KEY POINTS:
After a weekend of transtasman upsets, the Central Pulse are New Zealand's only remaining chance to restore some national pride in round three of the ANZ Championship.
The Pulse take on Vicki Wilson's Queensland Firebirds side in Brisbane tonight. At the beginning of the season the Wellington-based side would have been given little chance of overcoming the Firebirds line-up, who are headlined by Jamaican shooting star Romelda Aiken.
While the Pulse are winless after two outings, they are proving to be a lot more competitive in the new league than expected. Fresh off a confidence-boosting performance against the Southern Steel, in which the Pulse went down by two goals in overtime, the Wellington franchise believe they have every chance of jagging a win on the road tonight.
The Canterbury Tactix are hoping to maintain their foothold atop the ANZ Championship leaderboard with a win against the Southern Steel in Christchurch tonight.
A win tonight would see the Tactix take the outright lead as the only unbeaten side in the competition after the Melbourne Vixens fell to the Adelaide Thunderbirds in yesterday's clash between the "big two" Australian franchises.
It is a position few would have tipped the Canterbury side to be in heading in to the new competition, but after impressive wins over the Northern Mystics and NSW Swifts in the opening rounds, the Tactix have emerged as finals contenders.
Though some may suggest the Tactix were punching above their weight early on in the tournament, coach Helen Mahon-Stroud insists her side were always capable of footing it with the glamour sides of the League.
"It's quite interesting that those wins have been judged as upsets by so many people. Speculation is always rife before the season with people only able to go by names on paper," said Mahon-Stroud
"But we sort of felt that we had prepared very well for the ANZ Championship and took on board the real step up that it was going to be."
But with the Tactix now one of the pace-setters in the competition, Mahon-Stroud admits there's little chance of being able to catch the Steel off guard in tonight's clash.
"When you win games the level of expectation increases," she said.
"In the first couple of games we've been able to go quietly about our work and we've come out with the result. But because we have done so and the Steel have won one, lost one, we're now expected to beat them."
"But we're very mindful that it's another game and we're going to need that high level of performance out there."
The Tactix take on the Steel at 7pm followed by the Pulse-Firebirds clash at 9pm.
