Contrary to their reputation as ponytail-tossing glory-seekers, goal attacks have one of the most complex and critical assignments on the netball court.
Goal attacks have to shoot accurately, often from distance and when fatigued, engineer their team’s attacking strategies and share the centre pass workload – all while being harassed by one of the opposition’s fittest and finest defenders.
With only two players per side allowed to score in netball, the goal attack and goal shooter shoulder much – if not all – of the responsibility for a team’s game-day success or failure. More often than not, regardless of the volume of goals shot, the performance of a side’s goal attack has a direct correlation to the result. They’re a team’s spark plug – without them firing, everything else fails.
The role
Goal attackers – allowed in the centre third and their attacking third, including the goal circle – do more than their seemingly self-explanatory bib suggests.
As well as sharing scoring responsibilities, they collaborate with the centre and wing attack to work the ball into offence, taking a high percentage of centre pass receives along the way. They feed their usually taller shooting partner, run decoys and clear space, dodge, weave and drive their way into the ring and along the baseline, work their opponent, apply defensive pressure as the ball moves through the midcourt and stand their ground on the opposition’s transverse line, ready for tips.
Goal attacks have to be technically proficient – at positioning their body, shooting from all distances under concentrated pressure, rebounding and feeding into the ring and being fed themselves, up high and low to the ground – but also tactically shrewd, because much of their team’s offensive manoeuvring depends on where they go and when.
With the growing dominance of tall, holding goal shooters at international and domestic level, like Diamonds and Sunshine Coast Lighting star, Caitlin Bassett, and Jamaican Romelda Aiken, who stands at 196cm and rarely moves from “home ground” under the post, goal attack has morphed into somewhat of a support role. Regardless of the height of their partner though, most times, they are the attack general. Where they lead, others follow.
Key attributes
Sharelle McMahon, widely regarded as one of Australia’s greatest netballers, says the need to be supremely fit – with explosive power and agility to burn – is a given for the position she played for the majority of her sparkling 118-Test career.
“What’s so important for goal attacks is being able to work in well with others and being able to read the play,” the 39-year-old, who retired in 2013 with two world championship and two Commonwealth Games gold, says.
“You’re in the play right from the centre pass. You need to be able to read what the wing attack is doing, and the centre, and the space they’re creating and react. Once you’re in the goal circle, it’s all about that combination with the goal shooter and being able to get the movement right. You’ve got to be able to shoot well and under pressure too.”
The capacity to read the play and tempo of a match, and react quickly, is almost as important as having the right biomechanical technique and psychological conditioning to put the ball through the ring time and time again, McMahon says.
Dual-World Cup champion and Adelaide Thunderbird stalwart Erin Bell says many people don’t realise the leg work goal attack demands.
“From what I understand, goal attacks and goal defenders actually cover more ground than any other player on the court in a game. You’d think it would be the centre players, but you have to be incredibly fit to run goal attack … and obviously you have to be able to shoot,” she says.
Repetition and ritual
Bell, one of the best long-range shooters in the game, says the perfect shot is borne of repetition and ritual. “Of course you have to practise. I’ll put up stationary shots for at least 20 minutes before any training and then during training in match play, and I go to the post every day of the week, but it’s also about getting the ritual right,” she says.
Bell, who was controversially left out of the victorious 2014 Commonwealth Games Diamonds squad but played in the 2015 World Cup in Sydney, credits former Thunderbirds coach Jane Woodlands-Thompson with shaping her enviable action – which includes a post-shot “hand-hanging” flourish.
“When I first came to the Thunderbirds, Jane was the coach. She is very technical and she helped me perfect my shot. She pretty much made my shot what it is now, by teaching me I needed to go through the same thing, every shot. I am now very ritualistic.
“I understand that biomechanically, there are things that will make the ball go in; the flick of the wrist, the high release, so the defender can’t interrupt the shot, and so. And while different players have slightly different actions – a taller shooter might not straighten their arms completely or a shorter girl may use their legs to get a bit more height – there are things you can do, and practice, to get better,” Bell says.
‘Steady and lift’
McMahon, who wrote herself into netball folklore with a match-winning goal in the dying seconds of the 1999 world championships final, says shooters must learn to “take the emotion and fatigue out of a moment” and execute the shot.
“You do that through getting your technique right over many years and practising, but I also had key words I would use when I would take a shot. ‘Steady’ and ‘lift’ were my two words, rather than having a long list of things I should be doing to make sure I was getting my technique right,” McMahon says.
“Steady reminded me to keep my heels down, because later in my career especially, I would fall in a bit and the lift was obviously to lift the ball, to get the follow-through right. Those two words lined me up, steadied me,” McMahon says.
Power of work
Goal attacks have a power of work to do before they even get into the ring.
“Fitness is hugely important, because there are so many repeat efforts,” says Bell, who won three titles in the now-defunct ANZ Championship. “You have to sweep the circle, maybe run a decoy and drive back towards the ball before anything even happens.
“Repeat efforts are huge. And then, with your heart rate up, you have to be able to shoot the goal, which is why it’s so important to simulate that in practice, running, repeat efforts then shoot, that way, when you’re in that situation, it’s not foreign, it doesn’t freak you out.”
While fitness is a commonality all GAs share, body type isn’t. “I really like that we see such different body types and playing styles being successful in the position,” McMahon says. “You have a Gretel Tippett, who is tall, athletic and strong, contrasted to a Nat Medhurst who is shorter, but plays more on her timing and her ability to read and find the space.”
On the defensive
The value of a defensive goal attack is often overlooked, according to McMahon. “A goal attack has to be a great defender too, because the best teams have strong defence through the entire court. Someone like Erin Bell is a great example, because she’s a super-tough defender,” she says.
“It’s incredibly difficult for a goal defence and wing defence to bring the ball through the court if you have goal attack and wing attack that are working hard to apply pressure. They build that pressure and can force a bad pass or create a turnover. I think the defensive part of a goal attack’s game is a bit under-rated.”
