Mojo Pulse Well-prepped for Swifts Clash

Mojo Pulse Well-prepped for Swifts Clash

23 April 2015

The Mojo Pulse couldn’t have asked for a better preparation heading into their round nine ANZ Championship netball clash against NSW Swifts in Wellington on Saturday.

Facing their second Australian opponent in as many weeks, the Pulse showed enough encouraging signs against the table-topping West Coast Fever in their latest outing to suggest they’re capable of mounting a serious challenge.

The Pulse pushed the unbeaten team from Perth all the way before slipping to a three-goal loss in an epic showdown. Converting their opportunities remains the major stumbling block but the lift in intensity and improvement on attack heralded the Pulse’s best efforts of the season.

Coach Robyn Broughton has no complaints with the defence end or the through-court defence which has shone brightly throughout the season and was heartened with the improved attacking momentum and ball retention against the Fever.

“It’s just really about possession being everything, so it’s to do with the critical moments,” she said. “You have to be able to play under the pressure of those critical moments and putting the ball in the right place at the right moment makes it easier for everyone. It’s a total team effort and we’re all guilty of not doing that at times.

“I really enjoy training this lot, they’re great trainers and they don’t deserve to be losing but the point of netball is to get the ball through the hoop. We had more shots at goal against the Mystics and we had more shots at goal against the Fever.

“It means we are getting ball down there but we’re just not getting the goal in.”

The introduction of athletic goalshoot Ameliaranne Wells against Fever, in her first full trans-Tasman match after being a bit player for the Queensland Firebirds for the previous four years, helped open up play with her movement, adding space and options for the Pulse’s attacking line.

The missing ingredient is adding the polish to their conversion rate under the hoop after enjoying the possession stakes in their last two outings but still coming out on the losing side of the ledger. Broughton expects Wells to be better for the experience after getting big game minutes under her belt.

“This team trains really hard and we work our guts out and it’s just a shame that at the moment, they can’t finish the moment,’’ Broughton said.

“We train well, we’re enthusiastic, we’ve got players out there that are winners, that want to win…it’s not like we don’t.”

Appropriately, ANZAC weekend will deliver a full round of trans-Tasman clashes following on from a similar scenario last weekend with Broughton ever-mindful of what Australian teams bring to the table. “I never under-estimate an Australian team ever,’’ she said in reference to the Swifts. “You saw it happen last week, they (Australian teams) belted all of us (New Zealand teams).

“The Swifts were quite low on the Australian conference but they will be brimming with confidence after that big win against the Mystics (66-50). They played well but we are also boosted by our good showing against the Fever.”

The Mojo Pulse face the NSW Swifts this Saturday, 25 April at TSB Bank Arena. Centre Pass is 4.10pm. Tickets are available through Ticketek.

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