Pulse hoping for third time lucky

BY JOSEPH ROMANOS

The Central Pulse netball team is hoping this season will be a case of third time lucky.

After an inauspicious beginning to the ANZ netball championship – they won only one match while finishing bottom of the table in each of the first two seasons – the Pulse are surprisingly optimistic on the eve of the 2010 competition.

They have a major sponsor, Haier, a new captain, Australian Jane Altschwager, and a clutch of top-class players.

Coach Yvette McCausland-Durie said she felt this was the strongest combination the Pulse had fielded.

"With the recruiting that's gone on, and the fact that we have retained some quality players, this is a good team," she said. "One of the big improvements on last season is that we have more depth – we will have a stronger bench."

McCausland-Durie has named former Australian international shooter Jane Altschwager as captain. Other strong candidates for the job included Silver Ferns shooter Paula Griffin, the outstanding Pulse player in 2009, and another New Zealand representative, defender Katrina Grant, formerly of the Southern Steel.

"Finding the captain was quite a long process," said McCausland-Durie, "and the players were very involved. We had a couple of team votes, in which the team identified the areas they regarded as important.

"We added one more: we felt it was important that the captain be a commanding presence on court. You don't want a captain battling with form and worried about her place. It's hard to lead when your performance isn't up to scratch."

The Pulse, who have struggled to match some of the star-packed combinations in the championship, certainly have more of a quality look this season. In Griffin, Grant, midcourter Camilla Lees, Altschwager and English defender Ama Agbeze, they have five international players. In addition, the team has four national under-21 representatives.

McCausland-Durie said the Pulse had learnt some important lessons from last season.

"We've concentrated harder on ball retention, and we've worked hard on our fitness. There's more awareness this season of how important those aspects are.

"I certainly noticed a big improvement in our pre-season tournaments. We were competitive with the best teams, and I'm sure we'll get rid of that easy-beat tag."

The pressure is coming on the Pulse to turn in some good results. Australian team coach Norma Plummer recently said New Zealand should drop a team from the championship and allow in a sixth Australian team. Australian sides have generally out-performed their New Zealand counterparts during the first two years of the competition.

The Pulse's first match, against the Tactix in Christchurch next Monday evening, will not be easy. The Tactix beat the highly-rated Steel 58-51 last weekend in a final warm-up outing.

- The Wellingtonian