Pulse look to retain bulk of their squad

The 2018 Central Pulse team is rapidly taking shape.

This year’s national premiership runners-up have already re-signed coach Yvette McCausland-Durie, captain Katrina Grant and now goal attack Tiana Metuarau and wing attack Whitney Souness. Confirmation of defender Karin Burger’s retention is imminent and, all up, McCauslandDurie is hopeful seven players will be over the the line by Sunday.

The Pulse have six players attending the Silver Ferns trials, which start in Auckland on Monday. Wing defence Claire Kersten is one of those and is expected to re-sign soon, while negotiations are ongoing with shooter Ameliaranne Ekenasio.

The former Silver Fern recently gave birth to a boy and has been pencilled in as a replacement for Cathrine Tuivaiti, who is off to play in Australia.

‘‘She’s back playing a little bit of club netball. Her shooting’s always been amazing, but it’s just about getting herself back physically and managing time,’’ McCausland-Durie said of Ekenasio.

Next year’s competition doesn’t start until May with contracts now commencing on January 29 rather than the old date of December 1. But, given she doubles as assistant coach of the Silver Ferns, McCausland-Durie would like most of the the Pulse’s contracting to be concluded before those commitments start in earnest.

Not a huge amount was expected from the Pulse this year or McCausland-Durie, who coached the team with minimal success from 2009-2011, so getting such a young, scratch combination to the competition decider was some achievement.

‘‘I never felt we played a complete game, so I’d probably put us at around 8 and a half, 9 [out of 10]. For myself, there were moments where I felt I was really clear around what I was doing, in terms of my delivery and content,’’ said McCausland-Durie.

‘‘People management I find [I’m] really good. The ability to organise and plan and have structure, I find I’m good in those areas. But the areas I want to keep developing and improving is bringing new content, being able to keep changing our game so that we’re diverse; not necessarily just responding to [the] opposition, but having points of difference.’’

If the 2017 team had a consistent failing, it was getting the ball to shooters. Too many balls were turned over, which has impacted on how McCausland-Durie approached recruitment and retention.

She has a way she wants to play and a clear idea of how best to do that.

‘‘If you can let the ball go with real courage and pace, then you’ve got a real advantage. You can only do that when you trust and know each other well, so continuity is going to be massive for us.’’

Almost all this year’s squad were offered contracts and the import situation won’t get tackled until all attempts to sign ‘‘our own’’ have been exhausted, McCausland-Durie said.

That’s partly because she believes she can get more out of what she’s already got. Souness and Kersten are going to be asked to work on playing centre, for instance, and Burger will try wing defence, in an effort to mix things up.

‘‘Throughout this season we were quite focused on having a predominant line. Lots of connections needed to be made so we really did persist with that.’’