Karin Burger – the Great Wall of the Mainland Tactix’s back three and also Silver Ferns starting mainstay too.
The way she defends & protects Jane Watson with a few deflections and intercepts was top shelf as evident both ANZ Premiership and International level.
She also wouldn’t mind attacking sometimes who is also comfortable at Wing Attack too. It’s a trait we will see from her time and time again including next Sunday arvo’s Grand Final v Mystics.
Next up, here comes the Tactix’s starting goal attacker in Te Paea Selby-Rikit – the one who got away with the one and only two point super shot goal for the night.
Look she may not have done a lot of shooting alongside her goal shooter Ellie Bird but at the same time, she’s an experienced team player – this is what the Tactix is all about as a whole unit.
It may have been a slow start; again, Tactix spotted the Pulse’s stop and start handling errors – including the 3rd quarter in particular – before they’ve completely flipped the storyline goal after goal and played it safe towards the end there.
Communication is key with less turnovers and more accurate passing and passage of play on top of a rock solid defensive blocks being the catalyst to tonight’s win.
With that said after tonight’s Elimination Final result, one person won’t have the chance to test herself in a grand final since the Pulse have just been eliminated – Amelia Walmsley as their starting GS.
Since Grace Nweke is not eligible for now by the book of Netball New Zealand’s home-only selection rules, her top shooting stats goes to show she is confident of filling in that hole – despite the fact she decided to play the U21 World Cup later this year over the first three home games v South Africa.
But hey, she never disappoints anyone where her goals are there to keep her team’s hopes alive.
What the Pulse should’ve gone better though is their handling errors and decision making in the 2nd half while going all in for two-pointers against the clock was a bit too much to ask as don’t know what happened there other than just simply a strategy issue? Poor planning.
Some fans say that Amorangi Malesala should always stay on over Tiana Metuarau and seeing her not getting hauled off again plus the way Pulse shifts a few players bib to different bib unfortunately did not work either & yet they only won the 1st 15 mins.
The final score was Mainland Tactix 57-52 Central Pulse at Wolfbrook Arena in Christchurch on a Sunday night with Tactix now on their way to Auckland for the Grand Final in a week’s time v Mystics.
As for Pulse, they have no choice but to exit in this year’s ANZP Finals race.
They had some good wins for sure with the good crop of players still hanging around including the addition of Gabi Simpson for the year from the Firebirds but then injuries went downhill at times & no Parris Mason playing GD tonight was a huge blow indeed due to a neck injury.
It remains to be seen what lies ahead but there’s always next season.
For now, bring on the Grand Final with Tactix back in it since 2021 to chase their first ever season trophy, and all they have to do now is to stop the Mystics from winning three consecutive championships.
Can’t wait next Sunday afternoon.
