Casey Williams loves being in the driver's seat, in control of her own destiny.

If she wants things to happen, she will go about making them happen.

But some things, she realises, are out of her power.

Like the results of other teams' matches in the last round of the ANZ Championship regular season.

The Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic play in the last match of the round, against the Queensland Firebirds in Hamilton on Monday, so when the players take to the court, they will know what the result will mean for their final standing.

Williams said that, while she was a player who enjoyed watching netball and would be tuning into the weekend's contests, she would be frustrated knowing that she could not influence the results to fall her way.

"Some days any team can beat anybody, you don't have control over anybody else except yourself. And being a bit of a control freak like me, I don't like that," Williams said, laughing.

That the Magic's game is preceded by all of the others means, depending on results, they may feel a bit more pressure heading into their clash.

Not that that fazes Williams. She likes pressure.

The closeness of this year's competition means the Magic can still finish anywhere in the top six, and the team has been facing up to sudden-death netball ever since their shocking start to the season.

After four losses, the Magic went into the mindset of processes not outcome though, for Williams, it is something she has invariably tried to focus on.

"You always have a little slight thought of `Oh what if we win' but then you've got to go back to `What have I got to do to win'," she said.

And that must-win mentality is likely to put the Magic in good stead come the playoffs, should they make it.

"Yeah I think it does," Williams said. "For us, we've had a lot of challenges throughout this season, and I think just how we're reacting and sticking together as a team unit has been huge."

But she's aware not to get complacent or take things for granted, particularly as the Magic have always been a pace-setter but never netted a title.

"Even our position in our team, you never know who's going to take your spot if you're not performing, so that's also something else that we've learnt during the season."

The Magic have stuck with a well-oiled seven on court for nearly all of their eight-match winning streak, but Williams praised the bench warmers for their efforts to get the team firing.

"You don't get to see that during training, how hard they push us, how hard the competition is in training for those players that do sit on the bench. We need to acknowledge the input that they do put in during the season."

The training for the Magic this week has been about finding "the middle of quality versus quantity," Williams said, as they do not want to blow out and leave everything on the training court just as they hit the ultra-important matches.

After throwing an injury scare into the mix in last weekend's win over the Adelaide Thunderbirds, when shooter Carla Borrego landed on Williams' foot and caused the tendon on her toe to stretch, Williams has recovered fine and trained fully all week.

"It's nothing major but it just really hurt at the time," she said, adding that she has got used to managing her body week by week and that getting older is making her feel the knocks more.

The ankle that she had surgery on last year has been managed through the campaign and, while she still gets some grief from it, a good sleep does the trick.

Going into Monday's match, Williams is aware of the Firebirds' strength throughout the court, but knows goal shoot Romelda Aiken will be the one to shut down.

"We're lucky to have me and Leana who are quite tall, but not taller than Romelda," Williams said of the 1.96m tower.

Williams lies 10th on the competition's intercept count and getting more ball is her main individual focus.

"In all honesty, I don't care who gets the ball as long as one of my team-mates gets the ball. But, for me to help the team, I need to get more ball for the team."

As for the team, it is patience that Williams wants them to perfect.

"And the smarts of netball. If something's going to be 50-50 don't do it. Reset and go again and make another decision."

- © Fairfax NZ News