Firebirds want to back up perfect season

SYDNEY (AAP) - May 22 - The Queensland Firebirds created history on Sunday by icing the perfect trans-Tasman netball championship season with a grand final romp before vowing to become the first to successfully defend the title.
Not content with becoming the first team to sweep through the ANZ Championship undefeated, the Firebirds immediately set their sights on becoming a title-winning dynasty.
On the basis of their record 57-44 grand final thumping of the Northern Mystics - their 15th straight win - and the quality of their line-up, it would be hard to argue with the lofty ambitions.
The Firebirds took control in the "championship" third-quarter, outscoring the Aucklanders 12-2 at one stage to turn a two-point halftime lead into an unassailable 12-goal advantage at the last change.
Queensland's international bookends - star Jamaican shooter Romelda Aiken and Australian Diamonds goal keeper Laura Geitz - were outstanding as the Mystics could not cope with the home side's second-half intensity.
Aiken finished with a game-high 35 goals to win the player of the match award while Geitz produced five telling intercepts and three rebounds to quell Mystics shooter Cathrine Latu.
The Firebirds' eventual 13-point victory was the biggest grand final margin in the four-year history of the league, to sit nicely with their history-making perfect season.
But coach Roselee Jencke and ruthless captain Geitz stressed they were desperate to back up and succeed where previous champions the NSW Swifts (2008), Melbourne Vixens (2009) and Adelaide Thunderbirds (2010) had failed.
"I think it's easy to do it one time but it's all about coming back and doing it again," Geitz said. "That's our next challenge.
"We're just at the beginning.
"We've just done something no other team has done and we'll celebrate that and rejoice together and give each other a pat on the back.
"But if anything it makes you hungrier for next season and you want to get out there and prove it's not just a one-off."
Jencke and Netball Queensland have the job of keeping the Firebirds line-up together, specifically star goal attack Natalie Medhurst whose husband lives in Adelaide and Aiken, who has travelled from the Caribbean each year.
Jencke felt the ability to "create something very special" would help ensure her big-name imports would return in 2012.
"I think each of them will sit back and reflect on what a tremendous year they've had and what a special unit that they are," she said.
"That's hard to get and when you've got it you need to keep it for a while and really treasure it."
Mystics coach Debbie Fuller was left to lament a "five-minute slide" in the third term when her gamble to rest goal defence Kayla Cullen to save her for the final quarter backfired disastrously.
"It (the change) unsettled us and they took full advantage," Fuller admitted.