2018 Suncorp Super Netball season

The 2018 Suncorp Super Netball season was the second season of the premier netball league in Australia. The season began on 28 April and concluded with the Grand Final on 26 August 2018. The start of the season was delayed to late April due to the 2018 Commonwealth Games, which was held earlier that month on the Gold Coast.^[1] The fixtures for the season were released on 11 October 2017.^[2]

2018 Suncorp Super Netball season
League	Suncorp Super Netball
Sport	Netball
Duration	28 April – 26 August 2018
Number of teams	8
TV partner(s)	Nine Network
Regular season
Minor premiers	Giants Netball
Season MVP	Jhaniele Fowler
Top scorer	Jhaniele Fowler (WCF: 783 goals)
Finals
Champions	Sunshine Coast Lightning
Runners-up	West Coast Fever
Seasons
← 2017 2019 →

Sunshine Coast Lightning were the defending premiers and successfully defended their title, defeating West Coast Fever in the Grand Final at Perth Arena.^[3]

Overview

Teams

Team	Captain	Coach	Home Courts	Ref.
Adelaide Thunderbirds	Leana De Bruin	Dan Ryan	Priceline Stadium Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Collingwood Magpies	Madison Robinson	Kristy-Keppich Birrell	Hisense Arena Margaret Court Arena Silverdome
Giants Netball	Kimberlee Green	Julie Fitzgerald	State Sports Centre Qudos Bank Arena AIS Arena International Convention Centre
Melbourne Vixens	Kate Moloney	Simone McKinnis	Hisense Arena Margaret Court Arena
New South Wales Swifts	Abbey McCulloch	Briony Akle	State Sports Centre Qudos Bank Arena
Queensland Firebirds	Gabi Simpson	Roselee Jencke	Brisbane Entertainment Centre Coomera Sport and Leisure Centre	[6]
Sunshine Coast Lightning	Geva Mentor	Noeline Taurua	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
West Coast Fever	Courtney Bruce	Stacey Marinkovich	Perth Arena HBF Stadium

Format

The season is played over fourteen rounds, allowing every team to play each other twice, once at home and once away. The top four teams on the ladder at the conclusion of the regular season qualify for the finals series. In the first week of the finals series, the 1st ranked team hosts the 2nd ranked team in the major semi-final (with the winner of that match to qualify for the Grand Final) and the 3rd ranked team hosts the 4th ranked team in the minor semi-final (with the loser of that match eliminated). The loser of the major semi-final then hosts the winner of the minor semi-final in the preliminary final. The winner of the major semi-final then hosts the winner of the preliminary final in the Grand Final.^[4]

Rule changes

Netball Australia announced a change to the points system for the regular season, with bonus points being introduced. Under the new system, teams earn 4 points for a win and 1 point for every quarter won in a match. A drawn match earns a team 2 points and drawing a quarter earns no points. The winning team can earn a maximum of 8 points per match.^[5][6]

Additionally, teams can request up to two time-outs per half and at any point in time while play is in progress, any one member of the team bench (players and team officials) listed on the official score sheet shall be permitted to move up and down their team bench within the bench zone to communicate with their on-court or off-court players. Finally, umpires can now award a penalty pass for delaying play or intimidation and quarter time and half time breaks will be increased by one and three minutes respectively.^[5]

Broadcast

The Nine Network televised two matches each round during the regular season and also televised all finals matches. Telstra televised the other two matches each round. Every match of the season was available to be streamed live via the Netball Australia App. Unlike 2017, Nine telecast their two matches on the main channel, rather than secondary channel 9Gem. The two matches broadcast on Nine were on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.^[7]

Regular season

Round 1

Sat 28 Apr	Melbourne Vixens	59–58	Collingwood Magpies	Hisense Arena
3.00pm	Kumwenda   41/42 (98%) Philip   18/20 (90%)	Stats	Thwaites   36/38 (95%) Bell   22/29 (76%)

Sun 29 Apr	Adelaide Thunderbirds	56–74	West Coast Fever	Priceline Stadium
12.30pm	Nelson   37/42 (88%) Latu-Meafou   10/13 (77%) Hodges   9/10 (90%)	Stats	Fowler   66/68 (97%) Medhurst   5/6 (83%) Stanton   3/3 (100%)

Sun 29 Apr	Giants Netball	54–51	Sunshine Coast Lightning	Qudos Bank Arena
1.00pm	Harten   33/36 (92%) Pettitt   21/28 (75%)	Stats	Bassett   36/41 (88%) Wood   15/16 (94%)

Sun 29 Apr	New South Wales Swifts	54–53	Queensland Firebirds	Qudos Bank Arena
3.00pm	Housby   24/31 (77%) Garbin   18/19 (95%) Wallace   12/17 (71%)	Stats	Aiken   45/51 (88%) Tippett   8/11 (73%)

Round 2

Sat 5 May	Adelaide Thunderbirds	48–71	Giants Netball	Priceline Stadium
2.30pm	Nelson   34/38 (89%) Hodges   11/14 (79%) Leta-Meafou   3/3 (100%)	Stats	Brice   29/29 (100%) Harten   25/32 (78%) Pettitt   17/20 (85%)

Sat 5 May	West Coast Fever	68–57	Collingwood Magpies	Perth Arena
7.00pm	Fowler   62/67 (93%) Medhurst   6/7 (86%)	Stats	Thwaites   39/45 (87%) Bell   17/27 (63%) Brown   1/2 (50%)

Sun 6 May	Queensland Firebirds	55–52	Sunshine Coast Lightning	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
1.00pm	Aiken   39/45 (87%) Tippett   16/21 (76%)	Stats	Bassett   35/36 (97%) Wood   17/18 (94%)

Sun 6 May	Melbourne Vixens	63–61	New South Wales Swifts	Margaret Court Arena
3.00pm	Kumwenda   34/34 (100%) Philip   29/32 (91%)	Stats	Wallace   37/38 (97%) Housby   24/25 (96%)

Round 3

Sat 12 May	Melbourne Vixens	55–59	Queensland Firebirds	Hisense Arena
3.00pm	Kumwenda   29/32 (91%) Philip   26/29 (90%)	Stats	Aiken   40/47 (85%) Tippett   19/22 (86%)

Sat 12 May	Sunshine Coast Lightning	55–56	West Coast Fever	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
5.00pm	Bassett   33/39 (85%) Wood   22/25 (88%)	Stats	Fowler   39/44 (89%) Medhurst   17/21 (81%)

Sat 12 May	Collingwood Magpies	70–50	Adelaide Thunderbirds	Hisense Arena
7.00pm	Thwaites   55/57 (96%) Bell   15/21 (71%)	Stats	Nelson   37/42 (88%) Hodges   9/14 (64%) Latu-Meafou   4/6 (67%)

Sun 13 May	New South Wales Swifts	55–54	Giants Netball	Qudos Bank Arena
1.00pm	Housby   23/27 (85%) Garbin   17/18 (94%) Wallace   15/18 (83%)	Stats	Harten   38/41 (93%) Pettitt   16/19 (84%)

Round 4

Sat 19 May	Giants Netball	53–51	Queensland Firebirds	State Sports Centre
3.00pm	Brice   27/31 (87%) Harten   18/20 (90%) Pettitt   8/9 (89%)	Stats	Aiken   32/38 (84%) Tippett   19/19 (100%)

Sun 20 May	Adelaide Thunderbirds	50–72	Melbourne Vixens	Priceline Stadium
12.30pm	Nelson   37/41 (90%) Hodges   13/15 (87%)	Stats	Kumwenda   47/47 (100%) Philip   25/27 (93%)

Sun 20 May	Collingwood Magpies	50–52	Sunshine Coast Lightning	Margaret Court Arena
1.00pm	Thwaites   36/41 (88%) Bell   14/20 (70%)	Stats	Bassett   37/37 (100%) Wood   15/22 (68%)

Sun 20 May	West Coast Fever	63–54	New South Wales Swifts	HBF Stadium
1.00pm	Fowler   53/59 (90%) Medhurst   8/8 (100%) Stanton   2/5 (40%)	Stats	Wallace   24/28 (86%) Housby   24/31 (77%) Garbin   6/7 (86%)

Round 5

Sat 26 May	Queensland Firebirds	71–61	West Coast Fever	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
3.00pm	Aiken   45/51 (88%) Tippett   26/28 (93%)	Stats	Fowler   48/49 (98%) Medhurst   11/14 (79%) Stanton   2/2 (100%)

Sun 27 May	New South Wales Swifts	64–54	Collingwood Magpies	State Sports Centre
1.00pm	Wallace   43/48 (90%) Housby   21/23 (91%)	Stats	Thwaites   39/44 (89%) Bell   14/21 (67%) Teague-Neeld   1/2 (50%)

Sun 27 May	Sunshine Coast Lightning	60–51	Adelaide Thunderbirds	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
3.00pm	Bassett   43/47 (91%) Wood   17/20 (85%)	Stats	Nelson   30/34 (88%) Hodges   12/14 (86%) Latu-Meafou   9/12 (75%)

Sun 27 May	Giants Netball	58–51	Melbourne Vixens	State Sports Centre
5.00pm	Harten   24/28 (86%) Brice   17/20 (85%) Pettitt   17/22 (77%)	Stats	Kumwenda   38/38 (100%) Philip   13/19 (68%)

Round 6

Sat 2 Jun	Sunshine Coast Lightning	64–56	Melbourne Vixens	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
3.00pm	Bassett   51/53 (96%) Wood   13/17 (76%)	Stats	Kumwenda   31/33 (94%) Philip   22/28 (79%) Gooden   3/4 (75%)

Sat 2 Jun	West Coast Fever	63–61	Giants Netball	Perth Arena
7.00pm	Fowler   53/56 (95%) Medhurst   10/11 (91%)	Stats	Pettitt   26/29 (90%) Brice   20/23 (87%) Harten   15/16 (94%)

Sun 3 Jun	New South Wales Swifts	51–49	Adelaide Thunderbirds	State Sports Centre
1.00pm	Wallace   30/34 (88%) Housby   15/20 (75%) Garbin   6/9 (67%)	Stats	Nelson   33/39 (85%) Latu-Meafou   12/14 (86%) Glasgow   4/8 (50%)

Sun 3 Jun	Collingwood Magpies	67–62	Queensland Firebirds	Silverdome
3.00pm	Thwiates   34/40 (85%) Bell   33/39 (85%)	Stats	Aiken   42/51 (82%) Tippett   20/21 (95%)

Round 7

Sat 16 Jun	Melbourne Vixens	74–60	West Coast Fever	Hisense Arena
3.00pm	Kumwenda   49/51 (96%) Philip   31/35 (89%)	Stats	Fowler   56/60 (93%) Stanton   3/5 (60%) Medhurst   1/2 (50%)

Sun 17 Jun	Adelaide Thunderbirds	42–66	Queensland Firebirds	Priceline Stadium
12.30pm	Nelson   23/25 (92%) Hodges   14/19 (74%) Latu-Meafou   5/5 (100%)	Stats	Aiken   46/61 (75%) Tippett   20/21 (95%)

Sun 17 Jun	Giants Netball	63–60	Collingwood Magpies	Qudos Bank Arena
1.00pm	Pettitt   29/31 (94%) Harten   25/28 (89%) Brice   9/11 (82%)	Stats	Thwaites   38/40 (95%) Bell   22/26 (85%)

Sun 17 Jun	New South Wales Swifts	59–56	Sunshine Coast Lightning	Qudos Bank Arena
3.00pm	Wallace   43/45 (96%) Housby   16/19 (84%)	Stats	Bassett   34/36 (94%) Wood   22/25 (88%)

Round 8

Sat 23 Jun	Sunshine Coast Lightning	53–53	Giants Netball	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
3.00pm	Bassett   40/44 (91%) Wood   13/16 (81%)	Stats	Harten   30/33 (91%) Pettitt   21/25 (84%) Brice   2/5 (40%)

Sat 23 Jun	West Coast Fever	76–56	Adelaide Thunderbirds	Perth Arena
7.00pm	Fowler   66/73 (90%) Medhurst   10/11 (91%)	Stats	Nelson   47/51 (92%) Hodges   7/11 (64%) Latu-Meafou   2/3 (67%)

Sun 24 Jun	Collingwood Magpies	57–65	Melbourne Vixens	Margaret Court Arena
1.00pm	Thwaites   49/51 (96%) Bell   8/16 (50%)	Stats	Kumwenda   42/43 (98%) Phillip   23/24 (96%)

Sun 24 Jun	Queensland Firebirds	60–57	New South Wales Swifts	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
3.00pm	Aiken   43/49 (88%) Tippett   17/18 (94%)	Stats	Housby   25/32 (78%) Garbin   19/23 (83%) Wallace   13/15 (87%)

Round 9

Sat 30 Jun	New South Wales Swifts	58–65	Melbourne Vixens	State Sports Centre
3.00pm	Wallace   48/50 (96%) Housby   10/11 (91%)	Stats	Kumwenda   37/39 (95%) Philip   28/30 (93%)

Sat 30 Jun	Collingwood Magpies	57–70	West Coast Fever	Margaret Court Arena
7.00pm	Thwaites   43/50 (86%) Teague-Neeld   11/13 (85%) Bell   3/6 (50%)	Stats	Fowler   62/66 (94%) Medhurst   8/8 (100%)

Sun 1 Jul	Sunshine Coast Lightning	58–57	Queensland Firebirds	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
1.00pm	Bassett   34/38 (89%) Wood   24/27 (89%)	Stats	Aiken   33/39 (85%) Tippett   24/25 (96%)

Sun 1 Jul	Giants Netball	63–44	Adelaide Thunderbirds	AIS Arena
3.00pm	Harten   30/34 (88%) Pettitt   27/35 (77%) Brice   6/6 (100%)	Stats	Nelson   23/27 (85%) Glasgow   11/16 (69%) Hodges   10/14 (71%)

Round 10

Sat 7 Jul	Queensland Firebirds	57–58	Melbourne Vixens	Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre^[8]
3.00pm	Aiken   38/47 (81%) Tippett   19/20 (95%)	Stats	Kumwenda   29/32 (91%) Philip   29/35 (83%)

Sat 7 Jul	West Coast Fever	59–58	Sunshine Coast Lightning	HBF Stadium
7.00pm	Fowler   50/56 (89%) Medhurst   9/12 (75%)	Stats	Bassett   43/47 (91%) Wood   15/19 (79%)

Sun 8 Jul	Adelaide Thunderbirds	48–58	Collingwood Magpies	Adelaide Entertainment Centre
12.30pm	Nelson   32/34 (94%) Hodges   11/11 (100%) Tuivaiti   5/5 (100%)	Stats	Thwaites   50/54 (93%) Bell   8/13 (62%) Teague-Neeld   0/2 (0%)

Sun 8 Jul	Giants Netball	66–56	New South Wales Swifts	International Convention Centre
5.00pm	Harten   29/37 (78%) Pettitt   19/21 (90%) Brice   18/21 (86%)	Stats	Wallace   40/45 (89%) Housby   16/18 (89%)

Round 11

Sat 14 Jul	Sunshine Coast Lightning	58–56	Collingwood Magpies	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
3.00pm	Bassett   43/43 (100%) Wood   15/18 (83%)	Stats	Thwaites   30/36 (83%) Bell   26/31 (84%)

Sat 14 Jul	New South Wales Swifts	68–74	West Coast Fever	State Sports Centre
7.00pm	Wallace   35/40 (88%) Housby   23/26 (88%) Garbin   10/12 (83%)	Stats	Fowler   61/65 (94%) Medhurst   13/15 (87%)

Sun 15 Jul	Queensland Firebirds	64–50	Giants Netball	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
1.00pm	Aiken   35/51 (69%) Tippett   29/31 (94%)	Stats	Harten   25/29 (86%) Pettitt   23/26 (88%) Brice   2/4 (50%)

Sun 15 Jul	Melbourne Vixens	73–48	Adelaide Thunderbirds	Hisense Arena
3.00pm	Kumwenda   52/56 (93%) Philip   17/20 (85%) Gooden   4/7 (57%)	Stats	Tuivaiti   28/29 (97%) Hodges   13/15 (87%) Nelson   7/9 (78%) Pitman   0/1 (0%)

Round 12

Sat 21 Jul	Collingwood Magpies	57–57	New South Wales Swifts	Hisense Arena
3.00pm	Thwaites   34/37 (92%) Bell   23/29 (79%)	Stats	Garbin   21/22 (95%) Housby   19/22 (86%) Wallace   17/19 (89%)

Sat 21 Jul	West Coast Fever	54–60	Queensland Firebirds	Perth Arena
7.00pm	Fowler   42/45 (93%) Medhurst   12/16 (75%)	Stats	Aiken   41/50 (82%) Tippett   19/24 (79%)

Sun 22 Jul	Melbourne Vixens	58–60	Giants Netball	Hisense Arena
1.00pm	Kumwenda   41/43 (95%) Philip   17/22 (77%) Gooden   0/1 (0%)	Stats	Pettitt   30/35 (86%) Harten   30/35 (86%)

Sun 22 Jul	Adelaide Thunderbirds	44–75	Sunshine Coast Lightning	Priceline Stadium
12.30pm	Nelson   24/30 (80%) Hodges   13/17 (76%) Tuivaiti   7/7 (100%)	Stats	Bassett   41/45 (91%) Wood   20/25 (80%) Koenen   14/17 (82%)

Round 13

Sat 28 Jul	Sunshine Coast Lightning	61–51	New South Wales Swifts	University of Sunshine Coast Stadium
3.00pm	Bassett   42/46 (91%) Wood   19/22 (86%)	Stats	Housby   23/29 (79%) Wallace   16/17 (94%) Garbin   12/15 (80%)

Sun 29 Jul	Queensland Firebirds	67–46	Adelaide Thunderbirds	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
1.00pm	Aiken   45/54 (83%) Tippett   22/27 (81%)	Stats	Nelson   33/35 (94%) Latu-Meafou   7/8 (88%) Pitman   3/5 (60%) Tuivaiti   3/3 (100%)

Sun 29 Jul	Collingwood Magpies	56–66	Giants Netball	Hisense Arena
3.00pm	Thwaites   37/41 (90%) Bell   19/23 (83%)	Stats	Harten   36/41 (88%) Pettitt   30/32 (94%)

Sun 29 Jul	West Coast Fever	68–55	Melbourne Vixens	Perth Arena
3.00pm	Fowler   62/66 (94%) Medhurst   6/7 (86%)	Stats	Kumwenda   32/36 (89%) Philip   20/25 (80%) Gooden   3/6 (50%)

Round 14

Fri 3 Aug	Adelaide Thunderbirds	41–69	New South Wales Swifts	Priceline Stadium
7.00pm	Nelson   20/26 (77%) Latu-Meafou   17/23 (74%) Tuivaiti   4/4 (100%) Pitman   0/2 (0%)	Stats	Wallace   40/42 (95%) Housby   17/19 (89%) Garbin   10/12 (83%)

Sat 4 Aug	Queensland Firebirds	76–44	Collingwood Magpies	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
3.00pm	Aiken   51/63 (81%) Tippett   25/27 (93%)	Stats	Thwaites   30/32 (94%) Bell   7/11 (64%) Teague-Neeld   7/10 (70%)

Sat 4 Aug	Giants Netball	69–66	West Coast Fever	International Convention Centre
7.00pm	Pettitt   35/40 (88%) Harten   34/40 (85%)	Stats	Fowler   63/72 (88%) Medhurst   2/4 (50%) Stanton   1/1 (100%)

Sun 5 Aug	Melbourne Vixens	51–56	Sunshine Coast Lightning	Hisense Arena
1.00pm	Commane   31/33 (94%) Philip   20/24 (83%)	Stats	Bassett   41/48 (85%) Wood   15/19 (79%)

Ladder

2018 Suncorp Super Netball ladder v t e
Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	%	BP	PTS
1	Giants Netball	14	10	1	3	841	776	108.4	34	76
2	West Coast Fever	14	10	0	4	912	851	107.2	31	71
3	Queensland Firebirds	14	9	0	5	858	751	114.2	33	69
4	Sunshine Coast Lightning	14	8	1	5	809	752	107.6	35	69
5	Melbourne Vixens	14	8	0	6	855	814	105.0	27	59
6	New South Wales Swifts	14	6	1	7	814	816	99.8	22	48
7	Collingwood Magpies	14	3	1	10	801	858	93.4	25	39
8	Adelaide Thunderbirds	14	0	0	14	673	945	71.2	4	4
Last updated: 10 August 2018 — Source^[9]

Finals series

Major semi-final

Sat 11 Aug 3.00pm	Report Stats	Giants Netball	57–63	West Coast Fever		State Sports Centre	Nine
		Scoring by quarter: 10–18, 17–12, 17–15, 13–18
		Harten   33/38 (87%) Pettitt   24/30 (80%)		Fowler   48/48 (100%) Medhurst   9/9 (100%) Stanton   6/7 (86%)

Minor semi-final

Sun 12 Aug 1.00pm	Report Stats	Queensland Firebirds	56–57	Sunshine Coast Lightning		Brisbane Entertainment Centre	Nine
		Scoring by quarter: 15–16, 12–15, 15–17, 14–9
		Aiken   37/42 (88%) Tippett   19/19 (100%)		Bassett   37/39 (95%) Wood   20/26 (77%)

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Preliminary final

Sun 19 Aug 1.00pm	Report Stats	Giants Netball	50–59	Sunshine Coast Lightning		Qudos Bank Arena	Nine
		Scoring by quarter: 15–15, 11–12, 11–16, 13–16
		Harten   28/32 (88%) Austin   12/16 (75%) Pettitt   9/15 (60%) Brice   1/1 (100%)		Bassett   40/43 (93%) Wood   19/23 (83%)

---

Grand Final

Sun 26 Aug 1.00pm AEST	Report Stats	West Coast Fever	59–62	Sunshine Coast Lightning		Perth Arena Attendance: 13,722	Nine
		Scoring by quarter: 14–14, 15–12, 16–22, 14–14
		Fowler   53/55 (96%) Medhurst   6/10 (60%)		Bassett   45/50 (90%) Wood   17/20 (85%)

• Grand Final MVP Winner: Caitlin Bassett
• Note: The crowd of 13,722 was an Australian national league record attendance.^[10]

Awards

Award	Winner	Position	Team	Ref.
Player of the Year Award	Jhaniele Fowler	GS	West Coast Fever
Grand Final Most Valuable Player Award	Caitlin Bassett	GS	Sunshine Coast Lightning	Ref.
Young Star Award	Jess Anstiss	WD	West Coast Fever
Joyce Brown Coach of the Year	Stacey Marinkovich	Coach	West Coast Fever
Leading Goalscorer	Jhaniele Fowler	GS	West Coast Fever
Team of the Year	Jhaniele Fowler	GS	West Coast Fever
	Gretel Tippett	GA	Queensland Firebirds
	Liz Watson	WA	Melbourne Vixens
	Serena Guthrie	C	Giants Netball
	Jess Anstiss	WD	West Coast Fever
	Karla Pretorius	GD	Sunshine Coast Lightning
	Geva Mentor	GK	Sunshine Coast Lightning
	Jo Harten Kimberlee Green Laura Geitz	Attack Reserve Mid Court Reserve Defence Reserve	Giants Netball Giants Netball Queensland Firebirds

References

1. . The Sydney Morning Herald. 20 June 2017. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018.
2. . Suncorp Super Netball. 11 October 2017. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018.
3. "Lightning strikes twice as Sunshine Coast retain Super Netball title". ABC News. 26 August 2018.
4. (PDF). Suncorp Super Netball. 11 October 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 January 2018.
5. . Suncorp Super Netball. 19 April 2018. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
6. Lulham, Amanda (24 April 2018). "Super Netball 2018 rule changes: What you need to know". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
7. "Netball moving to Nine could do wonders for the game". The Women's Game. 26 April 2018.
8. "Vixens win a one-point thriller over Firebirds". www.smh.com.au. 8 July 2018.
9. "2018 Suncorp Super Netball Ladder". scoreboard.com.
10. . Suncorp Super Netball. 26 August 2018. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 26 August 2018.

External links

• Official website
• Season results