Kia Magic need to rise to another level, says captain
Press Release June 27, 2013
Bouyed by their latest thrilling outing, captain Laura Langman knows Kia Magic will need to find another gear for Sunday’s ANZ Championship netball minor semi-final against Queensland Firebirds in Hamilton.
It’s make-or-break time for this pair, who come into the sudden-death contest on the back of contrasting fortunes.
Kia Magic squandered a full half of netball before hitting their straps with a sizzling second term to achieve the required target of goals for and against to pip Firebirds for third in the final standings and the prize of hosting the minor semi-final.
On the other hand, Firebirds were well placed to seal second spot before being tipped up by a late charging Adelaide Thunderbirds, Kia Magic’s decisive scoreline adding further woe when they found themselves dropping to fourth.
``I can imagine that they’re gutted,’’ Langman said. ``They’re a quality side and I think they were very disappointed to go down to us in the round robin.
``They will have done their homework, so it’ll be physical, it’ll be fast and we’re going to have to be very smart against them because they’ve got some extremely technically savvy management in there who will pinpoint things that aren’t going exactly right in our game and really try and capitalise.
``So, this week is all about a week of smarts for us.’’
The extra burden of knowing exactly what was required in their latest outing seemed to play havoc with Kia Magic early on against Northern Mystics, highlighted by a steady stream of errors across all parts of the court.
``We did show a lot of character and what was great was the ability to be able to flick the switch and turn it on when we needed to,’’ Langman said.
``However, it was a bit of a double-edged sword and what’s concerning is we’re not coming out of the blocks very well and that’s something we’ll have to look at.
``Overall, I think we’re in a pretty good space, our confidence is good. There’s no real negatives but there’s some obvious creases we need to iron out before we can really stake our claim.
``I think 95 percent of what we do is very good but there’s a few little chinks that are not major but we need to address them and address them fast to ensure that we can produce that 60 mintues of magic netball.’’
There is the added bonus of home court advantage which cannot be ignored but at the same time would be unwise to be too reliant on.
``The goal first and foremost was get in the top four but it’s certainly fantastic to get a home semi in terms of a little less travel when the turnaround is quite sharp,’’ Langman said.
``It just gives us another night at home, another day of recovery to really sharpen up because we know that top four play-offs is a step up and you need four quarters of quality netball, not half a game.
``It’s also great to have another opportunity to play in familiar surroundings and in front of our own supporters.’’
While coach Noeline Taurua, in her last campaign with Kia Magic, admitted to a raft of emotions after she was acknowledged with a special presentation following the Mystics match on her home town court in Tauranga, it’s business as usual for the players.
``Recently most of us have largely forgotten that Noel’s is not coming back next year,’’ Langman said.
``We got a reminder at the presentation but at the moment we’re so absorbed and focused on where we want to go and how we want to get there that we’ve just about forgotten that our soldier in the front there is not going to be back, so we probably have parked it.
``But I speak for all of us when I say that we don’t want the season to end anytime soon.’’
Jane Hunt
Kia Magic media liaison
Ph: 021-107-0287
