Magic ‘beaten up’ in shock loss to the Northern Stars
The Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic now know what it’s going to be like.
Physicality, a weakness they identified in preseason, is still their achilles heel, and it played a big role as they fell apart against the Northern Stars on Monday night, losing the final three quarters 44-32, and only keeping the end score reasonable because they had been up 18-11 after the first.
That lead was effectively erased by halftime, and Magic coach Margaret Forsyth said her message in the dressing room had been simple.
‘‘I just said that we had to match their physicality with our own physicality.
‘‘I think the standard had been set of how much the rules could be pushed, and we didn’t push them far enough. We tried to play too clean a brand of netball, and we just had to step up and be more physical.
‘‘It’s tough though, when we have players that get beaten up, basically, and we didn’t respond very well to that at all.’’
Strong words indeed, though Forsyth wouldn’t be drawn any further on the umpiring.
And though she was frustrated by the way the game had unfolded, she readily admitted that her team had had enough chances to win it anyway. They gave up too many soft turnovers, even as they opened up an early lead, and they never seemed 100 per cent confident in what they were doing on attack.
The physicality was a bit too much at times, as highlighted by the stray elbow shooter Lenize Potgieter copped from Kayla Cullen, but it was not the first time the Magic have come up short in that regard - it was identified as a vulnerability way back in preseason, and it also played a big part in their two losses to the Northern Mystics.
The Magic will hope a stricter standard is set in the future, and they will also take this as a wakeup call.
‘‘If this is what the rest of the competition is going to be like, then clearly we need to bring our A-level physical game with us,’’ said Forsyth.
‘‘We can’t take a step backwards. We can’t worry about who we land on or who we trod on to get the ball, we just go for it.’’
The Magic kept the deficit at five when the final whistle sounded, so picked up their fourth losing bonus point of the season, which means they now sit in the third and final playoff spot with 14 points, the same as the Central Pulse, four fewer than the Southern Steel, and two more than the Mystics (and six more than the Stars, for the record).
As they pick themselves up after Monday night, they will know that coping with physical play - and overly physical play - remains a work-on, but that they are not in that bad a position, all things considered.
Next, they have to deal with the Mainland Tactix, who have shown enough since losing their coach, Sue Hawkins, to suggest that they will not finish the season winless.
That’s next Monday in Hamilton, and then it’s the Pulse, a week later in Palmerston North, and after that, it’s a double whammy - the Steel in Auckland on June 11, as part of a Super Sunday, and the Mystics the following night - a run of three games in seven days that will likely decide how the Magic’s season ends.
After that, it’s a nine-day wait until they play the Stars again in Tauranga, in what will be the final round-robin game.
They will have the luxury of knowing what they need to do in that match, but at the same time, they’ll be hoping the answer is nothing at all.