Depleted Pulse bolster stocks for challenging road trip   23 Jun 2016

Netball Central

June 23, 2016
Depleted Pulse bolster stocks for challenging road trip

Not for the first time this season, Central Pulse will once again be battling the odds for their ANZ Championship netball clash against West Coast Fever in Perth on Saturday.

With a quick turnaround from Monday night’s away game against the Mainland Tactix, the Pulse’s challenging road trip to Perth for the penultimate round of the regular season has become a daunting prospect.

The situation has not been helped by the loss of key midcourter Elias Scheres, who sustained a knee injury against the Tactix, and bench player Kate Wells, who has been carrying a foot injury, the pair being left at home for this match.

That has called for reinforcements in the shape of replacement players Katarina Cooper and Sophia Fenwick, both who have previous trans-Tasman league experience in recent years.

``Going from a Monday to Saturday game when you’re not travelling is tough enough let alone when you’ve got to travel to Perth as well,’’ Pulse captain Katrina Grant said. ``It’s going to be interesting as many of our team haven’t done this trip before but they’ll be fine and it’s all part of the learning curve for them.’’

The Pulse showed pleasing resilience in crafting a well-merited win against the Tactix after overcoming the loss of regular starter Ameliaranne Wells to illness and Scheres to injury during the game. Shooter Te Amo Amaru-Tibble stepped up to provide an influential role under the hoop with Maia Wilson while youngster Samon Nathan played an impressive hand in the midcourt.

``With all those interruptions, it made us realise we’re in this together and we’re going to do it for each other, so it was really pleasing to see that when the going gets tough the girls are ready to step up and rally together,’’ Grant said.

``The Fever are a tough team anywhere, let alone being at home so that’s definitely going to be a tough one for us.

``We’ve been preparing for this all season, we’ve known this Perth trip’s coming up and it was always probably going to be one of those trips that was going to be a must-win and that’s exactly what it is for us.

``It’s going to be hard, no question. We’ve just got to stand up and play the way we want to play, be happy with how we play and see what happens from that.’’

Both teams need the win to keep their Conference play-off hopes alive in what looms as a big ask for the Pulse against a talented Fever team back home after three weeks on the road and coming off a disappointing loss to the Melbourne Vixens.

``I don’t think we should go away from what we know,’’ Grant said. ``Sometimes when you come up against Aussie teams, you think you’ve got to play like them. I think we’ve just got to try and do what we do best and hopefully that will pay dividends for us.

``There’s no point in changing our game plan now, near the end of the season. I thought that Tactix game was one of the best games we’ve played as a team this season, so you don’t want to mess with that.’’

ENDS.

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