Leaders make a pulsating start
Stuff recaps the week of netball and looks at some of the talking points ahead of round five of the national premiership.
PULSE SKYROCKETING
Four rounds in to the ANZ Premiership, we know one thing for certain – the Central Pulse are good.
Their 31-goal demolition of the Southern Steel on Wednesday will have sent shockwaves through the league. Exactly how good they are remains to be seen, however, especially as it’s been hard to get a gauge on the other five teams.
The Pulse are the only team with a positive goal differential at this early stage of the season, which is not a sign of a strong competition – four teams ended up on that side of the ledger last year.
Shooter Aliyah Dunn had a 50-goal outing on Wednesday, continuing her stunning start to the season.
MYSTICS MYSTERY
The Northern Mystics are possibly the hardest team to get a read on, and that’s not helped by the fact that they may or may not have Silver Ferns star Maria Folau in their ranks for any given game.
A week after losing to the equally upand-down Southern Steel on the road, they went to Christchurch to play a Mainland Tactix team that was flying high – and won.
There is no doubt they have plenty of talent, even when Folau is absent – replacement Jamie Hume has been impressive – but they will hope they can find some consistency soon.
SCHEDULING PAINS
You’d think the schedule for a six-team competition would be simple. Every team plays each other once – five matches in total – then they do so again, then they do so again. Wrong.
Four rounds in, every team has played at least one other team twice, while the Pulse, Mystics, Steel and Tactix have played two teams twice, so have two teams they haven’t played once. That has made it hard to arrive at any definitive judgments about some of the teams.
Round five brings a new set of matchups, which will be repeated immediately next weekend, when everyone gathers in Christchurch for the second Super Sunday of the season.
Only after that, once round seven, starting June 17, is complete, will every team have played each other once.
BLOCKBUSTERS IN STORE
Round five’s matchups being repeated in round six could make for an exciting week.
The two clashes between the Pulse and the Mystics – one in Auckland, one on neutral territory – will be fascinating, especially if Folau is involved.
If the Pulse win both of them, they can probably start making preparations to host August’s final, but if the Mystics can even just run them close, it will give the rest of the premiership hope that all is not lost.
The Magic face the Tactix and the Steel face the Stars in the other matches, and once they’ve played each other twice, the top four could be clear of the bottom two, or there could be a real logjam on the ladder.
ATTACK MAGIC
This week began with a bit of news that Magic fans were dreading – Silver Ferns defender Kelly Jury is out for the season, needing surgery to repair a shoulder tear.
The news came a day after the Magic had notched their first win of the season, over the still-winless Northern Stars, and it is undeniably a blow to their finals hopes, but they might have enough at the other end of the court to account for it.
Their attacking trio of Lenize Potgieter, Monica Falkner and Ariana Cable-Dixon is one of the most potent in the league and they finally clicked last Sunday – albeit against a Stars defence that is giving up more goals per game than any other team.