Pulse Ready To Dig Deep At Home Base

With Grand Final hosting rights on the line, Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse and the Tactix have provided the perfect script for the 45th and final match of the ANZ Premiership netball regular season.

Having switched back and forth between the top two spots throughout the season, the Pulse and Tactix have enjoyed the same win/loss/bonus point record across the 14 rounds so far, the southerners sitting on top of the table by the slimmest of percentages coming into the finale.

Both sides secured their spots in the Finals Series a couple of weeks ago but the winner of Monday night’s duel in Wellington will clinch the Minor Premiership and with it a direct route to the Grand Final. The loser will host the following weekend’s Elimination Final.

``Winning the hosting rights for the Grand Final is really important for us, for our supporters and our community,’’ Pulse coach Anna Andrews-Tasola said. ``They’ve all been amazing. Our home games have been sold out and we really want to do it for them.’’

The teams are all-square at one win apiece in their head-to-head contests this season while adding to the intrigue, both are coming off losses heading into the key showdown.

``It’s definitely going to be spicey,’’ Andrews-Tasola said. ``We’ve seen each other a lot and we’ve all evolved over the season. How we started is very different to how we’re all looking now, so it’s exciting for the competition.

``If you’d told me we’d be in this position while we had all our injuries, it would have been really hard to believe and I’m just super proud of everyone who has been involved on this journey to get us here for this opportunity.

``And for this one, It’s looking at everything with fresh eyes. Everything has evolved and changed, connections have been building across both teams, so we’re definitely going in with a fresh mindset approach.’’

Several players have only recently returned from lengthy injury breaks, their reintegration into the on-court action coinciding with the business end of proceedings and without the luxury of much wriggle room. That was evident in some bumpy passages in the loss to the Mystics last week as players search for match fitness and joining the missing links.

``It’s all about the connections,’’ Andrews-Tasola said. ``Our attacking end hasn’t had 14 weeks together like some of the other teams, so I trust them to work hard this week. It’s been great to have more than one training this week because we had a short week last week, so we’re working really hard this week to build those connections.’’

The coach does not suffer from nerves and has a simple philosophy of ``keep the ball and score it’’ in regards to what’s required to clinch the win.

Being back at home for the first time in four weeks and in front of another sell-out crowd is also a welcome boost for the Pulse.

``We knew when the draw came out that it was going to be a tough run at the end of the season, so we did some work in the pre-season to replicate that,’’ Andrews-Tasola said.

``And to have gone through what we’ve gone through, had three tough games on the road in games that really mattered, I’m just super proud with the way that we’ve responded, competed and arrived at the opportunity we have for this week.’’

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