Mojo Pulse a Home Away From Home for Brown   12 Mar 2015

The significance of the new conference format introduced this year looms large for the Mojo Pulse in their third-round ANZ Championship netball clash against the Mainland Tactix in Christchurch on Monday.

Opening their 2015 campaign with back-to-back losses against Australian opponents (Melbourne Vixens and Queensland Firebirds), the Pulse are mindful of needing to register wins against fellow New Zealand teams to stay in the hunt come play-offs time. This year’s finals format will be determined by the top three teams on each side of the Tasman in a new twist to the trans-Tasman competition.

“While wins against the Australian teams are important and helpful, we know we have to beat the Kiwi teams to top the conference system,” Pulse shooter Jodi Brown said.

“Wins against the Kiwi teams are going to be so important in this competition. That helps keep you up towards the top of the New Zealand conference table – which we’re currently down the bottom of – and it would just be a really nice platform to start that momentum this weekend.

“It’s time now to put our foot down and start getting some positive results in the win column.”

In the twilight of her career, Brown, 33, has done just about the full circuit of New Zealand teams after stints with the Southern Steel, Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic and Tactix since 2008. Signing for the Wellington-based Pulse this year, the wily campaigner feels like she’s come home.

Plucked out of Whanganui as a teenager in 1998 by legendary coach Lois Muir, Brown completed her schooling in Wellington while forging her national and international careers out of New Zealand’s capital.

“I’ve done a full circle and it’s like coming back home,’’ said the mother of two, who commutes to Pulse duties from Dunedin. “It’s been a change of scenery….new faces, new voices and I’m really enjoying it.”

It has also meant reuniting with her old team-mate, friend and world’s most capped netballer Irene van Dyk, who she stays with when in Wellington.

“When Irene first came to New Zealand we struck up a friendship which has lasted ever since, so it’s great to come back and pick up something we started a long time ago,” Brown said.

“I had such a good time playing with her previously. We understand each other and have a telepathic sense between each other which also makes the playing side of things a little bit easier.

“Playing the full game together against the Firebirds and being able to re-establish those links in a pressure situation was good for us to help set a good platform for the rest of the competition.

“We’re a little bit more upbeat now and heading into New Zealand match-ups is going to be good.”

The Tactix delivered the upset of the season when knocking off the Pulse last year and Brown is wary of this year’s edition which has the potential to repeat the dose.

“I think they’re really good,” she said of the southerners. “You don’t really know what to expect and when it clicks for them it really clicks. If they can feed (shooter Mwai) Kumwenda, then they’re unstoppable.

“The key to winning against them is shutting down their attackers because once they get their confidence, and once they get their flow, there’s no stopping them.”

The Mojo Pulse play their first New Zealand conference game this Monday, 16 March against the Mainland Tactix. The game takes place at Christchurch’s Horncastle Arena. Centre pass is 7.40pm. Watch the game live on Sky Sports 1.

The next home game is on Monday, 30 March where the Pulse face the WBOP Magic at TSB Bank Arena in Wellington. Centre pass is 7.40pm. Tickets for this game can be purchased from Ticketek.

Follow @PulseNetball on twitter and Instagram for regular score updates and ‘like’facebook/NetballPulse to keep up to date with all things Mojo Pulse.

Add a comment