The Tactix' 19-goal thumping at the hands of another expected
cellar dweller in the trans-Tasman netball league, the Southern
Steel, will rightly leave fans asking questions.
Where will a win come from and will one come at all? On
Saturday's evidence, it's hard to see.
The Tactix are none from two and their 75-56 hammering was only
made worse by the fact that the teams went to halftime level at
36-all.
Within sight of a rare win the Tactix capitulated in the second
half of the southern derby, going from pretty good to pretty
woeful.
In the last 30 minutes, the Tactix were beaten, no, crushed
39-20.
And that's by a team who finished ninth in the 10-team
competition last year and are one of only two teams the Tactix have
beaten in their last 40 games.
The Steel were good on Saturday without being brilliant but, on
paper at least, they are one of the weaker sides in this 10-team
competition. They do have a strong weapon in the tallest player in
the competition, Jamaican import Jhaniele Fowler.
The 1.98-metre goal shoot was able to put up a whopping 70
attempts at goal and landed a competition record 65 of them.
She was always going to be the Steel's main target with her
albatross-like wingspan, but the Tactix were unable to keep her far
away from the post or, more importantly, stop the Steel's midcourt
from feeding her easily.
Plus there were, again, far too many errors. If the Tactix
continue to make mistakes at the rate they did on Saturday, they
will not win a game this season, simple as that.
Captain Anna Thompson is only too aware of that fact, but
remains adamant that the side will continue to improve and at least
push a few teams this season.
It's a position she has to take, for her own head space and that
of the many young players in the Tactix side, but it's one she
genuinely believes.
Thompson is red and black to the core and, as distraught as she
clearly was with her team's showing on Saturday, is backing her
young charges to find their feet.
"Absolutely [we can improve]; we've shown that we can do it,"
she said.
"Look at the first half: even with their tall shooter we stuck
with them and were leading for some of it.
"It's about eliminating errors and that comes down to us. It
comes down to us working hard as individuals and as a team, working
hard at training and working hard during the game. If we can do
that then we'll just get better and better and I definitely believe
that we will."
In front of a small crowd on Saturday, they showed there is
plenty of room for improvement.
The Tactix put up 71 shots and moved the ball quickly and
smoothly through court at times. But only at times; the Steel were
able to do it more consistently.
"It's about taking it on the chin, expecting it of each other
all the time, at training too. We can't just do it for 30 minutes,
we have to do it for the whole 60," Thompson said before sending a
message to her side.
"The biggest thing is taking the self-responsibility and making
sure we're individually better because that will be better for the
team."
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