Pulse in cruise control as glitter of Stars fades
The Central Pulse are officially the queens of the ANZ Premiership.
They became the most successful side in the competition’s sixyear history, capturing their third title yesterday, thumping the Stars 56-37 in the grand final.
The Stars rode a seven-game winning run heading into the decider, but they were never at their best and were suffocated by swarming Pulse defence.
The Pulse delivered a defensive masterclass at TSB Arena, limiting the Stars’ scoring and forcing them into 27 turnovers.
Talk about a dream sendoff for centre Erikana Pedersen, who was likely playing the final game of her 10-year elite career. Pedersen thought she was retired from toplevel netball, but answered an injury SOS in pre-season and was a dependable figure in the Pulse engine room all season.
Losing grand finals with the Tactix the past two seasons, claiming an elusive title was some way to go out for the 27-year-old.
This was the third title in four years for the Pulse, who suffered back-to-back grand final defeats in the first two seasons of the premiership in 2017 and 2018.
The Pulse took a healthy 11 goal advantage (26-15) into the main break with the Stars undone by 17 first half turnovers.
It was imperative the Stars started the second half strongly if they were to fight back, but the polished Pulse refused to give them a sniff.
Few expected this from the Pulse at the end of last season, where they failed to make the finals, finishing fifth, winning just four of their 15 games.
Head coach Yvette McCausland-Durie returned to the team after a season away, replacing Gail Parata, and has done a stellar job, restoring their former glory.
She had her work cut out for her too with Pulse stalwarts Claire Kersten and Ameliaranne Ekenasio and Katrina Rore, the latter two who didn’t feature last season, all shifting to the WaikatoBay of Plenty Magic. Rore didn’t end up taking the court for the Magic this season due to pregnancy.
McCausland-Durie had just four players back from their 2020 title-winning side – Aliyah Dunn, Maddy Gordon, Kelly Jury and Tiana Metuarau, who returned from the Steel.
That proved no barrier though with the new wave of Pulse talent soaring back to the summit of New Zealand netball.
The Stars headed into the grand final on a red-hot winning run, but were let down by their accuracy on attack in the opening quarter.
After taking three minutes to land their first goal, any grand final nerves from the Pulse quickly disappeared.
Led by strong through-court defence, the Pulse were able to force the Stars into mistakes and they made them pay, scoring from any turnover ball.
Stars coach Kiri Wills was forced to go to her bench early, bringing on Kayla Johnson at wing defence for Holly Fowler after the first quarter in a bid to slow the flow of ball.
It wasn’t long before she then rejigged her attacking end with Jamie Hume making way at goal attack for Amorangi Malesala.
But whatever the Stars tried was largely in vain with the Pulse causing trouble at both ends of the court.