Despite everything that has come the way of West Coast Fever in 2021, the club continued to rise above the outside noise as the playing group huddle in to fight their way to a preliminary final.

While the grand final dream ends for Fever at the hands of a strong GIANTS Netball side, a raw outgoing coach Stacey Marinkvovich said she was proud of everything Fever had built over a number of years.

From tough times in terms of results to a Suncorp Super Netball powerhouse, Marinkovich will be reflecting on her journey in Perth as she moves to head up the Australian Diamonds program.

“I have learned so much from the club. You need to be your authentic self, all the time, and they’ve taught me how to be resilient,” she said.

“They’ve taught me that there’s a performance on the court and there’s a connection off the court that builds a club… they taught me to savour the moment.”

The end of the match on Saturday was a bittersweet moment for Marinkovich, who walked into Commonwealth Bank Trophy’s Perth Orioles in the early 2000s.

Enter the ANZ Championship and West Coast Fever.

She would go on to captain the side before hanging up the boots in 2009 – only to return ‘home’ in 2014 as head coach.

Fever had never finished higher than seventh in the ANZ Championship and in 2015 – Marinkovich led the team to its first finals appearance after finishing third.

The club remained in the fight after a fourth placed finished in 2016 as the Perth side joined Suncorp Super Netball from 2017.

Since then, Fever continued to build and, while it never ended in premiership glory, became a force to be reckoned with.

And that’s something special, according to Marinkovich.’

“It hurts but to see what we’ve been able to create, from coming in with very little wins and no finals to be a performer at the top,” she said.

“To be able to walk into RAC Arena and see a state that is fully involved in netball, to see players who are absolute role models. We’ve had our highs and lows; we rode it out together.

“The girls have been incredible; they’ve brought into everything that I tried to bring to the program.”