It’s easy to say the young GK Catherine Hall had a fantastic afternoon as always with goal defense skipper Michaela Sokolich-Beatson by her side.
She read the Tactix’s poor passage of play up front off the back of her tremendous jumps and catches along the way and we all know she’ll be the one that no one else will be able to get past lightly with a week off from now then it’s Grand Final time.
Same with Tayla Earle as the heart of this Mystics ever thriving mid-court in between centre and wing attack. She never looks out of place especially when Tayla made the most out of her attacking capabilities that allows her to get a clean shot of her shooters towards the circle & voila Mystics felt comfortable shooting all afternoon.
She’s been there and done that before with premiership accolades to her name as part of a winning squad last year and the year before & if Tayla can continue to deliver yet another trophy come Grand Final time, sure there will be food for thought to consider by Noeline Taurua when it comes to the Silver Ferns’ upcoming home tours later this year.
And the experienced Jane Watson kept the Tactix defensive back three sharp at goal defense with a few deflections that gave her side some good moments to keep the scoreboard ticking. It’s a pity Tactix had to come in there against a top-ranked side like the Mystics; not only that, they need to be mindful of their attacking strategy particularly with the shooting options plus their use of subs too.
I know they’ve won the final quarter alone when the Mystics were way out in front but less turnovers and better attacking communication would set the difference between making the grand final & trying to go one better for the trophy and having to sit out by losing the elimination one again.
The final score was 70-56 to Mystics over Tactix.
As it stands, Tactix’s next opponent for the Eliminational Final will be against the Central Pulse, who defeated the Magic in yesterday’s game by a two-goal difference of 54-56. That means the Southern Steel will finish their season early alongside the Magic and Stars once the regular season ends tomorrow night v also the Northern Stars in Invercargill.
I mean, they were the most improved team really – it’s a shame they didn’t have Kate onboard in the first few games due to injury. But you know, they had some wins more often than last year and year before – and thought Steel could be the one to go into Top 3. There’s always next year though and as long as this strong group keeps that cohesion intact, who knows?
They could even dominate the competition once again like it was back in 2017-18 and Head Coach Wendy Frew was there before in her twilight years as a player.
For now, can’t wait for Finals netball to come!
