Tactix v Pulse - pre season match review

On Saturday I was lucky enough to be able to hop along to watch the Canterbury Tactix v the Central Pulse in one of the final pre season hit outs before this ANZ Championship starts next Sunday.

Since the ANZ inception in 2008 it has certainly been a bit difficult to be a Tactix fan and after hearing of the team lists last year I was rather intrigued to see how the subtle changes would make for this season.

I must also point out that I have certainly always enjoyed supporting the Pulse, especially after their impressive efforts last year, they were just one of the feel good stories and it was great to see their progression during the previous season.

The lineup's for the start of the game were as follows

Pulse

GS - Thwaites

GA - Wilkins

WA - Leota

C - Lees

WD - Wiffen

GD - Selby-Rickett

GK - Grant

Tactix

GS - Harten

GA - Thompson

WA - Grant

C Clarke

WD - Manu

GD - Tripp

GK - Walker

The attacking end for the Pulse during the entire game was a joy to watch. The added inclusion of Liana Leota into their attack has given such an enormous boost of speed and experience. Leota is quite literally the energiser bunny that won't stop. The combination she clearly has established with Lees is paying dividends and will be one to look for during the competition.

We must also remember that prior to Liana taking a year out of competitive netball she previously had played with the Southern Steel from 2008-2009 so has also got a pre established combination with linchpin Donna Wilkins. This was clearly evident on Saturday with the circle movement and some well place feeding a real strength in their game.

The Tactix had plenty of possession but their shooting percentage will still be a worry with the season looming later this week against the Magic. When Jo Harten and Anna Thompson are both on their is potential to foot it with the big guns, with it being a disappointment they couldn't finish off their attacking moves.

The young defensive duo of Zoe Walker and Jo Tripp were playing a physical brand of netball to foot with the experience of Thwaites and Wilkins and even pulled off a couple of nice intercepts however they couldn't be finished and the Tactix went into Q break with a 14-9 deficit to make up.

It was clear from the changes throughout the game that Tactix coach Leigh Gibbs had pre determined to give her entire bench a run against the Pulse. The first quarter lineup was probably their strongest overall with English import Jade Clarke making a massive difference in the mid court in place of retired captain Maree Bowden.

By halftime the Pulse had the game well and truly in control and had pushed their lead to 8 with Wilkins and Thwaites shooting well into the high 80%

It would have been a learning curve for a lot of the young Tactix players with a lot of potential, just need to iron out some of the silly errors that cost them a respectable score. Disappointingly a lot of their defensive turnovers were not utilised and simply thrown away.

Robyn Broughton maintained her lineup for the majority of the game, only brought on Paula Griffin with the last 10 minutes to play replacing Thwaites at GS.

The final score was 64-41 to the Pulse who have indicated that this could be the year they creep into the finals, continuing last seasons best finish in the clubs history of 7th place.

5 days and counting. Soon my days will be completely filled with sports!