There will be less tinkering and more stability from the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic for their second-round transtasman netball league match against the Southern Steel in Rotorua on Monday.
Sitting in an unfamiliar position at the foot of the table after their eight-goal first-up loss to the Melbourne Vixens, Magic
coach Noeline Taurua created a record by changing all of her starting seven during that match.
"I want to start consolidating both ends of the court now, so if there are changes they won't be wholesale," she said.
"That first one was a tester and we got everyone out on court. There was a lot of our team who hadn't played against an Australian team, let alone the best in the competition. So, if we work it right from this week on, they could become very good players having been given that opportunity.
"It has given the players and myself direction to areas that we need to work on," Taurua said.
"We have to get smart as to how we use players at certain times and the experience we got against the highly rated Vixens will, hopefully, set the team up for whatever is thrown up over the next four months."
There were encouraging patches throughout the match for the Magic, who have made the playoffs in the previous two years but ultimately the number of changes and high turnover rate counted against them. The opening round was always going to be a gauge after a low-key pre-season.
Consolidation and consistency are keys against the Steel, who are coming off a morale-boosting opening win against the West Coast Fever.
In their previous game, the Magic coughed up 24 turnovers compared to the Vixens' 14 and Taurua said, "It just goes back to the same old story of keeping the ball in hand.
"It was something we learned the hard way, so going into Monday's game, it's a case of seeing how much we actually have learnt."
Steel have never beaten the Magic during four clashes in this competition but Taurua will not let her guard down. "Steel are renowned for holding on to the ball and a low error rate."
"They do the simple things well and their defence is very tenacious. They have their own special traits and on the back of that, they have won a lot of games."
- NZPA
