The Good Oil Tactix coach Marianne Delaney-Hoshek believes their toolbox is full of “good stuff” and now her side needs to keep delving into it after a first-up ANZ Premiership defeat.
They suffered a 41-53 loss to the defending champion Pulse side at Stadium 2000 in Blenheim on Sunday and while it was not the start they wanted, the head coach took plenty of positives from the game.
“I think in that first half it showed that we’ve got some good stuff in our toolbox, it’s just about going into it over and over again,” she said.
“We just let them have a couple of little runs and then that was the game.”
A period of two or three minutes late in the third quarter proved the difference as the tight tussle blew out to a seven-goal difference in favour of the Pulse with 15 minutes to play.
“And then in that last quarter we just couldn’t get any turnover ball which hurt us,” Delany-Hoshek said.
The physical encounter delivered for netball fans with a tight arm-wrestle in the first half – the Tactix coming from behind to take a 12-11 advantage at quarter time while the Pulse levelled the scores again at 22-22 by halftime.
The Tactix welcomed back two key players in defender Temalisi Fakahokotau and midcourter Erikana Pedersen while Te Paea Selby-Rickit made her first Premiership appearance in the red-and-black strip.
Delaney-Hoshek said it was good to get those players on court but admitted there had been a few nerves shown from the squad early on.
“I think there was probably a few nerves, we’ve got some people coming back and obviously we were playing the championship team from last year so it was always going to be tough,” she said.
“We know we’re better than that but we know the ANZ Premiership is a marathon, not a sprint.”
The Pulse did the job of separating the Tactix players up fronting and breaking the connections they had built during the first half – the hosts strugging to find a rhythm up front at times – as the visitors built a buffer on the scoreboard.
“There was that real physical one-on-one where there was no easy pass,” Delaney-Hoshek said. “I think the Pulse are particularly good at marking through the area, just over the transverse and it’s not as free-flowing when you’ve got Karin (Burger) and Katrina (Rore) marking through there.
“It takes a few more passes so we didn’t quite get our flow that we’re used to getting.”
The Tactix coach was however pleased with what she saw in the opening half and was looking forward to building on that performance.
A great tussle between Charlotte Elley, who was celebrating her 50th cap for the Tactix, and new Pulse wing Maddy Gordon was captivating throughout the full 60 minutes while Kimiora Poi also had a bruising encounter with her Pulse opposite Claire Kersten. Delaney-Hoshek made just one change during the game with Samon Nathan coming on to replace Pedersen at wing with two minutes to play in the third quarter.
Result:
Central Pulse: 53 The Good Oil Tactix: 41
Shooting stats – Pulse:
Aliyah Dunn 35/38, Ameliaranne Ekenasio 18/22
Shooting stats – Tactix:
Ellie Bird 26/29, Te Paea Selby-Rickit 15/22
Photo credit: Michael Bradley Photography
