2022 Preview: Magic ready to deliver in 2022

After two seasons of finishing in the wooden spoon spot, an influx of top talent with experience to burn has Splice Construction Magic well placed to make a serious climb up the table in 2022.

With the arrival of Silver Ferns Ameliaranne Ekenasio, Claire Kersten, Bailey Mes and Katrina Rore, the Magic have completed a major overhaul of their playing personnel while injecting a huge dose of international intelligence.
Throw irrepressible midcourt stalwart Sam Winders into the mix along with talented defenders Oceane Maihi and Georgia Tong, and the Magic are spoilt for choice and variety.
Armed with an impressive coaching pedigree, Mary-Jane Araroa steps up from the assistant’s role, which she held from 2019 – 2021, to take over the head coach mantle this season.

“I am excited about what’s in front of me,” she said.

“It hasn’t been without its challenges already. As a franchise, we have been re-setting and re-building our structures in-house which has provided some challenges and taken a lot of capacity at the front end.

“But more recently, I have been able to focus on the coaching side and am starting to see through it all, enjoy the girls for what they’re bringing to the team and the potential that we have.”
Acknowledging, the riches on hand, Araroa is mindful that doesn’t equate to instant reward and with change comes a settling in period.

“Our recruits obviously come with lots of experience and skill associated with that, and it is one of my roles to be able to connect them together and make sure we can channel all that into a successful outcome,” she said.

“Having our Silver Ferns out for a month for the Quad Series means they’ve missed quite a bit of that team bonding, connection and structure that takes place during that time.

“And then, of course, we’ve got Ameliaranne (Ekenasio), who is returning from having her second baby, so it’s been a case of slowly having players integrating into the environment.

“It is all about putting in the hard work and getting players adjusted to a new environment. All the new players have had to get to know me as the new coach for them. A lot of these players have been in well-established franchises for many years, so the change alone, for them, is massive.

“They have to deal with coming into a new franchise that has a different way of delivering and that can be another challenge in itself.”

However, with their teething problems worked through over the pre-season, Araroa has no doubts of the potency in her midst and is expecting big things once the season is underway.

“We have a collective expectation and our intention is to get ourselves to the Finals Series,” she said.

“On top of that, our aspiration is that we produce good Silver Ferns to go to the Commonwealth Games. Yes, we want to win but we’re also conscious that we’ve got some key players that could potentially get back into that Ferns side and it’s our job to help them achieve that.”

Araroa is expecting the ANZ Premiership to raise a few notches in 2022.

“There’s a real good spread of quality across all teams and each provides their own exciting element,” she said.

“I think we can expect quite a dynamic and powerful ANZ Premiership this year.”