We're Really Starting to Believe says Haier Pulse Coach

Head Coach Robyn Broughton can see her Haier Pulse players growing in self-belief with each game as their performances continue to improve in the ANZ Championship. They may have missed out 51-47 to the LG Mystics in Palmerston North on Sunday evening, but Broughton was encouraged by many aspects of their play against one of the front-runners.

“The belief is starting to happen, now they just need to trust themselves and back themselves,” she explained. “If they get a lead, they’ve got to learn just to go for it, to realise that are better than the opposition and to send out a clear message – don’t try to take the ball off us, because you won’t get it. The game last weekend was a much better performance than in round 1. Although the score was exactly the same, the Mystics have really improved and we were still within four, so that’s something positive to take out of it.

“We’ve been doing lots of scenario work in training, like here’s the ball, we’re two in front and there’s 10 seconds to go before the break – so where are we going to put it? The girls enjoy those situations at trainings and it’s working for us. We had two of them in the game the other night and we got the goals. It’s just a belief and a trust in one another. When it hasn’t worked, it’s almost as though they are holding back, rather than using their ‘netball smarts’.”

This weekend the Haier Pulse go on their travels to take on the NSW Swifts in Sydney on Sunday and Broughton is fully aware of the threat that awaits them.

“We’ve done a lot of analysis work on the Swifts and I think that their shooter, Susan Pratley, and their goal attack, Carla Dziwoki, are playing pretty well together. We’re seeing lots of little passes in the circle so we’re going to have to have quick hands to deal with that.

“They also have lots of speed through the mid-court, so we have to cut that down by flooding that area. They’ve got players like Kimberlee Green, so we can’t be playing the chasing game with the Swifts because of their pace. They play off the first second all the time and we should be able to hold them up so they can’t just fire away too quickly.

“The key to winning in Australia is using all your power together, firing together and believing that you can do it. I’m sure losing over there is a mental thing, as it’s just happening too often with New Zealand teams.”

The Haier Pulse take on the NSW Swifts at the Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre on Sunday at 2.10pm. The match will be shown live on Sky Sport 3 and don’t forget you can keep up to date with all the latest news from the Haier Pulse on facebook.com/Haier.Pulse or twitter @HaierPulse.

Match reports and statistics are also available from www.anz-championship.com