‘‘The Mystics are about freedom, flair and flow’’
Sulu Fitzpatrick reveals recipe for why it might just be the Mystics year
Sulu Fitzpatrick doesn’t need reminding, but she is an Aucklander, after all. For those who aren’t netballers born and raised in New Zealand’s largest city, it bears repeating. In the 10 years of the National Bank Cup, from 1998 to 2007, the Northern Force and the Auckland Diamonds never won a title.
In the nine years of the ANZ Championship, the old trans-Tasman league, from 2008 to 2016, the Northern Mystics never won a title.
And in the first four years of the ANZ Premiership, from 2017 to now, neither the Mystics nor the Stars have won a title. But if the two Auckland teams keep playing the way they have over the past three months, that 23-year winless run could be about to end. For so much of the season, it was the Stars who were leading the charge, but after beating their crosstown rivals twice in the space of four weeks, it’s now the Mystics who head into the third and final regular season meeting between the two teams today at the top of the ladder.
With a win, the Mystics will be at least four points clear and in the box seat to host the grand final in early August, able to lose once and still control their own fate. Lose, and it’s likely to be advantage Stars once again, though if they lose by less than five goals and pick up a bonus point, it will only be goal percentage that separates the pair.
The Southern Steel, the Mainland Tactix, and even the defending champion Central Pulse, way down in fifth, will be trying their hardest to extend the streak of failure into a 24th year, but they will almost certainly have to win at least once in Auckland to do so – and most likely win there twice.
All of that leads to a simple question for Fitzpatrick, after training on Friday: is this their year?
‘‘I feel like it’s a good year’’. ‘‘I’m really happy with what we’re trying to build in terms of our values off the court, and we’re really trying to work hard on changing some small things that we feel needed to be changed, but we’re also holding onto what the Mystics are about, which is freedom, flair, and flow.
‘‘We’re trying to build in with that some discipline and consistency and balance and I feel like we’re getting better at that, but we’ve still got room to improve.’’
After seven rounds, they had a mixed record, with four wins and three losses to their name.
That was when they played the Stars for the first time – a match that defender Fitzpatrick says was massive – and starting with their win in that game, they’ve won four in a row.
Teenage goal-shoot Grace Nweke has been strong all season long for the Mystics, but has been particularly impressive in their two top-of-the-table wins, causing all sorts of problems for the Stars’ defenders, a group led by former Silver Fern Anna Harrison, who have been a key factor in their rise this season.
Fitzpatrick said that while the Mystics were reaping the benefits of Nweke’s talent, she was also making the most of her presence in training. ‘‘I train with her every week and I think it’s really good practice.
‘‘I love having her because I know I can’t compete with her in the air, so it forces you to learn different strategies.
‘‘We’re also constantly talking to each other during trainings about what works for each other or what’s easy or hard about what each other does, so we can put that in our bag of tricks.
‘‘I love that challenge of training with her every week. I feel like I’m quite blessed, because I get her all the time.
‘‘It might be demoralising at the time in trainings, but if you can get a ball off her, you feel pretty proud.’’
Fitzpatrick has become the Mystics captain this season, with Phoenix Karaka working her way back to fitness after having her first child with her All Blacks rugby partner Patrick Tuipulotu at the end of last year.
But in explaining how she’s stepped up in that leadership role, she had plenty of praise for the
role played by another sidelined team-mate, Michaela SokolichBeatson, who ruptured her left Achilles tendon last October, just after she’d returned from rupturing her right Achilles in January 2020
‘‘She’s taken on a lot, she’s been a manager, a coach, a physio – she’s doing it all,’’ Fitzpatrick said.
‘‘She runs alongside everyone in their roles, and she’s been really, really supportive and taken on a lot of work that a lot of people don’t see – because she’s not on court, they don’t realise how much she does.
‘‘We can feel her on court with us, so she’s been really important and integral with that leadership and I feel that everyone has taken a step up, and I think that’s what we’re really trying to build towards, is making sure that everyone’s a leader in different ways, so I just literally call the coin toss, and that’s about it.’’
After hosting the Stars today, the Mystics finish the regular season with three games on the road, against the Steel, the Pulse and the Tactix.
Then it will hopefully be back to Auckland, whether for an elimination final, or for the grand final, where they will have a golden opportunity to hand the city its first major domestic netball title.
Fitzpatrick knows what it’s like to win the ANZ Premiership, having been part of the Pulse side that got up in 2019, and she said the Mystics were focused on leaving no stone unturned over the next five weeks.