Helllllooooo!! @meganmaurice here, nearly ready to get started with tonight’s rewatch! Hope you’re all as excited as I am! Six mins to go...

Here is the link, we’ll get started in 3 mins. I’m all set to hit play as soon as the clock ticks to 6:30

Important to note, this is a safe space for Sharelle McMahon love. No disrespecting of the queen in any form will be tolerated during this rewatch

Aaaand we’re off!

Okay, so some historical context for the young’uns and netball newbies. NZ were firm favourites for this game. The Australians were referred to in the press as “Jill’s Jeriatrics” (Jill McIntosh was their coach) because the team was so old and seen to be past it

Vicki Wilson, what a mover. We don’t see a lot of GSs like her now. She was such a weapon because she was so smart and used the space brilliantly

A close game so far, 4-3 to Aus after 4 mins. Very typical of games between these two teams

The crowd did NOT like that call in Australia’s favour

One thing that hasn’t changed in the past 21 years is how loud NZ crowds are. Even in Australia, if they manage to fill about 20% of the stadium they can make more noise than the local fans

This Colling and Loffhagen combo for NZ was so strong. In the pre Irene van Dyk days, they were so integral to the Ferns

It’s interesting to watch this game & think about how netball is still viewed by plenty as a “non-contact sport”. You can see there was plenty of physicality in the game this long ago and yet we still can’t bust that myth

One really noticeable change is how often shooters just went to the post back then. But you see how many turnovers there are and how many opportunities to get the ball back & you can see why. You could take a shot & know there was a good chance to get the ball back

3 mins to go in the first quarter and Australia taking a bit of control here, up 11-8

Beautiful long shot from Colling!

Things are fast and loose in the final two mins. Lots of flying intercepts from both teams

Quarter time now, the score is 13 all.

Nothing in this game so far. Fairly low scoring by today’s standards, plenty of defence happening from both teams

Lovely start to the second with that long ball into Wilson

I’m noticing the lack of court wiping going on here. Liz Ellis just spread her sweat all over the goal third and no one seems too bothered by it

Speaking of Ellis, I love the way she pushes the boundaries on the standing out of play position. That crouch back into action was so powerful

Ellis of course the youngest player on court right now for Australia. Only McMahon, currently on the bench, was younger than her

NZ starting to dominate now, up by 3 after 5 mins after that amazing rebound from Loffhagen

A real struggle to get the ball into the circle for Australia. There’s a lot of movement from Wilson and Delaney, but they’re lacking the drive and timing to break up the Kiwi defenders

Wilson announced that this would be her final game, as the commentators have noted. It’s a much debated topic whether you should make that announcement first or hold off until after the game. It certainly put a lot of pressure on her

Brilliant work from Harby there. She’ll be pleased to be rewarded with the goal

Very different approaches from the two coaches we saw contrasted there. Yvonne Willering is right into this, whereas as McIntosh is going with the calm approach

2 mins left and the game is still very tight. There’s no room to move in either circle 22-21 NZ

I find it very funny that NZ commentators seem to think it’s only the Australian defenders getting a bit too physical. It’s rough in both circles, no one is giving an inch

Half time and NZ up 23-21. A small edge, but not enough to feel comfortable

A lot of talk about the physicality from the commentators continues. That was a common thread of the ANZ Champs too. They are always very concerned about those rough Aussies

No changes to either team so far, but Australia starting to look worried. Keep an eye out for a change from them before too long

That was an important shot from Delaney, shooting 10/17 so far, she needed that for her confidence

Five mins in and the lead is back to 2

A real struggle in attack for Australia continues

The defence is excellent in this game, but you can see the impact of professionalism on the skills in attack. The passes and drives are far more polished now that players have the time & resources professional athletes need

Commentators just flat out barracking now

The calm exterior is cracking for McIntosh. She’s starting to get worried, things aren’t improving quickly enough

Time called by Loffhagen. She was a big fan of the fake injuries in the days when you didn’t have to leave court as soon as you called time

I love how the commentators make out that Colling was being very principled instead of petty there

So!!! Sharelle McMahon is on court!!

At just 22 years old, McMahon was a real impact player at this stage. She was behind much more experienced players but was a real cool head under pressure when she was needed

Misses her first shot, but don’t panic! She’s not one to be overly affected by that

“Every call against Australia, the players thing they’re so hard done by!” This comes from a country with a shooting circle of Loffhagen and Colling

(Don’t worry, back then we were listening to equally biased Australian commentary)

Three-quarter time and NZ lead by 6! These days that’s not such a problem, but back then chasing this down seemed basically impossible

HUGE call here by McIntosh, replacing Wilson in her last ever game. Jenny Borlase was kind of like the Bec Bulley of her day. Super reliable, calm, lovely & did what was required of her without a lot of fuss or fanfare

The way McMahon drives up the middle of the circle and splits the defence is EXACTLY what Australia were lacking. And Borlase’s timing gives her the ability and space to do it

Australia clawing this lead back with 11 mins remaining and the Kiwi fans are not happy. Only 3 in it

Ellis was just so sensational with her rebound positioning. Remember that info, it’ll come in handy later

You see this quite often even now, one team building a lead and then trying not to lose, rather than trying to win. NZ are playing very careful netball and it’s not really paying off right now

A pet peeve of mine is commentators using “confidence player” to mean “a player who makes their team confident” rather than “a player who needs to play well early to have a good game”

Pretty incredible that Australia managed to turn that six goal deficit around so quickly. The game is far from over, but they really went out hard and made NZ panic early

I haven’t spoken much about the midcourt - there has been so much action in the circles with such tough defence at both ends.

Australia’s C / WA pairing of Tombs and O’Donnell were legendary. This is Tombs’ last game and she played her heart out.

NZ retake the lead by 1 with 2:30 remaining

So many key moments in these last few mins, they intercept from Harby a crucial one, but NZ turn it back over

A TOSS UP!!!!!

YASSSS SHARELLE!!!!!!!

Australia win 42-41 on the whistle!!

Ok, a lot to unpack in that last minute! Let’s run through some of those key moments

Okay, so firstly the toss up. If you’re a modern netball fan & you’re wondering what the hell is going on, well sometimes the umpires used to deem players infringed simultaneously & do this silly toss up. These days they’re encouraged to just make a decision

Ellis “broke” on the toss up, so Loffhagen got a free pass. A minor win for Ellis because it meant that Loffhagen couldn’t take the shot, as she would have if she won the toss up.

The ball is then passed out of court, but the umpire calls a contact on Ellis. It looks very minor to me, but also I’m biased

So Loffhagen has a shot to basically win the World Cup, well within her range and she misses. I think she probably still wakes up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night with nightmares about that miss

Remember what I said before about Ellis’ rebound positioning? She was centimetre perfect there and she pulled in that rebound like it was her last bottle of wine. No one else was getting that ball

So then there’s a frantic mess where the ball goes flying down court and O’Donnell falls over and drops the ball. At this stage in 1999 I was standing on top of my couch screaming

Tombs manages to grab it and get it back to O’Donnell and she gets it in to McMahon. With four seconds on the clock, McMahon inexplicably passes it back out

She’s gets it back a few mm closer to the post and takes the shot. Slots it, pulls out a wedgie, then notices she’s just won the world cup for Australia

Wow. What a rollercoaster! Thanks for riding it with me!

This game was a big part of the making of the Sharelle McMahon legend, so it’s obviously a very important one to me! I’ll happily rewatch it any day of the week

Okay, that’s me signing off! Thanks so much for keeping me company on this, I’ve had a blast. And if you want more Sharelle love in your feed (or Nat Medhurst, I am a shameless fangirl of both) you can follow me @meganmaurice

So long and thanks for all the fish!