In particular, she praised Jamician Shimona Nelson, who signed to the squad as a replacement for Cat Tuivaiti while she recovers from a knee reconstruction.

Nelson finished with 37 goals from 42 attempts.

"I was honestly so proud of her, it was her first game and she was really nervous coming into the game but I thought she took some amazing balls and she's just going to get stronger," de Bruin said.

It was always going to be a tough match for the Thunderbirds who were arguably coming up against one of the best attacks in the competition.

fever marquee signing Jhaniele Fowler only missed two goals as she helps guide her side to the victory scoring 66 goals and it broke the Suncorp Super Netball record for most goals scored in a game by a shooter.

The Thunderbirds put extra defenders on Fowler to try to stop her but that only opened up opportunities for goal attack Natalie Medhurst.

Going into the last quarter, Fever carried a 17 point lead.

In the end, Fever led at all changes which saw them claim all four bonus points.

"I'm very proud of the girls and I know the scoreline doesn't reflect but we work hard and most of the time they stuck to the game plan," de Bruin said.

"It just shows what we can do, every quarter counts," she said.