Time for Pulse to consolidate at pre-season shootout

March 15, 2016
Time for Pulse to consolidate at pre-season shootout

The new-look Central Pulse will get a decent gauge of their capabilities when lining up in the condensed action-packed ANZ Championship Pre-Season Shootout netball tournament in Sydney this weekend.

The Pulse will join Mainland Tactix, NSW Swifts, Melbourne Vixens and West Coast Fever in Sydney while Auckland will host the five other trans-Tasman league teams. In what is the last major hit-out before the season starts, all teams will play six games during the respective three-day tournaments.

Rebuilding this year after introducing seven new players, the most of any team in the league, and two new coaches, provides the Pulse with a valuable opportunity to fine tune, gain more playing exposure as a team and test their mettle against Australian opponents.

``It’s very important for us as it’s our last weekend before we take on Magic on April 4 (Round 1). So, we’re taking it pretty seriously in making sure we do all the right things,’’ Pulse captain Katrina Grant said.

``There’s quite a few games, so we should be able to rotate a bit, get everyone on court and really consolidate what we’ve been working on in the last few weeks.’’

With a lot of fitness work, on-court training miles and two pre-season games now under their belt, there will be a greater concentration from the Pulse on a starting seven, bench rotation and testing combinations for the different styles they will come up against during the season.

Lacking the familiarity of well-established teams, Grant has enthusiastically embraced the changes which have added an air of excited anticipation.

``Having seven new players hasn’t been a bad thing at all,’’ she said. ``You can start from scratch without having any preconceived ideas. Things that have happened in the past don’t come up now and it has made us work harder at getting to know each other.

``We’ve had a lot of team bonding time because we are so new and we now know each other pretty well off the court which hopefully will transfer onto the court.

``There’s a good vibe on the court which is helped by having new coaches (Tanya Dearns and Tania Hoffman), who have brought new ideas. It’s the kind of team where you can hang out with each other for long periods of time and not get sick of each other.’’

Grant is also enjoying the Pulse’s new style of a faster-paced more expansive mode of netball which involves the risk to reward element but believes that will pay off in spades the longer the team plays together.

New rules, including a three-point scoring zone and rolling interchange, will be trialled during the shortened games to be played on Sunday where all matches from both cities will be televised live.

``Our Saturday is pretty packed and intense which is not a bad thing,’’ Grant said. ``We will have to use the bench. It means we will use a variety of combinations and use everybody which I think is a good thing.’’

The Pulse will be involved in promotional activities on Friday before a testing two-day workout on Saturday and Sunday.

Pulse schedule:

Saturday:

9am (Aust time) vs Tactix (2 x 15min halves)
12pm vs Vixens (2 x 15min halves)
2pm vs Swifts (2 x 15min halves)
5pm vs Fever (4 x 15min quarters)
Sunday:
5.05pm vs Swifts (2 x 10min halves)
6.05pm vs Vixens (2 x 10 min halves)
6.45 Shootout Final (top two teams)

ENDS.

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