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Magic have more left

Magic have more left

07/08/2010 08:14:56 PM

Travel weariness is the last thing on the minds of the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic ahead of the grand final clash on Sunday against the Adelaide Thunderbirds.

Friday's trans-Tasman flight is the third in the week for the New Zealanders who stormed home through the latter stages of the season to claim a finals berth, largely by knocking out defending champion the NSW Swifts in Newcastle at the weekend.

The Magic were the beaten finalists in the inaugural season of the competition and made this year's final after qualifying third.

Coach Noeline Taurua said: "We celebrated what we did last weekend but were also very mindful that we have one more step to go and that's where the focus has been."

"The players have pulled up physically and mentally tired because the turnaround has been quite fast for us, but in saying that, trainings this week have been at a real high intensity."

"We've still got a lot of momentum carried over from last week in regards to the excitement, but we are trying not to get ahead of ourselves and just working it day by day."

The New Zealanders realise their ace-in-the-hole is shooter Irene van Dyk and equally they realise she will receive plenty of attention from Thunderbirds defenders Geva Mentor and Mo'onia Gerrard.

Van Dyk was in superb form in the win over the Swifts.

Taurua said: "There will be some tweaks as far as Irene is concerned because their defence do things differently. I assume there will be a mix-up of double marking and hard one-on-one. Mentor and Gerrard are very good at mixing that up and knowing when to make the changes. They are a very good defensive combination."

The Magic coach believes her side is still capable of another step up in standard, especially on the fine form shown by van Dyk, Jodi Brown, Frances Solia and Laura Langman last weekend.

"It's that final execution of the ball where it needs to be purposeful and crisp and if there's nothing on going forward, we reset and go again. Everything needs to be up tempo and done with high energy and error-free for 60 minutes," she said.

The Thunderbirds have their own worries after being well beaten by the Magic three weeks ago in Rotorua while there are concerns for defender Jodi Tod who has been battling an ongoing calf muscle injury and she will be given a fitness test on Saturday.

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images

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