Sexton lauded for work rate in vital Mavs win

MELBOURNE Mavericks coach Gerard Murphy has praised defender Charlotte Sexton’s performance after they hung on for a gritty one-point win over Queensland Firebirds in Brisbane last Sunday.

The Mavs jumped into fourth spot on the SSN ladder with a 58-57 victory, underpinned by a brilliant shooting performance by Shimona Nelson with 45 goals at 92 per cent.

Following fleeting appearances in her first two games since her promotion into the Mavs game-day squad of 10, Sexton spent significant court time at goal keeper against the Firebirds, as the Mavs used her height and vertical leap to try to nullify the Firebirds’ 201cm goal shooter Mary Cholhok.

The shift resulted in Jessie Grenvold, who started at goal keeper, and Kim Brown alternating at goal defence alongside the 22-year-old.

A thrilled Murphy lauded the contribution to the win of Sexton, a foundation player and two-time championship best and fairest with Bendigo’s VNL club, the Strikers.

“Charlotte’s vertical jump is the highest in our team, even higher than Shimmy’s (Nelson),” Murphy said in explaining his decision to activate Sexton in the second quarter.

“Her height and just a bit more range, and also they haven’t played against her, so we thought that would be a good change-up.

“One of the things on my coaching, is sometimes making changes later when there is bit too much pressure, so we wanted to make the change a little earlier in the second quarter to make sure that she had a bit of time to settle, so we could watch (her) when it was normal play time.

“Let her settle, coach her through it; get Jessie and Kim alternating between goal defence instead and to keep them working at it, because they both offer different things in GD.

“You wouldn’t have seen Jessie much in goal defence. (But) we train her there in that combo.

“That worked well. Charlotte did a good job. She gradually worked her way; did a few changes on her body angle, (and) her body positioning, when she should be on and off and tweaking that, and I think she did an awesome job.”

While Sexton pairing at different times with Grenvold and Brown remains a work in progress, Murphy appeared more than open to persisting in his post-game press conference.

“As most people know, with a goal keeper, sometimes the goal defence dropping into the goal keeper is not actually helpful at all because when they come off, they lose their dominant position on the goal shooter,” he said.

“And sometimes you want a two on one at certain parts in the game.

“From our perspective, we don’t want them doing that and it’s actually not helpful for Charlotte; she is actually better if she can position herself and just work her own shooter and that goal defence can put hands over the passer, or at least be in a hedging position for a midcourter.

“It needs to be clear what they are doing and I think she was communicating that with Jess.

“It worked well – Charlotte did great.”

Originally from Bendigo league club Sandhurst, Sexton is in her first season with the Mavs after spending last season with crosstown rival Melbourne Vixens as a training partner.

Following a switch to the Mavs post the 2025 season, she started the pre-season as a training partner.

She was eventually elevated as the Mavs’ 11th player before gaining a call-up to the game-day squad last month.

After being on the wrong end of a pair of one-goal margins earlier in the season, the Mavs were able to claw one back to be in fourth spot at the halfway point of the regular season, ahead of the clash against Swifts at John Cain Arena this Saturday.

Murphy said the team was looking and thinking long-term.

“That (win) obviously puts us still in the hunt, which is good coming into the second half of the season,” he said.

“We don’t talk about that as a team, (but) obviously as coaches we are looking at that and the girls are on the side looking at it.

“But we don’t actively talk about it … it’s each game, and we are aiming to improve each game.”