They'll be scheming to try and win a Commonwealth Games gold medal for England soon enough, but Jo Harten and Geva Mentor are in opposing camps on Saturday as the Giants and Sunshine Coast Lightning clash in a final-round Super Netball top-two shootout.
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Harten rates Mentor as one of the toughest defenders she's ever opposed, and outsmarting the 119-Test veteran will be crucial in securing a top-two finish at the Qudos Bank Arena, and thus a second-chance in the finals.
Sunshine Coast sit a point clear of the Giants heading into Saturday's game in second spot, with for-and-against keeping them behind the ladder-leading Melbourne Vixens.
The Vixens are expected to wrap up the minor premiership with a win over struggling West Coast on Saturday, meaning second spot is the likely prize on offer for the Giants and Lightning.
Mentor has been a rock at the back for Sunshine Coast this season, and should play a similar role for England at next year's Commonwealth Games.
"She's a really smart player, she's really physical, man on, but I respect her greatly because she uses her smarts to win the ball, not any dirty tactics or any sneaky stuff," Harten said.
"We know each other's game quite well, I've played on her in England training and I've played against her in ANZ [Championship] and the Suncorp Super Netball."
Just how much time goal keeper Mentor spends on Harten remains to be seen.
The move worked superbly two weeks ago when the Giants overcame the Vixens, but didn't quite pay dividends in last Friday's shock loss to the Queensland Firebirds.
In the Giants' thrilling round-four, one-point win over Sunshine Coast, Harten only played two quarters before Kristina Brice was brought on.
"We had a little discussion with Jules a couple of weeks ago just when we were playing the Vixens, we wanted to try something different, we needed to outsmart them and mix things up," Harten said.
"It's kind of worked, I think I'm a good point in the midcourt because of my height and I can help out a bit on defence as well. Pratts [Pettitt] has that movement in circle, she's a bit shorter, a bit nippier.
"Then you've got to add KB [Brice] into the mix as well, she comes on and really changes the game for us.
"It's good that we've got those three or four options within those three players. Who knows who will be out on court at any given moment."
Mentor was one of the first players from England to move down under, when she signed with Adelaide in 2008, while Harten made the move in 2012 and played five seasons in New Zealand before switching to the Giants.
Both are expected to play significant roles in next year's Commonwealth Games.
"We came close the last Comm Games we lost by one goal to both of those teams and that was heartbreaking but I think there's a lot more experience in this England side now, there's up to 10 players playing in Australia and New Zealand this year," Harten said.
"There's no point in going if you don't want to challenge for that final and to be in the final, once you're there anything can happen, I know that, I've seen that. We're going to give it a good crack. We're not going there to try and finish third or fourth."
SUPER NETBALL ROUND 14 at QUDOS BANK ARENA
5pm - NSW Swifts v Queensland Firebirds
7pm - Giants Netball v Sunshine Coast Lightning
