Kia Ora fellow Pulse fans, Alanah (Larnz) here with a quick insight of our lead up to Round 11 against West Coast Fever in sunny Perth.
It all began after our successful win against Canterbury Tactix on home turf. We knew every training this week, was crucial for the Haier Pulse if we wanted to continue feeling confident heading into this week’s round. At the start of the week our team was hit with a knee injury scare from young rookie Te Amo Amaru-Tibble. She was unable to attend Perth with us, but was given the thumbs up from kind support of her fellow team to join us in Brisbane next week. Mean while on a positive note we welcomed back Rachel Rassmussen into our mix, (who replaced Katrina Grant throughout her injury period). She adds a wealth of knowledge and experience into our side which we are grateful to have.
Trainings this week was a focus of team defensive pressure and through court plays to ensure we create more pressure for our opposition and less on us. Saturday afternoon was the beginning of our journey to Perth (7hours 40mins) ensuring we use this recovery time well. (with the help of skins, famous “Scully’s Cream”, sleep and hydration etc.)
Arriving into Perth at 6pm (10pm NZ time) we settled into our rooms preparing for the next 2 important days. Sunday consisted of a training to recap on what we had worked on throughout the week and cement these into combinations. The rest of the afternoon was free time which we used either shopping or at the local AFL game.
GAME DAY: began with a walk through in the morning and a team outing to lunch before we headed into the business end of the day with a 5pm start. First quarter started with some interesting umpire calls and loss of possession which hit us with a 9-16 score. Second quarter wasn’t the ideal start we were looking for with inconsistency of set plays which disrupted our flow. Jamilah Gupwell was injected near the end of the quarter at GS, adding some fresh legs into the game. End of first half score of 29-23 to Fever.
Coach Yvette McCausland-Durie asked for more defensive pressure and commitment to the ball on attack, so we entered the second half with more intensity and urgency. Second half proved we were still in contention only down by 6. Changes were made throughout this half to settle combinations but still fulfilling the same set tasks. Ending the third quarter 46-34. Last quarter was the quarter we wanted to consolidate our structures and possession of ball, so we finished well. We got some great ball and passages of play but also showed loss of confidence at times which then reflected our lack of ball placement. We did some awesome stuff on court but end result showed that Fever were better, therefore won the game 63-45.
From this game we learnt that we need to keep possession of our own ball and consolidate our set structures and prepare for our next task in Brisbane next weekend.
Hope to see some of you there!
Larnz