Grant leading Pulse ‘brilliantly’
One more win and Katrina Grant will have led the Central Pulse to the promised land. They host the Southern Steel in the netball premiership final today, seeking their first national title. It’s a repeat of last year’s decider, which the Steel won, but this time it’s the Pulse who have home court advantage, and they are hoping that will make all the difference, even if they are playing in Palmerston North, not Wellington, thanks to a booking clash. A win would be the perfect ending to a season where Grant has been at her best for the Pulse, swiftly putting the disappointment of the Commonwealth Games, where she captained the Silver Ferns to a fourth-place finish, behind her. With a new Silver Ferns coach to be named on Monday, and the first squad since the Commonwealth Games to be announced on Tuesday, it remains to be seen whether she will continue in that role, though her performances with the Pulse this winter make her a standout. Grant acknowledged in a Radio Sport interview this week that she would be ‘‘totally fine’’ if someone else was made skipper, while Pulse coach Yvette McCausland-Durie told Stuff it was a case of wait and see. ‘‘Who knows who’s going to make those decisions, certainly not me. She’s been leading us absolutely brilliantly and this next game is her major focus, and whatever comes after that, I’m sure she’ll be elated to be included. Every one of our team members is working really hard to put their hands up and then other people will make their decisions.’’ McCausland-Durie was in the middle of her first stint as Pulse coach when Grant arrived at the franchise in 2010, and she said she had seen plenty of growth in the defender from then to now – the second season of her second stint. ‘‘That’s been a long period of time where she’s been involved as a leader and a long period of time where she’s been playing at this level. She’s just worked so incredibly hard, her physique is absolutely that of a professional athlete, she thinks really hard about the decisions she makes in her life that are all about being in the best place for performance, and with more and more game time, her awareness has improved.’’