After three horror seasons in the transtasman league, the Central Pulse have shown some promising preseason form, being narrowly beaten by the Queensland Firebirds in yesterday's final of the Queenstown preseason tournament.
The Pulse, who finished the round robin stages of the tournament unbeaten, were felled by the Firebirds 50-46in the final.
The Wellington side looked the slickest of all the New Zealand line-ups, combining their trademark gutsy defence with some newly found clinical execution on attack.
Former Melbourne Vixens shooter Caitlin Thwaites has proved a handy pick-up for the Pulse, with her confidence to go to the post something they have been lacking from their shooters in previous seasons.
But it would be overly optimistic to suggest that this is the year the Pulse will go from pretenders to contenders.
While most of the other ANZ Championship franchises have had their preseason programmes disrupted by the absence of their national players (the Silver Ferns toured England this month and Australia played a series in Jamaica), the Pulse have had the bulk of their squad together.
Pulse coach Yvette McCausland-Durie is pleased with the development her side have made this month and believes they can still improve.
"It's a good start and it's given us a lot of confidence and belief - there's just little things we need to fix," she said.
If the Pulse were the good news story of the weekend, the Southern Steel were the disappointment.
Missing several of their star players, including import Natasha Chokjlat and Silver Ferns Liana Leota and Leana de Bruin through injury, the Steel finished the weekend without a win.
The Steel's injury woes continued yesterday with key shooter Daneka Wipiiti injuring her ankle in their final match of the tournament, in which they suffered a 64-46 drubbing at the hands of the Canterbury Tactix.
