Pulse steel themselves for final

‘‘Heck, onto the grand final. Not bad.’’ No, not bad at all, Katrina. The Central Pulse have been in existence 10 years, with Katrina Grant a fixture since 2010. She became captain a year later and has made more losing speeches than you’ve had hot dinners. But after the team’s 59-52 win over the Northern Mystics in Sunday’s national premiership elimination final, the Pulse are off to the decider.

Wednesday’s grand final against the Southern Steel in Dunedin will be just the Pulse’s second playoff appearance and the skipper’s voice started to break when asked what she wanted to say about beating the Mystics at TSB Bank Arena.

‘‘It’s a really special group. At the beginning of the season I think we were predicted to come fifth,’’ Grant said.

‘‘We had some really good games, had a lull in the middle of the season and came together and realised that this team can play nice netball and we deserve to be in the top-three.

‘‘This franchise deserves to have some glory for once and not be the team that everyone thinks they can beat.’’

On Sunday, Mystics captain Maria Tutaia put on an absolute playmaking and shooting clinic and propelled the visitors to 16-10 and 30-28 leads after the first two quarters.

But the Pulse won the second half 31-22, on the back of a very composed performance. The trick now is to do the same against the unbeaten Steel, in Invercargill.

‘‘It’s probably as tough as it’s going to get, but this team has a lot of belief in themselves and we’re not going to turn away from the challenge. We have absolutely nothing to lose and a team with nothing to lose can be very dangerous,’’ said Grant.