With the pre-season tournament firmly in their rear-vision mirror, Trident Homes Tactix coach Marianne Delaney-Hoshek says her side is ready to “put our foot” down and get on with the job of an ANZ Premiership season opener on the road.
The Tactix head to Auckland for their first game of the 2023 national league where they meet the Stars and Delaney-Hoshek said they were keen to make a good start to the Premiership, something that had eluded them in recent years.
“The last two years we haven’t actually had our full squad for those opening games,” she said. “Last year (Covid) we were down three and the year before we had an injury to a key player. I think starting if we can have a full squad that’s really promising.”
Promise was something the Tactix showed plenty of at last month’s pre-season tournament in Ōtaki where they went through unbeaten and debuted a number of new recruits including English international Laura Malcolm, Premiership-winning shooter Aliyah Dunn and former Stars defender Greer Sinclair, along with the return of Silver Ferns defender Jane Watson.
Delaney-Hoshek said it was a great three days as far as building combinations went although they didn’t read too much into the final results.
“I think the main thing from Ōtaki is that we built on some combinations and now it’s just about refining the small things,” she said. “Although we had really good success, we know that come the first game it’s always really different.”
Leadership was another area where the Tactix had been bolstered and captain Kimiora Poi will be backed by some of the most experienced players in the game.
“We’ve got a lot of leadership and that’s one thing that really stands out to me,” Delaney-Hoshek said. “We’ve got leaders in each area of the court, and we’ve managed to really build a lot of fitness – we’re always fit but this year we’ve even got fitter.
“We’ve got all the right things; it’s just about putting it out on court now.”
They had their final hit-out against the Canterbury men last week, squeezed in some fitness testing this week and the fine-tuning is on-going as they eye a positive start to the Premiership.
Playing catch-up in a condensed season – shortened due to July’s Netball World Cup – is not a position the Tactix want to find themselves in, Delaney-Hoshek said.
“A few years ago we did a 0-4 start but still managed to make the final, so we know it’s something that can be done. But we don’t want to put ourselves in that position,” she said.
“We want to come out strong and we want to make our mark on the first game – show people our style and show people what we’re about.
“It always seems like pre-season goes for such a long time but we’re really looking forward to getting out there and getting the job done.”
- The Trident Homes Tactix meet the Stars at Pulman Arena in Auckland on Monday at 7.35pm, live on Sky TV
