Amelia Walmsley of the Central Pulse and Jane Watson of the Tactix tussle for the ball during the ANZ Premiership Netball match, Tactix Vs Pulse, at Wolfbrook Arena, Christchurch, 15 June 2025. Photo: www.photosport.nz / John Davidson
Pulse captain Kelly Jackson says her team knows how to pull out a big game when they need it, after a must-win 59-50 victory over the table-topping Tactix.
Having lost their previous three matches, the Pulse were under pressure to keep their ANZ Premiership season alive in Wellington last night.
Two rounds ago the Tactix beat the Pulse 61-50 at home, but the Pulse replied by consigning the Tactix to just their second loss of the season.
On Saturday the Steel leapfrogged the Pulse to third on the ladder by beating the Magic. But with their win over the Tactix, the Pulse have regained the crucial third spot through a superior goal percentage.
The Mystics and Tactix have already guaranteed themselves two of the three spots in the finals series, with a couple of weeks left in the regular season.
The Pulse were out-of-sorts coming into the game, which was unfamiliar territory for much of the group.
Since the start of the ANZ Premiership in 2017, the Pulse have only missed out on one year of finals netball.
Jackson, who has won two titles with the franchise in 2020 and 2022, said they knew they had that performance in them.
"This is the Pulse we know and we know we've been capable of this, we just haven't been able to put it together for 60 minutes out on court," Jackson said.
"But we had a really good training week and we just had a really good feel going into this game knowing what we're capable of. Some would say we're peaking at the right time but we just have to build on this performance going into next week.
"We knew the importance of this result and I know in the past when we've had our backs against the wall we have the ability to put out clean clinical performances when it really counts."
Erikana Pedersen of the Tactix and Parris Mason of the Pulse tussle for the ball. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2024 www.photosport.nz
The Pulse win was even more impressive given they were forced to tweak their line-up.
They were without usual starters Whitney Souness and Fa'amu Ioane due to illness.
That saw Maddy Gordon move to wing attack, Ainsleyana Puleiata got her first start at wing defence, and Gabi Simpson at centre.
"It's Ainsleyana's first start and I think she had a phenomenal performance, she paired up really well with Gabi in the front and they were able to create really good opportunities for me and Parris [Mason] in the back."
Jackson was at her quintessential best after three quiet games.
"Our plan was to just take care of our own players, for Parris to shut down Te Paea [Selby-Rickit] and me to shut down Martina [Salmon] and we know when we do that we're creating good opportunities for ourselves."
Pulse shooter Amelia Walmsley was a tower of strength again, scoring 54 goals.
"She's been a huge rock for us at the back, if all else fails we can just chuck it into her and we back her to pull it in."
The first quarter saw a defence heavy game with Jackson and Tactix goal keep Jane Watson both having an impact.
The Pulse led the Tactix 13-12 after the first quarter.
The Pulse did most of the damage in the second quarter, winning it 17-8 to take a 10 goal lead at halftime.
The home side led 45-33 after three-quarters and will be glad they had that buffer with Tactix shooters Martina Salmon and Te Paea Selby-Rickit sinking five super shots in the final five minutes.
