Giants beat Melbourne Vixens to reach inaugural grand final against Sunshine Coast

So much for the fairytale of the young establishment team upstaging the expansion clubs and defying the pre-season pessimism to sweep to Super Netball glory. So much for the Melbourne Vixens' finals campaign, which wobbled in the semis and was ended 65-57 by the Giants in Saturday's preliminary.

The Vixens' first loss for the season at their Hisense Arena fortress was enough to condemn the minor premiers to a straight-sets exit, following last weekend's surprise semi-final defeat against the Sunshine Coast Lightning at neighbouring Margaret Court Arena. The Storm-owned Lightning, one of three new franchises backed by AFL or NRL clubs, will host the Giants next Saturday night in Brisbane.

Conceding her team would be "shattered" by the result, coach Simone McKinnis had no forewarning of the shaky start that was so at odds with the slick opening quarters that had become commonplace, the Vixens having lost just one of their previous 14. "It's almost like we hadn't played before - there was was just something in that first quarter... we just didn't get a feel, or into the game, right from the word go," said McKinnis, of a deficit that had stretched to six by the opening minutes of the second term.

"We were certainly unsettled and weren't able to get into any sort of rhythm or flow, but our defensive pressure was off, as well. I don't think that we really put them under pressure for any sustained period throughout the match, so when we're shaky in attack and then not putting defensive pressure on, you're a long way from winning a game."

The Vixens won just one quarter, the last, which Giants coach Julie Fitzgerald excused on the basis that her players were so exhausted from their efforts in the first three. Goal attack Jo Harten was named MVP and combined brilliantly with makeshift goal attack Susan Pettitt to supply towering young shooter Krissie Brice - the latter having played her first full game in last week's thriller over the Magpies and been outstanding in her second.

"I thought all seven were on song and to be able to win those first three quarters, I wouldn't have dreamt of that, so it was awesome," said Fitzgerald, whose team must claim consecutive away finals to take the inaugural Super Netball crown. "I really don't think it'll take anything out of us. I do believe that we weren't a team that would have responded well to having a week off. We are a team that needs to stay together and keep playing, so it never worried me at all that we were gonna take the hard road."

For the Vixens, pipped by just a goal in the first week of a finals series they had entered with so much optimism, and more emphatically beaten in the second, it was a bitter way to end a season in which much had been learnt but nothing won, besides respect. Yet there remains many positive signs for the future, McKinnis stressed.

"By no means (was it) the way we wanted to finish, but I can not be disappointed in what - as a whole over the year - they were able to achieve together. It's a yucky way to finish, going out in straight sets in finals. I thought they really grew as a group this year, but you look at a game like today and there's a long way to go still," she said.