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Scoop
4 days ago
- Sport
- Scoop
Pulse Happy To Be Home As Season Tightens Up
Press Release – Netball Central Zone Building into some quality form, Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse are eagerly awaiting their ANZ Premiership netball league re-match against the Northern Mystics in Wellington on Sunday. The match marks the halfway point of the campaign, this year's season being reduced to just two rounds and putting the squeeze on the importance of winning each outing. The Pulse and Mystics sit second and third, respectively, on the points table, equal on points but with the Pulse enjoying a better goal differential. The Mystics outshone the Pulse by 11 goals three weeks ago but a lot has changed since then. 'One less round has certainly made the situation a little bit more intense,'' play-making Pulse goal attack Tiana Metuarau said. 'You don't get another round to save yourselves, so every game is a must-win and we want to put ourselves in the best possible position for whatever the end of the season will look like……and put ourselves in a good position for the business end. 'We want to go all the way, of course, and we've been chipping away since the first game, so we're excited for this weekend.'' With the Pulse's attack line of Maddy Gordon, Whitney Souness, Metuarau and Amelia Walmsley playing a full 60 minutes together for the first time since 2023 in last week's match-up against the Steel, the signs for further progress are encouraging. And they are confident the necessary improvements and adjustments will happen second-time around against the Mystics, who have their own problems with uncertainty around the hand injury sustained by key shooter Donnell Wallam. 'During our pre-season we were so disrupted and a huge portion of our starting seven were on managed loads or weren't playing at all and I've only played about six or seven ANZ games in the last two years post my injury last year, so like anything, the more you do it, the better you get at it,'' Metuarau said. 'And so with the more game time we're getting as a team and as a group, I feel like we're making huge improvements and progress to be heading in the right direction.'' The Pulse got the confidence-booster they were after against the Steel, negating the influence of what can be an intimidating Invercargill crowd and showing character to come back from a strong third quarter surge from the home side to finish with a bang when posting a 25-goal winning margin. 'We all did our jobs really well, and that's what netball is. If you do your job well, you should win and that's what happened at the weekend,'' Metuarau said. 'Scoring a couple of super shots in the third quarter gave us a bit of confidence as well. With the new rules, anything within 10 goals is a somewhat pressured situation. You only have to score five two-pointers to catch up, so it's a different dynamic but definitely to head into the last quarter with over 10 points was really good for us.'' A dynamic on-court presence, Metuarau, 24, notched 100 games for the Pulse earlier in the season, playing a total of 119 so far during her career after also spending 2021 with the Steel, and nowadays is somewhat of a veteran after bursting on to the scene as a 16-year-old schoolgirl in 2017. Happy with her form and how she's tracking this season, Metuarau had her best super shot return with five from eight against the Steel and while enjoying the associated buzz has some reservations. 'I'm still very much in the mindset that it changes the game because teams can score twice as many points with doing half the amount of work type of thing,'' she said. 'The frustrating thing is if you're able to get a buffer, then the opposition start hitting all these twos, it takes away from that traditional piece of the game, all the intricacies and things that go with it, so that's the only thing I have against it. 'But it is exciting and it definitely makes you feel good when you knock down some twos.'' After successive weekends playing in Auckland followed by the long haul south to Invercargill, the Pulse can't wait to play their first match in Wellington and their much-loved home at TSB Arena on Sunday.
Scoop
4 days ago
- Sport
- Scoop
Pulse Happy To Be Home As Season Tightens Up
Building into some quality form, Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse are eagerly awaiting their ANZ Premiership netball league re-match against the Northern Mystics in Wellington on Sunday. The match marks the halfway point of the campaign, this year's season being reduced to just two rounds and putting the squeeze on the importance of winning each outing. The Pulse and Mystics sit second and third, respectively, on the points table, equal on points but with the Pulse enjoying a better goal differential. The Mystics outshone the Pulse by 11 goals three weeks ago but a lot has changed since then. ``One less round has certainly made the situation a little bit more intense,'' play-making Pulse goal attack Tiana Metuarau said. ``You don't get another round to save yourselves, so every game is a must-win and we want to put ourselves in the best possible position for whatever the end of the season will look like……and put ourselves in a good position for the business end. ``We want to go all the way, of course, and we've been chipping away since the first game, so we're excited for this weekend.'' With the Pulse's attack line of Maddy Gordon, Whitney Souness, Metuarau and Amelia Walmsley playing a full 60 minutes together for the first time since 2023 in last week's match-up against the Steel, the signs for further progress are encouraging. And they are confident the necessary improvements and adjustments will happen second-time around against the Mystics, who have their own problems with uncertainty around the hand injury sustained by key shooter Donnell Wallam. ``During our pre-season we were so disrupted and a huge portion of our starting seven were on managed loads or weren't playing at all and I've only played about six or seven ANZ games in the last two years post my injury last year, so like anything, the more you do it, the better you get at it,'' Metuarau said. ``And so with the more game time we're getting as a team and as a group, I feel like we're making huge improvements and progress to be heading in the right direction.'' The Pulse got the confidence-booster they were after against the Steel, negating the influence of what can be an intimidating Invercargill crowd and showing character to come back from a strong third quarter surge from the home side to finish with a bang when posting a 25-goal winning margin. ``We all did our jobs really well, and that's what netball is. If you do your job well, you should win and that's what happened at the weekend,'' Metuarau said. ``Scoring a couple of super shots in the third quarter gave us a bit of confidence as well. With the new rules, anything within 10 goals is a somewhat pressured situation. You only have to score five two-pointers to catch up, so it's a different dynamic but definitely to head into the last quarter with over 10 points was really good for us.'' A dynamic on-court presence, Metuarau, 24, notched 100 games for the Pulse earlier in the season, playing a total of 119 so far during her career after also spending 2021 with the Steel, and nowadays is somewhat of a veteran after bursting on to the scene as a 16-year-old schoolgirl in 2017. Happy with her form and how she's tracking this season, Metuarau had her best super shot return with five from eight against the Steel and while enjoying the associated buzz has some reservations. ``I'm still very much in the mindset that it changes the game because teams can score twice as many points with doing half the amount of work type of thing,'' she said. ``The frustrating thing is if you're able to get a buffer, then the opposition start hitting all these twos, it takes away from that traditional piece of the game, all the intricacies and things that go with it, so that's the only thing I have against it. ``But it is exciting and it definitely makes you feel good when you knock down some twos.'' After successive weekends playing in Auckland followed by the long haul south to Invercargill, the Pulse can't wait to play their first match in Wellington and their much-loved home at TSB Arena on Sunday.
Scoop
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Scoop
Keeping It Simple In Changing Landscape Key For Pulse
New rules aside, playing smart remains top of the list for Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse when they kick-start this year's ANZ Premiership netball league against the Magic in Palmerston North on Saturday. With the introduction of the two-point shot, from 3.5m range, which will come into play for the last five minutes of each quarter, a coach's box, team timeouts and live umpire audio, the new dynamics have presented plenty of chatter in the lead-up. With the two-point shot being the major talking point, the spotlight has naturally fallen on the shooters but in essence, there is much that will also be different in the defensive ranks. For Kelly Jackson, Pulse captain and last line of defence, it's a welcome innovation. ``Defensively, I've been really enjoying the change,'' she said. ``It's added a bit of a problem-solving element to the game, trying to work out whether the shooters are going to want to go for the two points or the one point. ``It all depends on the time, the scoreboard and the personnel on court, so trying to think one step ahead of the shooters is important. ``Normally, our game plan has been to keep the shooters as far away from the post as possible. Now they want to be out wide, so it's about switching that thinking up. Shooting-wise, I think we've got some awesome long-range talent within the Pulse with Amorangi (Malesala) and Tiana (Metuarau) more than capable of sinking those twos, so I'm really excited to see them out there and see what we can do.'' While teams have had the pre-season to work on their strategies and the allure of going for the maximum shooting reward, there is an air of caution on the Pulse's approach. ``It's something we can't get over-excited about, we've still got to play some smart netball,'' Jackson said. ``It remains really important that we keep the scoreboard ticking over. What we've seen in the Australian league is that they're not always going for the two-point shot, they're being really smart about it and on average are only taking 10 long attempts a game and they're half a metre closer, so we can learn something from that and that's to keep the scoreboard ticking over.'' The Australian rule for the two-point shot is from 3m while in New Zealand it is from 3.5m range. With the league being scaled down from three rounds to two this year, there is little wriggle for early season lapses, the Pulse having extra incentive to add some gloss with play-making goal attack Metuarau set to celebrate her 100th match in yellow and black. Metuarau, 24, has played a total of 115 national League matches, reaching the century mark two years ago when becoming the youngest player to notch 100 games and first to reach the milestone across just one league. That tally includes 16 for the Steel after she ventured south in search of more game time in 2021 but the powerful and vibrant shooter will reach a special milestone in her home colours when running out in front of a sold-out Fly Palmy Arena on Saturday. ``It's a huge achievement,'' Jackson said. ``Many people forget how young she is, so to achieve it at such a young age is pretty incredible. She's been around a long time, got a huge amount of experience and with ball in hand, she's beautiful to watch.'' The Magic have consistency in their playing personnel which has continued to build in the last couple of years while growing in confidence as a group. ``We know we've got some really good match-ups across the court with them but we're also confident in our ability and what we can do,'' Jackson said. ``We've had a bit of disruption through the pre-season with illness and injury but we're very ready to go. The games are the fun part, and we're ready to rip. It's exciting and we just want to kick off the season on a really good foot.'' The match will be screened live and free on TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+.
