Pulse's racing yet again

Photo courtesy of Michael Bradley via ANZ Championship official Facebook page

Once again the Central Pulse nearly gave me a heart attack on Sunday night with another close game, defeating the West Coast Fever by one goal, 53-52.

With every remaining game of the competition vital to the Pulse’s finals chances they had to dig deep to get over the Fever, with the final centre pass of the game going to Fever it was the last ditch intercept by Te Huinga Selby-Rickit that clinched the victory. At this stage I could finally feel like my chest was relaxing ever so slightly.

It was tight right from the first whistle and the inclusion of Ash Brazill into the Fever’s starting line-up for the first time since her round 5 ankle injury was a good test for Liana Leota, however she once again put out a solid performance and could well be in line for a Silver Fern call up with a 60 minute performance consisting of 12 assist, 17 centre pass receives, 1 intercept, 1 deflection and no penalties or turnovers.

A concern for Norma Plummer would most likely be the number of penalties her team collected, in particular her mid court pairing of Shae Bolton and Ash Brazill who both finished with 15 and 16 penalties respectively. Regardless of who the umpires were you would expect your players to adjust to the calls and both were advanced several times due to the indiscretions.

Donna Wilkins continues to turn back the clock with a 100% shooting performance and really steading the Pulse attack end. The combination with Leota continues to impress and some of her long bombs were simply stunning. Donna’s 2013 season so far would have her my top ranked NZ GA in the competition with an all round game that includes her flawless shooting, attacking feeds and her through court defence. Good on ya Donna.

Was great to hear Pulse captain Katrina Grant mention the Wellington crowd in her post match interview "this crowd was once again outstanding, we havent lost all season at TSB so its quite cool to keep that tradition going".

Each weekend I cant wait for the netball to begin and especially the Pulse. It would certainly be fantastic for them to finally crack the elusive finals position.