Southern Blast coach Jo Morrison expects the opportunity to play as the curtain raiser at the Deep South’s netball fortress will help lift her team in their latest Synergy Hair Netball League match.
The Blast, the inaugural winners of the league in 2016, host the Waikato Bay of Plenty at ILT Stadium Southland in Invercargill on Saturday.
Morrison, who is also the assistant coach for the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel in the ANZ Premiership, said she had already seen great strides from her side in their opening weekend double-header against Central Manawa and she was looking forward to seeing them build on that in Round 3 of the SHNL against Waikato BOP.
“We want to be executing our own game plan out on court and getting that consistency,” she said.
Morrison said she had been proud of the self-driven analysis after the first-up 17-goal loss to the defending champions and how they responded backing up against Manawa just 24 hours later and going down by just two.
“They were really great in that space of driving that analysis and understanding what it was going to take to be in the fight,” she said.
“That first weekend was always going to be tough but it was a massive learning for us in executing under pressure and understanding the physicality at this level.”
Continuing to build from that will be key when they host Waikato BOP in the first of three games at home.
The head coach expected her team to rise to the occasion on Saturday when they got to play on the main court at the infamous ILT Stadium Southland.
“Being the curtain raiser to the Steel game is a real step up for the league and I’m sure it’s going to lift our group with that opportunity.”
It is a young Blast team in this year’s SHNL with Abby Erwood, Jess Allan, and Kate Hartley the most experienced in the squad.
“They are our three pillars and we’re lucky to have one in each area of the court,” Morrison said.
“For a lot of our players it’s only their first or second year at this level and we’re mindful that this league is very much about development.”
Morrison has also taken a new approach to the season, changing up when and how they train due to the geographical challenges that the Blast face – three players from Invercargill, one from Wanaka and the rest residing in Dunedin.
“Geographically it’s always a bit of a challenge so we’re trialling a bit of a change to our plan, and we’ve introduced an online session where we can cover off all the stuff where we don’t physically need to be in the same place,” she said.
“When we do get together it’s very focussed.”
Meanwhile, the other SHNL matches to be played this weekend sees Mainland host Central Manawa at MainPower Stadium in Rangiora and the Northern Marvels play the Robinhood Comets at The Trusts Arena in Auckland, also on Sunday.
The Blast, the inaugural winners of the league in 2016, host the Waikato Bay of Plenty at ILT Stadium Southland in Invercargill on Saturday.
Morrison, who is also the assistant coach for the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel in the ANZ Premiership, said she had already seen great strides from her side in their opening weekend double-header against Central Manawa and she was looking forward to seeing them build on that in Round 3 of the SHNL against Waikato BOP.
“We want to be executing our own game plan out on court and getting that consistency,” she said.
Morrison said she had been proud of the self-driven analysis after the first-up 17-goal loss to the defending champions and how they responded backing up against Manawa just 24 hours later and going down by just two.
“They were really great in that space of driving that analysis and understanding what it was going to take to be in the fight,” she said.
“That first weekend was always going to be tough but it was a massive learning for us in executing under pressure and understanding the physicality at this level.”
Continuing to build from that will be key when they host Waikato BOP in the first of three games at home.
The head coach expected her team to rise to the occasion on Saturday when they got to play on the main court at the infamous ILT Stadium Southland.
“Being the curtain raiser to the Steel game is a real step up for the league and I’m sure it’s going to lift our group with that opportunity.”
It is a young Blast team in this year’s SHNL with Abby Erwood, Jess Allan, and Kate Hartley the most experienced in the squad.
“They are our three pillars and we’re lucky to have one in each area of the court,” Morrison said.
“For a lot of our players it’s only their first or second year at this level and we’re mindful that this league is very much about development.”
Morrison has also taken a new approach to the season, changing up when and how they train due to the geographical challenges that the Blast face – three players from Invercargill, one from Wanaka and the rest residing in Dunedin.
“Geographically it’s always a bit of a challenge so we’re trialling a bit of a change to our plan, and we’ve introduced an online session where we can cover off all the stuff where we don’t physically need to be in the same place,” she said.
“When we do get together it’s very focussed.”
Meanwhile, the other SHNL matches to be played this weekend sees Mainland host Central Manawa at MainPower Stadium in Rangiora and the Northern Marvels play the Robinhood Comets at The Trusts Arena in Auckland, also on Sunday.