TACTIX 48
MYSTICS 44
KEY POINTS:
Northern Mystics coach Yvonne Willering is grateful for a new, extended 13-week competition, after her side made a nervous, error-ridden start to the ANZ Championship.
The Mystics lost their opening game against a determined Canterbury Tactix outfit, who upset the home side at Waitakere Trusts Stadium.
Willering said her side's poor execution and option-taking let them down, and put the jittery start down to rustiness.
"Suddenly I'm thinking just as well we have the two rounds to be honest. With no disrespect to the Tactix but a lot of the time we let ourselves down with unforced errors. We'd get some quality ball and basically throw away possession."
Willering used a variety of combinations, with Paula Griffin, Jade Topia and Cathrine Latu all getting a run but the Tactix defensive pairing of Victoria Smith and Australian import Demelza Fellowes were able to gradually unsettle each new pairing.
But the former Silver Ferns coach points out it was not just her shooters who were at fault, but rather the work of the entire attack end.
The Mystics raced to a 6-1 lead on the back of some strong holding in the circle by shoot Cathrine Latu.
But the Auckland side were unable to continue to build on that lead as the midcourt pairing of Temepara George and Angelina Yates were guilty of getting caught in the pockets rather than driving to the top of the circle.
Mystics had a handy 23-19 lead at halftime, but the cracks started to appear early in the third spell as the home side tried to force the ball in to Latu at the back when the space wasn't there.
In contrast, the Tactix Silver Fern midcourt pairing of Julie Seymour and Maree Bowden were more dynamic around the edge of the circle, patiently working the ball in for Jodi Brown and Anna Thompson.
The opening weekend of the new championship was punctuated by messy, error-ridden netball.
The first game of the new season between competition favourites the Melbourne Vixens and predicted cellar-dwellers the Central Pulse was never expected to set the world alight with the game being billed a mis-match of epic proportions.
The Vixens, a combination of perennial top-four sides the Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne Kestrals in the previous domestic competition, have been dubbed the dream team in Australian media. But they looked as though they were asleep for much of the middle stages, allowing the largely inexperienced Pulse to get within eight goals in the third quarter.
While the final 50-33 scoreline seems a comprehensive win, Sharelle McMahon's Vixens were tipped to deliver a far more clinical display.
Likewise, the Queensland Firebirds were expected to romp home against the no-name Perth-based West Coast Fever yesterday afternoon.
But after coach Vicki Wilson left her star imports Romelda Aiken and Tamsin Greenway out of the starting line-up, the Firebirds were left playing catch-up for the remainder of the match, finally rolling the Fever in the final minutes to claim a 48-46 win.
