Manu’a’s netball career comes full circle at Pulse
Former Australia international Kristiana Manu’a tells Phillip Rollo she’s feels right at home playing for the Pulse.
Former Australia international Kristiana Manu’a has felt right at home playing for Central Pulse in this year’s ANZ Premiership.
Manu’a has returned to play in the city she was born in, linking up with the Pulse after five seasons with the Giants (NSW) in Australia’s Super Netball.
Manu’a was born in Wellington, but her parents moved to Sydney when she was a baby.
Despite playing two games for Australia in 2016, she is still eligible to play for the Silver Ferns, and while she was open to representing New Zealand, it was not the catalyst for the 26-year-old’s return. Far from it in fact.
‘‘To be honest I didn’t even know [the Silver Ferns] was an option for me, so that wasn’t in my sights,’’ she said.
‘‘Coming over here and playing good and consistent netball was my goal, but everyone has come up and said it’s an option.
‘‘But I don’t want to get ahead of myself. I just want to focus on the Pulse and give it a good crack as I really think we can win this.’’
Manu’a started her professional netball career in New Zealand with Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic, but she has spent most of it playing on the other side of the Tasman after following Australian coach Julie Fitzgerald to the Giants in 2017.
But after five seasons with the same team and getting fewer minutes than she did previously, Manu’a felt like she needed a change of scenery.
After helping the Giants reach last year’s final, where they were beaten 63-59 by the NSW Swifts, she put her feelers out to see if there was any interest in New Zealand.
The Pulse were the only team that still had a vacancy at that stage, needing a defensive player with top-level experience to fill the void left by the departure of former captain Katrina Rore.
Seeing as she was born in Wellington, Manu’a said it was a perfect fit.
‘‘. . . looking back now I don’t think I would’ve wanted to have been a part of any other team but the Pulse.
‘‘My mum was a massive fan of Wai [Waimarama Taumaunu] when she was a younger player so when I had those conversations with her it was a no-brainer like this is the team to play for.
‘‘Coming back and seeing where my mum grew up and where I was born has been kinda cool. I’ve come full circle.’’
The Pulse must be glad she reached out when she did as Manu’a has been a rock at the back for them this season, forming a strong combination with Kelly Jury, who she had actually played with back in
her Magic days.
‘‘We both debuted there so to come back and gel so quickly is exciting. I don’t think we’ve hit our full potential.’’
Manu’a has the fourth-most interceptions in the competition this season and her most memorable one came in a thrilling 51-50 win over the Magic in round four, pinching possession off the Magic’s centre pass to give Aliyah Dunn the chance to win the game in the final seconds. Dunn made no mistake with her long-range effort.
‘‘I wasn’t thinking about the score or the time, I was just thinking we need the ball and I was just lucky I was in the right place at the right time to pick up the ball, and Aliyah came up with a clutch shot.
‘‘That would’ve been a twopointer if we were in Australia,’’ Manu’a said, referencing the ‘super shot’ used in Super Netball.
The two-point shot was brought in to make Super Netball more exciting, but Manu’a was not convinced it had enhanced the domestic game in Australia.
As a defender, she said it went against everything she had been taught.
Instead of pushing shooters as far away from the hoop as possible to increase the difficulty of their shot, she was trying to lure them in close to prevent them from attempting a shot worth double the points.
‘‘Your whole game from juniors to seniors is to push them away from the post,’’ she said.
‘‘With the two-point shot it’s a completely different mindset. You’re pushing them towards the post and you’re marking a player that is running circles around the outside to try and get a two-point shot.
‘‘It’s definitely good to come back to the normal style of netball and grinding it out and working every quarter for that one point.’’
Since Australia and NZ went their separate ways, Super Netball has been widely regarded as the superior competition, but Manu’a said the intensity of the game here had taken her by surprise. She would love to see how the Pulse would stack up against her former team.