2023 Season Preview: Tactix

On the back of three heavyweight signings in each third of the court, the Trident Homes Tactix will be a different proposition in 2023 after finishing at the foot of the table last season.

With the recruitment of Aliyah Dunn, the league’s most accurate shooter, and England midcourt international Laura Malcolm, along with the return of defensive diva Jane Watson following the birth of her first child, the Tactix won’t lack for experience.

“The ability to be able to add a little bit more leadership in each third will do wonders,” Tactix coach Marianne Delaney-Hoshek said.

“Looking back, we were very unlucky with Covid last year which disrupted us quite a bit because we had three lots of it.

“And it’s in those moments, when things happen, you need people to step up on the court and just get things done and the team we’ve assembled should be able to do that.”

The Tactix also have the established returning trio of shooter Te Paea Selby-Rickit, midcourter Kimiora Poi and dynamic defender Karin Burger amid a formidable cast of players which boasts six with international experience.

There is real firepower in the mix with Dunn an accurate and reliable shooter, the menacing presence of defensive duo Watson and Burger and the speed and athletic ability of Poi through the midcourt.

“Obviously with a new group, you’re building things and the groundwork still needs to be done.

“The good thing is that Jane and Karin have worked together before, a couple of years back, so it should be quicker to gel that piece together. Laura didn’t come in until a bit later, so since then we’ve just been looking at gelling all the combinations together as quickly as possible.

“We’ve got the ability to play people across a couple of positions each, so it’s really good as well for players like Karin, Jane and Te Paea for their Silver Ferns opportunities because they play across two positions for them as well.

“We’ve got some really diverse combinations and different ways we can play and that’s attractive to me.”

On the flip side, the young quartet of defender Kate Lloyd, shooter/wing attack Vika Koloto, and midcourters Parris Petera and Greer Sinclair couldn’t have asked for a better environment to come into and the senior mentors on hand to help guide them.

Petera produced a couple of fine cameo performances last season and certainly didn’t look out of place while Sinclair ended up playing for three teams as cover for Covid-impacted teams.

“They couldn’t have a better set-up to come in to. They are really young and hang off every word of the senior players.

“So, we’ve got the two ends of the equation without much middle ground. We’ve got some really experienced ones and we’ve got some really young ones, and that’s a really exciting proposition.

“We’ve got the situation of having five or six really established players and then we’ve got the gap, so we have got those pockets where we are going to need the young players, so there will be opportunities for them.

“They’re tracking really well to be able to really make a difference in their respective spots. If you look across our team, I think we’re really nicely balanced, and we’ll be there to challenge for sure and give it a good crack.”