Super Netball 2025: West Coast Fever coach Dan Ryan says they won’t take foot off gas for Melbourne Vixens

West Coast Fever coach Dan Ryan has pledged his powerhouse side won’t take the foot off the accelerator despite wrapping up the minor premiership as they look to set a club record by beating Melbourne Vixens Fever made Super Netball history last weekend when they became the first team to string together 11 consecutive victories, and should they defeat the third-placed Vixens they would finish the regular season with a 12-2 record for the first time ever. West Coast’s previous best was 11-3, which they have accomplished twice, including last year, while they finished with a 10-4 record in their premiership season of 2022. The WA side have already claimed the minor premiership and earned the rights to host the major semifinal next weekend, which is expected to be against early flag fancies the NSW Swifts. It puts Fever only one win away from a fourth grand final in franchise history and in the box-seat for a second premiership. And it has Fever, the talk of the town and the hottest ticket this weekend, with ticket sales on track to exceed last weekend’s home-and-away record crowd of 11,899. Ryan said there was no chance they would flirt with their form despite being unable to lose top spot as they looked to beat the Vixens at RAC Arena on Sunday, with their opponents desperate to hold onto third spot. “Continuity and consistency are important for us. We’ve had a season where we’ve rotated the lines and combinations consistently throughout most and it’s held us in good stead to this point,” Ryan told The West Australian. “There’s no need to really change it. We know what works, we know what impacts we have, and we know what can hold for long periods of time. “This week is about refining the little parts of our game and staying the course with what has got us to this point in time.” Fever will be boosted by the return of starting centre Jordan Cransberg, who missed the 17-goal win against the Giants at the weekend because of illness. Her twin sister Zoe has also been cleared of concussion after a heavy fall in the victory and will retain her spot in the 10, with defender and three-time Jill McIntosh medallist Caitlyn Brown to make way. Vixens have been the traditional rivals for Fever, having beaten them in the 2020 grand final before West Coast reversed the result two seasons later to claim their maiden premiership. Fever kick-started their 11-game winning streak with a 10-goal victory against the Vixens in round three, avenging their one-goal defeat in last year’s preliminary final. Melbourne will head west with plenty to play for, needing a victory to hold onto third place and secure a home cut-throat minor semifinal against either the Adelaide Thunderbirds or Sunshine Coast Lightning. Ryan said they knew last year’s grand finalists in the Vixens were as good as any team in Super Netball when they were at their best. “It’s taking each game that’s directly in front of us and knowing we may see Vixens again in the finals series,” he said. “It’s also knowing that every time you play Vixens, irrespective (of the position) it’s a high-quality game and to win you must play really good netball for 60 minutes. “Their form in the second half of the season has really shifted. When they get their ball speed and their confidence up, they’re as good as the next team in the competition. “We’ll have our work cut out for us. You can’t put your eyes too far forward, it’s directly what’s in front of you and playing each moment against a classy side that is just as good as you at playing the fundamentals of the game really well.” Ryan also said he didn’t subscribe to the trope that a side on a winning streak like that of Fever is due for a loss as they prepare for the biggest month of the season. “Winning is what you work really hard for every single time you’re on the training track, when you’re in the gym, when you’re out competing,” he said. “I think it’s a great way to soften the blow of a loss to have that as a narrative, but as competitive athletes and high-performance teams, you want to win every game that you play. “The way our environment works is every scrimmage set we have in training; the attack wants to beat the attack and vice-versa, so that mindset is always front and centre of what we do. “It’s all about the processes that see winning be the byproduct of what you’re doing in the moment, so for us, we want to make winning a habit. “We want to win in all different circumstances, in all different ways, and this season has presented those opportunities for us, and we certainly don’t want to be taking a backward step heading into finals. “We want to keep growing our game because we know there’s more in us and we want to keep getting better each time we play together.”