%) Bell  23/29 (79%)	Stats	Garbin  21/22 (95%) Housby  19/22 (86%) Wallace  17/19 (89%)

Sat 21 Jul	West Coast Fever	54–60	Queensland Firebirds	Perth Arena
7.00pm	Fowler  42/45 (93%) Medhurst  12/16 (75%)	Stats	Aiken  41/50 (82%) Tippett  19/24 (79%)

Sun 22 Jul	Melbourne Vixens	58–60	Giants Netball	Hisense Arena
1.00pm	Kumwenda  41/43 (95%) Philip  17/22 (77%) Gooden  0/1 (0%)	Stats	Pettitt  30/35 (86%) Harten  30/35 (86%)

Sun 22 Jul	Adelaide Thunderbirds	44–75	Sunshine Coast Lightning	Priceline Stadium
12.30pm	Nelson  24/30 (80%) Hodges  13/17 (76%) Tuivaiti  7/7 (100%)	Stats	Bassett  41/45 (91%) Wood  20/25 (80%) Koenen  14/17 (82%)

Round 13

Sat 28 Jul	Sunshine Coast Lightning	61–51	New South Wales Swifts	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
3.00pm	Bassett  42/46 (91%) Wood  19/22 (86%)	Stats	Housby  23/29 (79%) Wallace  16/17 (94%) Garbin  12/15 (80%)

Sun 29 Jul	Queensland Firebirds	67–46	Adelaide Thunderbirds	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
1.00pm	Aiken  45/54 (83%) Tippett  22/27 (81%)	Stats	Nelson  33/35 (94%) Latu-Meafou  7/8 (88%) Pitman  3/5 (60%) Tuivaiti  3/3 (100%)

Sun 29 Jul	Collingwood Magpies	56–66	Giants Netball	Hisense Arena
3.00pm	Thwaites  37/41 (90%) Bell  19/23 (83%)	Stats	Harten  36/41 (88%) Pettitt  30/32 (94%)

Sun 29 Jul	West Coast Fever	68–55	Melbourne Vixens	Perth Arena
3.00pm	Fowler  62/66 (94%) Medhurst  6/7 (86%)	Stats	Kumwenda  32/36 (89%) Philip  20/25 (80%) Gooden  3/6 (50%)

Round 14

Fri 3 Aug	Adelaide Thunderbirds	41–69	New South Wales Swifts	Priceline Stadium
7.00pm	Nelson  20/26 (77%) Latu-Meafou  17/23 (74%) Tuivaiti  4/4 (100%) Pitman  0/2 (0%)	Stats	Wallace  40/42 (95%) Housby  17/19 (89%) Garbin  10/12 (83%)

Sat 4 Aug	Queensland Firebirds	76–44	Collingwood Magpies	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
3.00pm	Aiken  51/63 (81%) Tippett  25/27 (93%)	Stats	Thwaites  30/32 (94%) Bell  7/11 (64%) Teague-Neeld  7/10 (70%)

Sat 4 Aug	Giants Netball	69–66	West Coast Fever	International Convention Centre
7.00pm	Pettitt  35/40 (88%) Harten  34/40 (85%)	Stats	Fowler  63/72 (88%) Medhurst  2/4 (50%) Stanton  1/1 (100%)

Sun 5 Aug	Melbourne Vixens	51–56	Sunshine Coast Lightning	Hisense Arena
1.00pm	Commane  31/33 (94%) Philip  20/24 (83%)	Stats	Bassett  41/48 (85%) Wood  15/19 (79%)

Ladder

Finals series

Major semi-final

Sat 11 Aug 3.00pm	Report Stats	Giants Netball	57–63	West Coast Fever		State Sports Centre	Nine
		Scoring by quarter: 10–18, 17–12, 17–15, 13–18
		Harten  33/38 (87%) Pettitt  24/30 (80%)		Fowler  48/48 (100%) Medhurst  9/9 (100%) Stanton  6/7 (86%)

Minor semi-final

Sun 12 Aug 1.00pm	Report Stats	Queensland Firebirds	56–57	Sunshine Coast Lightning		Brisbane Entertainment Centre	Nine
		Scoring by quarter: 15–16, 12–15, 15–17, 14–9
		Aiken  37/42 (88%) Tippett  19/19 (100%)		Bassett  37/39 (95%) Wood  20/26 (77%)

Preliminary final

Sun 19 Aug 1.00pm	Report Stats	Giants Netball	50–59	Sunshine Coast Lightning		Qudos Bank Arena	Nine
		Scoring by quarter: 15–15, 11–12, 11–16, 13–16
		Harten  28/32 (88%) Austin  12/16 (75%) Pettitt  9/15 (60%) Brice  1/1 (100%)		Bassett  40/43 (93%) Wood  19/23 (83%)

Grand Final

Sun 26 Aug 1.00pm AEST	Report Stats	West Coast Fever	59–62	Sunshine Coast Lightning		Perth Arena Attendance: 13,722	Nine
		Scoring by quarter: 14–14, 15–12, 16–22, 14–14
		Fowler  53/55 (96%) Medhurst  6/10 (60%)		Bassett  45/50 (90%) Wood  17/20 (85%)

• Grand Final MVP Winner: Caitlin Bassett
• Note: The crowd of 13,722 was an Australian national league record attendance.

Awards

References

1. "Super Netball start pushed back two months to accommodate Commonwealth Games". The Sydney Morning Herald. 20 June 2017. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018.
2. "Season 2018 revealed". Suncorp Super Netball. 11 October 2017. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018.
3. "Lightning strikes twice as Sunshine Coast retain Super Netball title". ABC News. 26 August 2018.
4. "Suncorp Super Netball 2018 Season Fixture" (PDF). Suncorp Super Netball. 11 October 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 January 2018.
5. ^ "New Rule Changes To Be Implemented In Season 2". Suncorp Super Netball. 19 April 2018. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
6. Lulham, Amanda (24 April 2018). "Super Netball 2018 rule changes: What you need to know". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
7. "Netball moving to Nine could do wonders for the game". The Women's Game. 26 April 2018.
8. "Vixens win a one-point thriller over Firebirds". www.smh.com.au. 8 July 2018.
9. "2018 Suncorp Super Netball Ladder". scoreboard.com.
10. "Lightning Strikes Twice". Suncorp Super Netball. 26 August 2018. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.

External links

• Official website
• Season results

• Suncorp Super Netball seasons
• 2018 in Australian netball