Consistency and confidence are key for both coaches heading into tomorrow's transtasman netball league match between Southern Steel and Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic in Invercargill.
Noeline Taurua's Magic lie third with seven wins from 10 starts but, like Robyn Broughton's Steel team - currently sixth with four wins - have shown
only glimpses of the form they should be producing regularly.
The Magic stumbled their way back into the top four with a 53-49 win over Canterbury Tactix on Thursday night, while the Steel's last start - also against the Tactix a week ago - was a slightly more convincing nine-goal win.
Taurua acknowledged her team has been struggling for consistency, and yesterday's match showed as much, with heavy defensive pressure from both teams forcing a never-ending series of errors and turnovers.
"It was very ugly from us - it was just ugly product out there, very disjointed," she said.
"There's a lot riding on these next games, and that's why we can't get ourselves involved too much. We've just got to get out there and play.
"We're overthinking the situations, overthinking the possession of the ball. We need to take it one game at a time, one ball at a time."
The two teams last met back in round two in February, with the Magic turning on one of their better games in Rotorua for a 15-goal win.
Taurua remembers that game well.
"At the beginning of the year, even though our play was quite stilted, we did have movement, we did have momentum and we did keep possession."
Top of Taurua's wish list tomorrow is for her unusually static team to generate a lot more energy.
"Against the Steel, we need movement before we pass, movement with the ball and movement after. Keep moving, keep moving - that would be No1 for me at our attacking end," she said.
"Defensively, we're packing back quite a bit and we've just got to contest the ball right throughout the court."
Broughton, who labelled the Magic's game on Thursday as "diffident", said the team seemed to lack their usual urgency and fluidity.
"They looked unsure, they were struggling a bit with themselves and I didn't think they looked as passionate as sometimes they do," she said.
