Giants captain Kimberlee Green admits her side dodged a bullet in their come-from-behind win over the NSW Swifts on Saturday night, and has called on them to stop relying on last-quarter escapes.
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Green's team prevailed 58-53 in the Super Netball opener in front of a packed Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre, having trailed the plucky Swifts throughout before finishing with a late flurry to claim the Carole Sykes Memorial Trophy.
The introduction of Kristina Brice midway through the third quarter proved a masterstroke from Giants coach Julie Fitzgerald as the imposing shooter finished with 20 goals from 22 attempts.
But in the end it was the Giants' vast experience on a roster that boasts five internationals that prevailed.
"We can't rely on the last quarters to get us through a game," Green said."Defenders are doing a bloody great job. In attack we need to keep rewarding them for that.
"At critical times we were not good enough. All of the girls, and in the attack end in particular, are really disappointed in their performance.
"That's probably the fifth time we've all been together as a group so we're just going to have to keep building. We just need to be better and we need to do it quickly."
NSW were gallant in defeat. This was supposed to be a walkover for the star-studded Giants against a young side decimated by player movement since losing last year's ANZ Championship decider to the Queensland Firebirds.
Much has been said about the team Fitzgerald has pulled together from scratch, but credit has to go to her Swifts counterpart Robert Wright who had to rebuild his squad in just a matter of months.
He was forced to think outside the box after losing six players from last year's grand final loss to rival clubs, and that's just what he did, turning to Helen Housby (England) and Sam Wallace (Trinidad and Tobago) for attacking firepower.
The pair were superb on their Australian domestic debuts up forward, finishing with 19 and 34 goals respectively, and constantly draining shots from distance.
The Swifts led for most of the first half, but the teams went in level at the main break.
Fitzgerald then used a tactical time-out midway through the third period to inject Brice into the game, and it proved a winning move.
"I thought we were struggling to get the ball in there and we really needed a strong link out the front and we knew that Krissy would provide a good target for us," Fitzgerald said.
"Only six months ago we didn't have a name, a colour, a team, any support staff, anything. We were very keen to establish today what we hope to be."
Wright admitted he was surprised at how close his team came to beating the Giants, and said the Swifts would only improve.
"We'll get better every week, we're probably a little light on experience and every time we get a chance to come up against really classy players we just learn a whole lot," Wright said.
"I was really pleased with how well we came out each quarter and kept with them. [In] Key moments I thought they probably just dealt with the pressure a little better than we did."
