Steel and Magic are homing in
IN the New Zealand conference final in Invercargill today, nothing is on the line and everything is on the line.
Both the Southern Steel and the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic will play in the trans-Tasman netball league semifinals the week after, with only home advantage to be decided .
It’s fair to say the Magic need it more, after losing both their games in Australia this season.
But to earn it, they have to beat a Steel outfit that has had the most impressive regular season by a New Zealand team in the league’s nine-year history, winning 11 times and drawing twice.
It’s hard to gauge exactly how these two teams match up, even if the Steel won both their encounters during the round robin.
The first time they played, in round three in Rotorua, the Magic didn’t have their Silver Ferns, Leana de Bruin and Grace Rasmussen, and the second time around, they had to use 19-yearold Kelly Jury in place of Kristiana Manu’a in defence. Rasmussen was present for only half that game as well, after aggravating a calf injury.
Both games ended with the Steel winning by 10, but those results mean little now the finals have begun.
The Magic’s elimination final win over the Northern Mystics last weekend was evidence enough that, at this time of the season, the entire game changes.
There was a massive lift in intensity from both sides, even if the Magic won by 16 in the end.
Manu’a, playing at goal keep, had her best performance of the season, embodying the step up her team made.
‘‘It was a good effort, not just by me,’’ she said.
‘‘The whole-court defence was great.
‘‘The ball coming down from the Mystics was really pressured by our outside defenders, which helped me out and made my job easier.’’
Of course, the Steel are several degrees better than the Mystics, and will head into the game as heavy favourites.
They haven’t played for two weeks, finishing the regular season with a draw against the New South Wales Swifts, then having a week off while the elimination finals took place. They have a practice match win over, the Otago-Southland men’s team.