Super Netball 2025: West Coast Fever coach Dan Ryan says they deserve to be favourites after ‘dominant’ season

West Coast Fever coach Dan Ryan says they deserve to be favourites and will embrace the tag as they prepare for the Super Netball grand final against the Melbourne Vixens on Saturday. Fever head into the clash on a league 13-game winning streak, with their last performance a clinical 32-goal victory over the NSW Swifts in the major semifinal to stamp their authority as the best team in the competition. They will renew their rivalry with fellow powerhouses the Vixens, with the two sides having faced off in the 2020 and 2022 grand finals, winning one apiece and looking to break the deadlock at Rod Laver Arena. Ryan said they had not shied away from the fact they went into the game as the hunted on the back of their record-breaking form. “People will label us as the favourites going into the game and rightfully so,” he said. “We’ve been pretty dominant at the back end of the season and we’ve really embraced that challenge because we’ve had the right to get into that grand final. “And we know that at our very best we’re very hard to beat. So essentially, it’s up to us to produce that and if we can do that, we give ourselves every possible chance of getting to where we want to go to.” Fever head into the bumper contest having beaten the Vixens in both of their meetings this year, winning by 10 and 11 goals respectively. Ryan said West Coast had to be prepared for a tight affair because both teams brought out the best in each other. “It’s a long battle of fierce games in pressure moments and whether it’s grand finals or prelim finals or semifinals, we just bring out the best in each other,” he said. “And while there’s a great mutual respect, there’s a fierce rivalry and both teams are really keen to knock each other off their perch. “When you go up against the Vixens or the Vixens come up against West Coast Fever it demands your very best which is just awesome. Hopefully the spectacle on Saturday night is a ripping game of netball.” The last time the two sides met in a final, Fever were beaten by a goal in last year’s preliminary finals. Ryan said it was a defeat that drove their vast improvement this season. “If we look at the prelim final last year, that’s really been the driving force behind this year’s campaign and the gaps that we had that we needed to close across the course of the season which I think we’ve done a brilliant job at,” he said. “And also acknowledging we’ve had two good wins against them in different ways but also noting again it’s a grand final so it does bring out the best in both teams. “While we’ve won by 10 and 11 (goals) respectively, we need to anticipate a goal-for-goal battle that goes right down to the wire. “We know we’ve got great intel on what works with them, we know where they challenge us but really it’s about showing up on the day and getting it all right.” Fever’s biggest weapon is in their goalcircle in shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard, who leads the league in scoring for an eighth-consecutive season. Ryan said he expected the Vixens to be aggressive in front of the Jamaican star to limit her impact. “They’ll probably have a focus of their defensive gameplan outside of the circle and being really aggressive in hunting ball,” he said. “They employed that tactic against the Swifts and it was quite effective for them in the back end of the game. You expect similar of those types of contests. “Realistically it’s seven versus seven, everyone doing their job defensively to counteract their weaponry so everyone’s going to have to pull their weight, everyone’s going to have to do their job and stand up in key moments.”