Speaker 1: Inside, therefore getting you closer to the game you love.
Speaker 1: With Adean Wilson, Anna Stanley and Jenny Woods sowed by
Speaker 1: News Talk.
Speaker 2: Zeb talk about Blink and You'll miss it. We are
Speaker 2: approaching the final round of this year's A and Z Premiership.
Speaker 2: The magazine stars Anna and Adean thereof chasing down every
Speaker 2: last copy. I think Anna was last seen in Balley
Speaker 2: a dean scene chasing around the streets of Wellington. But
Speaker 2: I am here along with super sub again evonn Willering,
Speaker 2: and we're going to pick apart what has been a
Speaker 2: very interesting well penultiple round of the A and Z Premiership.
Speaker 2: Really and I think we should not. Oh and I'll
Speaker 2: tell what. Will also be talking to Mystic's assistant coach,
Speaker 2: Rob Wright to see how the season is going for him.
Speaker 2: We'll talk a little bit of National League Grand Final,
Speaker 2: and we might just pay a small tribute to a
Speaker 2: fabulous English player who has announced her retirement. So without
Speaker 2: further ado, let's get going.
Speaker 3: Inside Bedball on iHeart.
Speaker 2: Radio, season number five for Rob Wright as assistant coach
Speaker 2: with the Mystics. You must love it, otherwise you wouldn't
Speaker 2: keep coming back. How do you find it? Yeah?
Speaker 4: I do. I do love it and I can't believe
Speaker 4: it's this is the fair season i've been here. But yeah,
Speaker 4: it's a great environment, it's a great place to coach.
Speaker 4: I've just really it was like the best decision I've
Speaker 4: ever made. So yeah, real thrilled to be here and
Speaker 4: hoping to be here more.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Now, Rather, it's been interesting.
Speaker 1: I mean we've obviously is in the past, all good ones,
Speaker 1: all good ones, but I find it interesting what you
Speaker 1: bring to the Mystics. I initially thought you were going
Speaker 1: to be their defensive coach, but I believe you're doing
Speaker 1: both ends now, Is that correct for a start off?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I am doing. I am doing both ends. Like
Speaker 4: we we coach both ends during training and we coach
Speaker 4: both ends across the season, just so just so it
Speaker 4: doesn't get too stale, like I think, even though we're
Speaker 4: coaching slightly differently but with the same theme. So I
Speaker 4: just think it keeps everyone fresh and.
Speaker 3: That's what you want absolutely.
Speaker 1: And the other thing adding to that, like, initially coming
Speaker 1: from Australia, it was basically one on one defense, but
Speaker 1: I have noticed that, you know, it is a little
Speaker 1: bit more about I wouldn't say total space marking, but
Speaker 1: certainly looking for a ball and flight. And I hear
Speaker 1: you often saying ball and flight, And it was interesting
Speaker 1: in the last game played right at the end to
Speaker 1: your saying get off the body. You know, we want
Speaker 1: no penalties right now, and I do believe we are
Speaker 1: getting too many penalties in the game. How do you
Speaker 1: see the defensive structures without obviously going to secrets.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't have any secrets, but you know I
Speaker 4: have spent a lot of time into you and work
Speaker 4: and spending time with you learning, and to me, we
Speaker 4: do player as you notice, a hybrid type of defense,
Speaker 4: because I think there's room for how the one on
Speaker 4: one and some of that more space marking type styles
Speaker 4: to actually combine, and there's room and room for both
Speaker 4: of them. But I do agree I think that there's two.
Speaker 4: There is too many penalties. We really look at penalties
Speaker 4: every week as a real to see how we're going.
Speaker 4: And we feel like, in particular the last couple of
Speaker 4: weeks we've been way too high. So we want to
Speaker 4: get off the body. We want it to be clean.
Speaker 4: We want clean lines because one when I reckon your
Speaker 4: stuff on a body like and I'm talking to the
Speaker 4: converted here, like you just can't contest stuff. You can't
Speaker 4: run through stuff, you can't you can't get up in
Speaker 4: the air, you can't, you can't hedge as well, et cetera,
Speaker 4: et cetera. So to me, it's that we want we
Speaker 4: need to tidy keep tiding up the game.
Speaker 2: In my opinion, are you saying that you you think
Speaker 2: the game is getting rougher?
Speaker 4: Yeah? I do. Yeah, I think the uh and ann.
Speaker 4: Don't get me wrong. I love a tough contest like
Speaker 4: and and that doesn't mean that there's not going to
Speaker 4: be some real big challenges a lot that we need
Speaker 4: that in the game. But there's some niggle and stuff
Speaker 4: that and some just some stuff that I don't think
Speaker 4: accentuates or really highlights how good our game is. They're
Speaker 4: really good athletes, they're they're quick there, they can get
Speaker 4: in the air, they're good across the ground, and to me,
Speaker 4: we want to showcase that. And to may, I think
Speaker 4: where the umpires are having to get too involved.
Speaker 2: And so how would you start cleaning the game up?
Speaker 4: To me, I think it just comes back to, well,
Speaker 4: on one, the coaches, it's a priority for the coaches
Speaker 4: have to go radio. How do we how do we
Speaker 4: minimize our penalties? Like, because in reality, teams with higher
Speaker 4: penalties lose more than they win. There's always going to
Speaker 4: be exceptions to the rule. But to me, like you
Speaker 4: just go from our success point of view. Do you
Speaker 4: know if we lower our penalties, we're gonna we keep
Speaker 4: ourselves in play, we can build pressure, we can we
Speaker 4: can look for stuff, and you're no good to anyone
Speaker 4: if you're standing out of play. So I think it's
Speaker 4: sort of a no brainer. But you know, everyone's different
Speaker 4: because every coach is going to play a different style,
Speaker 4: and some coaches might want to play real tight on
Speaker 4: the body and the look. That's their prerogative, et cetera,
Speaker 4: et cetera. Even though I do like my one on one,
Speaker 4: even though we play a hybrid, our one on one
Speaker 4: is not on the body. It's meant to be off
Speaker 4: the body because we want to stay in play and
Speaker 4: be able to contest and run stuff and not not
Speaker 4: bring the umpire into it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's interesting, Like I guess, well, you also
Speaker 1: know it's close to Silver Fern squad selection as well,
Speaker 1: and I know that you know the players must have
Speaker 1: that in their minds as well, and one thing I
Speaker 1: found interesting last week's game against the steel Haul for
Speaker 1: your goalkeeper versus stythe their goalkeeper. And obviously you know,
Speaker 1: both these players really well. And when we did sort
Speaker 1: of stats, not that I'm into stats, but having said that,
Speaker 1: like Hall was penalized seventeen times and Stith was, oh no,
Speaker 1: Stith twenty one times. And yeah, and I and I say,
Speaker 1: both these players are better than that. They are better
Speaker 1: than standing beside their opposition, you know. And I look
Speaker 1: at that and I go, yeah, we just it just
Speaker 1: needs to be tweaked and tidy up. And that's why
Speaker 1: I respect it to you for coming out and saying
Speaker 1: get off the body, and you say it all the time.
Speaker 3: I hear it all the time.
Speaker 4: And I'm with you one hundred percent on that. Like
Speaker 4: we think from a penalty count, that's way too high
Speaker 4: in my opinion from a keeper, because you're right, like
Speaker 4: if you end up just standing out like when when
Speaker 4: she's a big menace, and both of them are menaces,
Speaker 4: like they don't want to be standing out, like you're
Speaker 4: you're giving away some too much free ball or free shots,
Speaker 4: and that's what we want to try and limit.
Speaker 2: Is there a team that you that your team considers
Speaker 2: a dirty team rougher than the others.
Speaker 4: Oh no, no, I don't. I just think there's probably
Speaker 4: just the nature there's some teams because of the nature
Speaker 4: of how they defend, they're obviously going to be much
Speaker 4: more low penalty count than some others. But in reality,
Speaker 4: I just think across all teams, including ours, sometimes we
Speaker 4: just got to go, We've just got to tidy that up.
Speaker 4: We've got to be a little bit more disciplined. Sometimes
Speaker 4: it's just a discipline thing. We've got to go. You know,
Speaker 4: you don't need to go for that. You pull pull
Speaker 4: out of that one because you're just gonna you're not
Speaker 4: gonna win it. You're gonna you're gonna get ourselves out
Speaker 4: of play, and then the pressure comes off. So to me,
Speaker 4: it's just about going from a coaching point of view,
Speaker 4: how do we tidy up, how do we keep building
Speaker 4: that discipline, stay and play and win the ball clean.
Speaker 2: Now we see you on the sideline of the Jamaican team,
Speaker 2: and we've seen that for the last couple of you know,
Speaker 2: big tournaments. Are you still doing work with them?
Speaker 4: Well, that's a good question. It's sort of been. It's
Speaker 4: a year by year thing. So at the moment, I
Speaker 4: haven't had any contact with Jamaica this season around what's
Speaker 4: what moving forward will look like? So who knows it
Speaker 4: currently at the moment, I don't. I don't know.
Speaker 2: May be a country, wouldn't they that you know this
Speaker 2: thing where the World Cup is going to every two years,
Speaker 2: Well they have the money for that. I mean they
Speaker 2: you know, they let us down badly a few years back,
Speaker 2: not not being able to get organized. What was your
Speaker 2: take on that?
Speaker 4: I was. I was furious because I thought nep On
Speaker 4: New Zealand were, let's be honest, we're funding a lot
Speaker 4: of that, and I felt like we did the wrong thing.
Speaker 4: We I think they're expecting obviously that our very best
Speaker 4: team that wasn't was never gonna happen, but I don't
Speaker 4: think we were maybe upfront and up around what was that?
Speaker 4: And so I think we let down ourselves because then
Speaker 4: I feel like Netborne New Zealand's going to be very
Speaker 4: gunshy to get us back because of that, and they
Speaker 4: probably lost a lot of money over that. And I
Speaker 4: think they're very diplomatic around how they spoke after that,
Speaker 4: but I think it was an absolute shambles from our
Speaker 4: point of view from Jamaica's porn of view.
Speaker 1: Just with regards to the World Champs and Genny alluded
Speaker 1: to it going every two years.
Speaker 3: How do you feel about that?
Speaker 4: Because I think it's a good idea, because my gut
Speaker 4: feel is I'm wondering whether World Netbune is thinking does
Speaker 4: that mean that comm Games, the Comwealth Games is under
Speaker 4: threat and maybe it's not going to exist anymore, and
Speaker 4: so we're looking to make sure that there's something in
Speaker 4: that other to that other period. So and if it
Speaker 4: goes to every two years and say COMM Games vanishes,
Speaker 4: it will probably be a better sequencing of the four
Speaker 4: year cycle because clearly at the moment we've got Conwealth
Speaker 4: Games one year and then World Champs the very next year.
Speaker 4: But I also worry about it. Do World Netball not
Speaker 4: think we're going to get in the Olympics, and so
Speaker 4: they're trying to also put in a thing to go, oh, well,
Speaker 4: we're not. We haven't got any Olympics, but we're going
Speaker 4: to go to Worlds every two years. So I don't know.
Speaker 4: I think it's a good idea because I don't think
Speaker 4: there's enough competition in terms of teams being able to
Speaker 4: get exposed enough. I think if you can only get
Speaker 4: exposed once every four years, I think we're seeing the
Speaker 4: top say eight teams getting further and further away from
Speaker 4: maybe the rest of the team. So I'm not quite
Speaker 4: sure what the answer to that is, but at the moment,
Speaker 4: I think it's a good idea. Money is going to
Speaker 4: clearly been should open. Yeah, a number of countries.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's where I look at it, and I'm going,
Speaker 1: is it just going to be an elitist competition and
Speaker 1: where teams that can afford to participate will participate?
Speaker 3: Because already there.
Speaker 1: Are some countries and Tonga is an example of that
Speaker 1: where they're saying, you know, we're having trouble getting a
Speaker 1: team together every four years, how are we.
Speaker 3: Going to do it every two years? Yeah?
Speaker 4: And that's a really good it's a really good point,
Speaker 4: and that we wouldn't want that to occur because otherwise
Speaker 4: and I think it defeats the purpose ye completely. But
Speaker 4: do you alwish I knew an answer to that?
Speaker 2: Do you think that we should be in the Olympics?
Speaker 4: I do. I think I think we really need to
Speaker 4: keep exposing our game to a wider and wider audience.
Speaker 4: And I think it that might just be a nice
Speaker 4: leverage to audiences that currently don't see it. And my
Speaker 4: my thing, my gut feel though, is if it is
Speaker 4: in the Olympics, I am imagine it might be more
Speaker 4: the fast five game because of numbers, they might want
Speaker 4: to keep it down, but I'd prefer it to be
Speaker 4: the seven A side game. I even though fast, you know,
Speaker 4: fast fives, fast five, but I do love the seven
Speaker 4: a side game, and I think that would showcase our
Speaker 4: athletes in the very best light. And the thing about it,
Speaker 4: it's such a such a great game. My only thing
Speaker 4: about netball sometimes I don't think television does it justice.
Speaker 4: I always think that the speed of the athleticism sometimes
Speaker 4: doesn't come through on the television. When you're there live,
Speaker 4: all of a sudden, you go, wow, I look at
Speaker 4: these it's flying about it. It's amazing.
Speaker 2: I don't know how often I've been when I've been
Speaker 2: commentating that various things around the world, and people were
Speaker 2: working on it say I had no idea it was
Speaker 2: so fast, And I think that's the wake up call.
Speaker 2: You know. I agree with you. But one thing I
Speaker 2: do want to ask you is would you like to
Speaker 2: see more men coaching. I mean, I think you're the
Speaker 2: only bloke coaching on this in the elite you know area.
Speaker 2: Would you like to see more men in the game.
Speaker 4: I've always been I've always been gun shy around the
Speaker 4: men versus women thing, only because I always think you you,
Speaker 4: if you're good enough, you should get opportunity. But we
Speaker 4: shouldn't just just because I'm a blow it doesn't mean
Speaker 4: I should get a gig. I think I have to
Speaker 4: prove that I'm good enough and show that I'm good
Speaker 4: enough because and if you and if you do that, well,
Speaker 4: I don't care if you're a man woman, whatever the opportunity,
Speaker 4: if it arises, you should have So Yep, I think
Speaker 4: you should earn. I think everything should be earned.
Speaker 3: Oh, I am so with you on that one.
Speaker 2: Now you were head coach, I think a few years
Speaker 2: ago at the Magpies. Would you ever go back to
Speaker 2: being a head coach or those days done?
Speaker 4: Oh no, I just if the if the right opportunity came. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 4: But currently at the moment, like the organization, I'm in
Speaker 4: the environment, I'm in the players i'm working with, and
Speaker 4: it allows me currently to do the international stuff because
Speaker 4: I really did want to get into international netball, and
Speaker 4: I felt because I do spend well so far, I've
Speaker 4: often been spending say three or four months in Jamaica
Speaker 4: a year, and I felt like, if you're a head coach,
Speaker 4: I wouldn't be able to do that justice and do
Speaker 4: both roles. So that's why I hadn't put my hand
Speaker 4: up for any of the head coach role. Because I did.
Speaker 4: I want to maintain that. Whether that continues, we'll see.
Speaker 2: Well now I've got to get back on track. Big game. No,
Speaker 2: but well no, because I steered you off track. Big
Speaker 2: game this Sunday against the Tactics. You're after the three peete.
Speaker 2: Can you do it? Can you get the home final? Oh?
Speaker 4: Look, if we play really well, yes we can. But
Speaker 4: I'm sure Tactics would say exactly the same thing. And
Speaker 4: from our point of view, we we haven't been as
Speaker 4: consistent as we're like often we you know, we'd get
Speaker 4: out to a lead and then we'll let teams back
Speaker 4: in rather than going right, we've got a nice lead
Speaker 4: and put your foot down and keep extending it, so
Speaker 4: we keep letting people back in. So that inconsistency is
Speaker 4: the bit that we need to tidy up because if
Speaker 4: we're inconsistent against tactics, they'll beat us inconsistent.
Speaker 2: That's what you know to me, that this whole year's
Speaker 2: competition has been inconsistent. The scores have been up and
Speaker 2: down and all over the place. What would be your
Speaker 2: take on that?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree with that, and I'm wondering whether certainly
Speaker 4: it was a compressed season. Certainly pre season has been
Speaker 4: shorter than normal, but it also appears to have been
Speaker 4: a significant rise in injuries, and I think that's affected
Speaker 4: teams being able to get all their players either training
Speaker 4: or playing together, and that time together clearly is going
Speaker 4: to help around that consistency piece. That's a bit that
Speaker 4: I'm really interested what what's causing that, because I feel
Speaker 4: like across this season there's been a number of times
Speaker 4: a number of teams have been out, had a number
Speaker 4: of their main line out, And I was thinking, well,
Speaker 4: that's interesting, what's what's what's that? What's that about?
Speaker 2: Well, look at the Pulse, look at the Stars. You
Speaker 2: know they've had a terrible season. Yes, well not the Pulse,
Speaker 2: but certainly you.
Speaker 3: Know you've got to.
Speaker 2: You know, Timmy Potter Bailey and her first season as
Speaker 2: a head coach, nightmare.
Speaker 4: Oh so unlucky, like they've just had these injuries that
Speaker 4: and sometimes you just you need a bit of luck.
Speaker 4: I always think you need a bit of luck during
Speaker 4: the season and sometimes those injuries can just they can
Speaker 4: affect your big time.
Speaker 2: At the end of all our little interviews, we do
Speaker 2: a thing called the fast Fire.
Speaker 3: Inside Netball's Fast five.
Speaker 2: What would be your go to postgame snack?
Speaker 4: A coke? Well, certainly would be a certainly'd be a
Speaker 4: coke on the time. I know it's a drink, but
Speaker 4: that would still be my snack.
Speaker 2: Now, if you could compete in any other sport other
Speaker 2: than netball, what would it be?
Speaker 4: And why I was rubbish and everything? But what I
Speaker 4: would love to have been. I would love to have
Speaker 4: been like an international cricket umpire. Oh I would love
Speaker 4: to have done that. But you know, I went down
Speaker 4: a different path like netball took me, which was fantastic.
Speaker 4: So but that's what I'll do. I'd be hopeless of
Speaker 4: it if I was playing anything.
Speaker 2: If now number three, who in your team is most
Speaker 2: likely to get you into trouble and then most likely
Speaker 2: to get you out of trouble?
Speaker 3: Oh besides yourself?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I get myself in trouble. What it almost might
Speaker 4: be the same person. Oh no, no, I'm going to
Speaker 4: separate it. So Katie Tiao would be the most likely
Speaker 4: to get me into trouble. She's real cheeky, like she's
Speaker 4: every session or every training session, she hides my bag
Speaker 4: and can never find it. She's hiding stuff. And the
Speaker 4: person will probably get me out of trouble is Petter.
Speaker 4: She's real clever, so she'll find a way for me
Speaker 4: to get out of trouble. So she's always on speed dial.
Speaker 2: Okay, one, two to go. If you could take any
Speaker 2: three athletes in the world, current or present, dead or
Speaker 2: alive with you to dinner, who would you invite?
Speaker 4: Oh? I would go. Lebron James is just I think
Speaker 4: from his longevity in the sport, like obviously just you know, amazing,
Speaker 4: certainly up there with Michael Jordan as one of the
Speaker 4: very best players in the world, and what he's done
Speaker 4: off court as well, his work away from basketball is real,
Speaker 4: real cool. So I would go with that. It's not
Speaker 4: necessarily an athlete, but I start from Game of Thrones.
Speaker 4: She's the one that killed the king.
Speaker 2: I've never watched game.
Speaker 4: Tell me, yeah, she's yeah, she's cool.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you've got one more.
Speaker 4: Well, I have to go with your co host.
Speaker 3: Don't go there.
Speaker 4: I have to like one like the world's best sense
Speaker 4: of humor, like obviously knows the game inside out, but
Speaker 4: it's like you can have a conversation and you learn
Speaker 4: so much, but you'll also have laughed just self silly
Speaker 4: in it, So it would be just an amazing experience.
Speaker 4: So there's my three.
Speaker 1: You're on my Christmas card list.
Speaker 2: Okay, last one, best piece of advice anyone has ever
Speaker 2: given you.
Speaker 4: This one's an easy one, So I was the best
Speaker 4: piece of advice I was given is to be myself,
Speaker 4: so not try and and that was from a coaching
Speaker 4: point of view, because when I first started coaching, you
Speaker 4: see what other people are doing and you try and
Speaker 4: mimic them, or you think this is what you should
Speaker 4: do rather than you know, be authentic, like if you'll quiet,
Speaker 4: be quiet, if you're a bit crazy, be crazy, etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 4: And so I passed it on to everyone. I think
Speaker 4: it's the best thing you can do because one I
Speaker 4: always think players see through or fraud or if you're
Speaker 4: if you're trying to fake it they'll see through it.
Speaker 4: You might do it, you might get away with it once,
Speaker 4: but it's hard work trying to not belf So that's
Speaker 4: the best piece of ice. And I got that, you know,
Speaker 4: more than twenty five years ago. But it's stuck with
Speaker 4: me forever and.
Speaker 2: It's true to it as well, and it's lasted the
Speaker 2: test of time. Well, Rob, thank you so much for
Speaker 2: your time. Best of luck on Sunday. And look, I'm
Speaker 2: sure it'll be a great game.
Speaker 4: I think it'll be a cracker talking all things netball,
Speaker 4: Inside Netball, the Inside Netball Podcast.
Speaker 2: Now round nine pretty much the finalists are set, you've
Speaker 2: got the mystics are there, the tactics are there, but
Speaker 2: it's still a bit of a question mark as to
Speaker 2: who is there with them. First game of the round
Speaker 2: was the Pulse Stars. Now the Pulse are very much
Speaker 2: in it, aren't they.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And this was one round that we probably could
Speaker 1: have predicted who was going to win the game, and
Speaker 1: that's that's how it worked out. And yeah, but it's
Speaker 1: everything is still about the last round because it's not
Speaker 1: top position. That's still up for grabs, and that's tactics, mystics.
Speaker 1: That'll be an interesting one, and certainly the Pulse absolutely
Speaker 1: in it, and in their next game they will have
Speaker 1: to win it. And if they don't, still is going
Speaker 1: to be smiling because then they're in with a chance.
Speaker 3: But yeah, the Pulse.
Speaker 1: Stars game the Stars. You know, I know it's been
Speaker 1: a difficult season for them. They were only two points
Speaker 1: behind at halftime, and they are only six points behind
Speaker 1: it three quarter time, so they were still in it.
Speaker 1: And then what happened. Pulse finally came to the equation
Speaker 1: must have woken up. They won the last quarter twenty
Speaker 1: two to seven. And you know, I looked at it
Speaker 1: at the stats in that game as well. I mean,
Speaker 1: Pulse won that sixty five forty four. The Scars were
Speaker 1: penalized seventy times. And the reason I bring that up
Speaker 1: is because Rob Bright spoke about that as well, and
Speaker 1: that is far too many penalties against them. And once
Speaker 1: again Warmsley very very dominant forty six out of forty nine.
Speaker 1: But the Pulse didn't have what i'd call the consistency.
Speaker 3: And boy have we been talking about that all the time.
Speaker 1: They didn't have that, and I looked at them, going
Speaker 1: is this is a championship team, and at the moment.
Speaker 3: No they're not, but they're noms.
Speaker 2: No, well, let's rite Yvonne. But then they're missing some
Speaker 2: of these starters, like what they sooner out with I
Speaker 2: think a concussion for Amu Yuani missed another game with illness,
Speaker 2: Tiana Maturo illness, So you know, what can you expect?
Speaker 2: But I thought it was a rough game, and I
Speaker 2: also thought that in that was it halfway through the
Speaker 2: second quarter when there was an ugly bit of play
Speaker 2: in the Pulse defensive circle, flurry of arms and legs
Speaker 2: and what have you. In Paris, Mason just went to
Speaker 2: the you know, went to the bottom of the court
Speaker 2: and sort of got sat on. I mean, last I heard,
Speaker 2: she's fine, she's still having a few tests. But is
Speaker 2: the game getting too rough?
Speaker 1: Yeah? And I know the incident and yeah, you're right,
Speaker 1: Pulse that was totally shuffle on their part and they
Speaker 1: still came through absolutely, and don't take that away from them.
Speaker 1: But yeah, but there are times, and you know, Rob
Speaker 1: alluded to it, sometimes it's also the player's responsibilities, but
Speaker 1: somewhere along the line it is also the umpire's responsibility. Yes,
Speaker 1: they penalize and I spoke about it. The Stars seventy
Speaker 1: penalties that could have been lowered if the umpire had said,
Speaker 1: for instance, okay, that's enough, let's just tidy up the game.
Speaker 1: And I think that action by an umpire makes a
Speaker 1: big difference. It's a bit like a player being sent
Speaker 1: off for a couple of minutes. When they come back on,
Speaker 1: they're a slightly different person. And that's why sometimes I'm going,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's not a particular individual, it's the
Speaker 1: game is getting rough, then you know, stamp on. It's
Speaker 1: you know, don't just make the calls and keep making
Speaker 1: the calls and the same calls. I actually would say, look,
Speaker 1: stop baying. This is the way it's got to be.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you say that, and I agree with you, But
Speaker 2: you know, you look across the Tasman to the SSN
Speaker 2: and man, I mean, I don't think they've had a
Speaker 2: player sent off. I don't think they've had a suspension
Speaker 2: or anything. It is full of yeah and well, I know,
Speaker 2: I think a few people sort of make a comment, but.
Speaker 1: I was going to say they do though they they've
Speaker 1: been commenting on the fact that the game is getting
Speaker 1: very physical. Appreciate defensively, it's a slightly different style it's
Speaker 1: very much and one on one defense, unlike like we
Speaker 1: have a bit more what I call space marking or
Speaker 1: off for body marking. But yeah, I just find that
Speaker 1: there is stuff going that stuff's going down here, that
Speaker 1: it's the same stuff, and players aren't making the changes accordingly.
Speaker 1: And I'm going you've been penalized for that two or
Speaker 1: three times change a whole approach to the game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Now, next game was the game of the round.
Speaker 2: I think Mystic Steel so much writing on it. The mystics, Yes,
Speaker 2: they are in the finals already, but they were you know,
Speaker 2: if you've talked about fighting for a home final, but
Speaker 2: the steal, you know, I felt it was all therefore
Speaker 2: on the I think at the beginning of that final
Speaker 2: quarter they could see it. But fil Devoui and those
Speaker 2: super shots, she did them absolutely.
Speaker 1: And it's really interesting because the Steel coach, when you
Speaker 1: threw like she say, we've got this, we can do this,
Speaker 1: and the belief in the team is unbelievable. And I
Speaker 1: believe with about two minutes to go or maybe three,
Speaker 1: still had the game for the taking. They missed a
Speaker 1: two pointer at that stage and so the ball went
Speaker 1: down the other end and just like you said, Vuiye
Speaker 1: nailed two two pointers and that is how the game
Speaker 1: ended up, and that enabled Mystics to come out on top.
Speaker 3: So yeah, really interesting.
Speaker 1: And I enjoyed the game, and again probably more sobecause
Speaker 1: I like to see that defensive matchup between Hall and Steith,
Speaker 1: and I think both of them are in contention. In fact,
Speaker 1: I expect to see their names in the SilverFin squad,
Speaker 1: not the team in the squad, so that's always going
Speaker 1: to be interesting. The thing that I did question in
Speaker 1: that game, Georgia Heffman went off at some stage. Now
Speaker 1: I don't know if she was injured, sick, or whatever happened.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: I can tell you because i'd gotten and coaching decision.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah see, and I found that interesting. And yes,
Speaker 3: Grace Numana came on.
Speaker 1: Yes she's played for them in the past, but not
Speaker 1: this season, appreciating that to me also was unavailable. And yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I still was surprised that that Georgia Hefferlin wasn't shooting bad.
Speaker 1: And that's why I'm going, Oh, I don't know if
Speaker 1: this is an injury or whatever, but to bring someone
Speaker 1: that hasn't been in the team, she might have been
Speaker 1: a training partner probably has, but and I've indicated that before.
Speaker 1: You know, training is totally different than actually on court action.
Speaker 1: With that, and in that game, yep, the super Shop
Speaker 1: made the difference.
Speaker 3: And Vouy nailed three out of four.
Speaker 2: Incredible, isn't it. She fascinates me, Phil Devouis. She's just so,
Speaker 2: she carries herself very evenly and there's no hysterics, no nothing.
Speaker 2: She just you know, gets about her business. Now brings
Speaker 2: us to Monday Night Tactics versus Magic again, the Tactics
Speaker 2: sort of safely through into the top three. Magic they
Speaker 2: were desperate, really and they didn't make it. Was it
Speaker 2: sixty eight fifty seven? But you know there was an
Speaker 2: element there that Emilia Anikinasio shot the two pointers now
Speaker 2: and she did. They were successful, six from six from eight,
Speaker 2: and I love the fact that she and her opposing defender,
Speaker 2: you know, embraced after she shot the last one because
Speaker 2: I think, well, I don't know, I guess their mates
Speaker 2: and everyone was very happy for the other. But why
Speaker 2: didn't she do that? All season?
Speaker 1: Haven't we been talking about that? And I've certainly been
Speaker 1: talking about that. Yeah, absolutely, it was a situation. You
Speaker 1: look at that and you're going to see it shows
Speaker 1: that you can do the two pointers. Yeah, six out
Speaker 1: of eight you got in that one. And yeah, I
Speaker 1: remember the hard that was really quite cool. And I'm going, oh,
Speaker 1: I wonder if you know that.
Speaker 3: Was the opposition. But even if it wasn't, I thought
Speaker 3: it was and good spirits it was. Put it back.
Speaker 2: I thought it was.
Speaker 1: The second quarter in that game set the tone twenty
Speaker 1: to twelve to the Tech Dicks in that quarter, you know,
Speaker 1: and then oh that was interesting. A magic came back
Speaker 1: and they won the third quarter twenty to fourteen. Donna
Speaker 1: Wilkins was questioned about that, and the first thing she said, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: but that was thanks to the two point shots, and
Speaker 1: I'm going, yeah, in a way, yes, but they are
Speaker 1: part of our game.
Speaker 3: It's as simple as that.
Speaker 1: At the end of the game, Donna Wilkins said, oh, look,
Speaker 1: we just want to win the game. Like for the
Speaker 1: next game against the Mystics, we just want to win
Speaker 1: the game. And the reason of that is because they're
Speaker 1: at home and it's a situation on Actually, no, it's
Speaker 1: the Mystics, isn't it home ground is the next game? Yeah,
Speaker 1: but they have been winning all their games at home,
Speaker 1: and so that's what it's all about. And I'm going, yeah,
Speaker 1: but you don't want to just win. Don't give me this.
Speaker 1: You actually have to win by six or more because
Speaker 1: if Mystics do lose but they are within five, they
Speaker 1: will then be on the same points and I think
Speaker 1: gold differential will allow Mystics to take the top.
Speaker 2: Oh, this is now, this is where it gets particularly
Speaker 2: interested that let's jump ahead now to that next round. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Magic versus Pulse, So well, the Magic, you know, I
Speaker 2: don't think that they can make any headway, but I
Speaker 2: don't think they can go any higher actually, but they
Speaker 2: can certainly pull the Pulse down by beating them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and teams have spoken about that. At the bottom,
Speaker 1: you know, you can still disrupt and yeah, you have
Speaker 1: a look at it. We just alluded to it, Ecanasio.
Speaker 1: If she starts shooting two pointers, they could really be
Speaker 1: in there. And they have at times been in there
Speaker 1: but just not have been successful. Look, both the Magic
Speaker 1: and in the Stars. I'm sure we'll talk about them.
Speaker 1: They want to finish at least the season on a
Speaker 1: bit of a high. Having said that, I'm sure the
Speaker 1: coaches will then turn around and say, well, if you
Speaker 1: can do it for the last game, how can We
Speaker 1: haven't been consistent throughout the season, so they're in trouble
Speaker 1: no matter what happens. But you know that's a situation.
Speaker 1: Obviously Pulse has to win it still will certainly look
Speaker 1: at that game because if Pole does win, it still
Speaker 1: has no chance even if they win to make.
Speaker 2: It that's right. And then of course you've got the
Speaker 2: big game on Sunday, Mystics Tactics, who do you think
Speaker 2: will win that?
Speaker 1: Exactly as Rob said, Actually, like Mystics have been inconsistent.
Speaker 1: If they are totally on their game, they must be favorites.
Speaker 1: But then you can look at the Tactics and on
Speaker 1: the whole they've probably been the more consistent out of
Speaker 1: the two teams. I just would like to see a
Speaker 1: really close game, only it's almost going to be a final.
Speaker 1: In fact, it could very much end up being a
Speaker 1: final anyway.
Speaker 2: And if you're the Tactics, who do you put at goal?
Speaker 4: Shoot?
Speaker 3: And you can say that, isn't it interesting?
Speaker 1: Ali Bird played the last game In total, I thought
Speaker 1: that Salmon would come on and readiness for the next
Speaker 1: game didn't happen. But I think Ali Bird is easy
Speaker 1: to feed, and it's a different combination yet she's slightly taller.
Speaker 1: But also I don't know they do don't forget she's
Speaker 1: been with them for a long time, so I guess
Speaker 1: that's why one reason why she is easy to feed.
Speaker 1: I think they'll start with Bird, but I can also
Speaker 1: see Salmon coming on at some stage in the equation.
Speaker 1: And hey, it may come down to the two point
Speaker 1: shot at the end of every five and I'd like
Speaker 1: to see it utilized, not just in the last quarter
Speaker 1: to sort of get up in a bit of a
Speaker 1: competitive score, but actually throughout the game.
Speaker 2: Interesting though, isn't it, because you think Ellie Bird but
Speaker 2: as you say, played with them for Yolks, but playing
Speaker 2: some of the best netball of her life, but along
Speaker 2: with Selby Rickett, Eric Anna Petterson, Jane Watson not available
Speaker 2: for the Ferns.
Speaker 1: I was just going to say that, yeah, and that
Speaker 1: may make a difference to Ali Bird, the fact that
Speaker 1: she's just playing for this game. That's a reason maybe
Speaker 1: Salmon will come on. She may come on a goal attack.
Speaker 1: But having said that, boys Selby Ricketts is playing well
Speaker 1: and I actually would have given her Player of the
Speaker 1: Game last week, and I know Jane Watson got it,
Speaker 1: but I would have given it to her mainly because
Speaker 1: her attacking players there. When she needs the shoot, she
Speaker 1: does shoot. And I just think that she's having a
Speaker 1: really good season. Yes, I agree, I agree very much.
Speaker 1: Now moving right along, because last week the final of
Speaker 1: the National Netball League was played and well, for a change,
Speaker 1: Central Manawah didn't win, Mainland did. Yeah, and also they
Speaker 1: had some A and Z players in their team. Malasala
Speaker 1: was there, right And I looked at that and going, oh,
Speaker 1: is that the reason maybe she hasn't been played more
Speaker 1: in the A and Z competition because isn't there a
Speaker 1: certain amount before?
Speaker 3: I think it's only going up, maybe not going down.
Speaker 1: I don't know, but yeah, I found that interesting and
Speaker 1: I'm going, oh, Mainland actually hasn't got the most experience
Speaker 1: in their team, but certainly they played well as a
Speaker 1: collective unit, and boy, I think that's the first time
Speaker 1: they actually they won that championship.
Speaker 3: And good on them.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously that's great for their future and great
Speaker 1: for the A and Z team. So yeah, even like
Speaker 1: obviously you know, the the the tactics, they're playing really
Speaker 1: well at home.
Speaker 2: So you know, and the thing I went through my
Speaker 2: mind was, boy, I know so many of these players,
Speaker 2: and I think that's because this National League is doing
Speaker 2: its job. It's feeding the A n Z because we've
Speaker 2: had so many injuries as we all we've all talked about,
Speaker 2: but you know, there's been an absolute parade of National
Speaker 2: League players coming through the Stars, coming through some of
Speaker 2: the steel and it's.
Speaker 3: But I'd like to see it changed at the moment.
Speaker 1: And it may only be in the Auckland region, but
Speaker 1: and I'm not saying there's an age restriction on it,
Speaker 1: but they do tend to favor the younger players. And
Speaker 1: I've been the club competition and I'm going WHOA some
Speaker 1: of these players Actually, you know, it would be interesting
Speaker 1: to see if they could take the step up. And
Speaker 1: I like to just see that it's the next tier
Speaker 1: down the n and L, that it's the players selected
Speaker 1: for that the next best players in the region. And
Speaker 1: I don't believe that's necessarily happening because you're twenty three,
Speaker 1: twenty four year old, so are playing club netball basically
Speaker 1: well not in aligible, but I'm not looked at for
Speaker 1: the NNL competition, and I think there shouldn't be an
Speaker 1: age restriction on that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, well you that and that may well be right. Now, look,
Speaker 2: one more thing we have to touch on before we go.
Speaker 2: Joe Harton and lover her or hater. I know when
Speaker 2: if she was playing for England against New Zealand, I
Speaker 2: used to I hate a strong word, but you know
Speaker 2: I wasn't her biggest fan. But she is a great woman.
Speaker 2: I remember when she was here playing for the Magic
Speaker 2: and then she followed Julie Fitzgerald across to Australia. She's
Speaker 2: made a home in Sydney, she's had a baby, she's
Speaker 2: you know, she's just she's made a whole new life
Speaker 2: for herself out here. And I understand she's going into coaching.
Speaker 2: I understand she's you know, she's announced her retirement from
Speaker 2: playing netball. Did you have much to do with it?
Speaker 3: A little bit?
Speaker 1: You know, And it was going to be a question
Speaker 1: of when was she going to retire? You know, and
Speaker 1: you could see that it was happening and she was
Speaker 1: starting to get more into coaching. But you know, never
Speaker 1: say never. Hey remember Casey koepoor. Oh that's right. She's
Speaker 1: playing at the moment, so you know, and she's still
Speaker 1: valuable in their team, and yeah, obviously in slightly lesser role.
Speaker 1: You know, shooters don't have to move us much. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, she's had a wonderful, wonderful career, and what
Speaker 1: I love about it is that she's still staying involved
Speaker 1: in the sport.
Speaker 3: Just in a different capacity.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and she's the sort of player she'll always talk
Speaker 2: to you wherever you are and I always value that.
Speaker 2: But anyway, we have reached the end of this program,
Speaker 2: so I don't know where those two magazine readers are,
Speaker 2: but I'm sure that well, I hope that they'll be
Speaker 2: back next week. In the meantime, martiwa