Captain Grant signs on for Pulse again
Katrina Grant will be back for her ninth season with the Central Pulse.
The Pulse announced yesterday their captain had re-signed with the franchise for the 2018 season.
The 30-year-old said it was a nobrainer after what was the best Pulse season ever in 2017, which saw them make the playoffs for the first time, losing to the Southern Steel in the ANZ Premiership final.
‘‘I’ve been with the Pulse a long time and we made the finals this year which was significant,’’ she said.
‘‘I am obviously getting that little bit older and the Pulse have been really good to me over the years I’ve been with them. I love Wellington, I love the people and I wanted to be loyal to them.’’
The defender was the Pulse’s 2017 MVP, so represents a key retention for coach Yvette Mccausland-durie after the departure of shooter Cathrine Tuivaiti to the Adelaide Thunderbirds.
‘‘It’s critical because she’s obviously a quality player and that makes a massive difference in terms of performance,’’ Mccausland-durie said.
‘‘On top of that, what has been really great to see in her this year is lots of growth - growth in her leadership, growth in her performance and through that we saw greater consistency. She’s still got so much to offer in terms of that professionalism around her preparation to the game and her ability to know what’s required in tough matches is really huge for us.
‘‘She leads by example. She’s not a person of a huge number of words, she prefers to just be a doer. She puts the highest standards of expectation on herself. She engages well with the rest of the group but the priority for her is ‘let’s do what we can to make sure performance is right’.’’
Grant is the first of the Pulse signings for next year’s competition, with Mccausland-durie also signing a two-year contract extension.