Commentator’s Call: there can only be one winner

In this special Grand Final edition of the Commentator’s Call, SKY Sport’s Jenny Woods previews the decider where the winner takes it all.

Hats off to the Central Zone.

They already have the Beko Netball League title tucked away for the year, and now their premier side has made the Grand Final of the ANZ Premiership.

This is a great achievement for the Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse. Once the whipping girls of the former Trans-Tasman Netball League, they‘ve turned themselves into a compelling unit which dispensed with a more favoured SKYCITY Mystics sidein Sunday’s Elimination Final.

Recovering from a six goal deficit at the end of the first quarter, they built throughout the rest of the game before taking the lead early in the fourth and never looking back.The long embrace after the game between Cathrine Tuivaiti and Tiana Metuarau spoke volumes.The steadying influence of Tuivaiti on this incredible 16-year-old is clear, with the form of Metuarau becoming such a touchstone for the Pulse this season.

But now it’s business time.

The Grand Final beckons on Wednesday night against a side the Pulse hasn’t come near this season.On the three occasions they’ve met, the Pulse has been despatched 63-50, 80-44, and then just last week 64-51. In fact, the Pulse haven’t taken a quarter off the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel all year.The Steel hasn’t played since that last Round 13 game and there’s no doubt they had the upper hand from the get go. The Pulse tried different players in different positions, but couldn’t find a chink in the Steel armour.

The Mystics and the WBOP Magic both got to within one goal of the southerners, but then couldn’t sustain that form against other teams,so have – rightfully - fallen by the wayside.

It may well be that the Steel will still be without Te Paea Selby-Rickit and perhaps even captain Wendy Frew, on Wednesday night.What that means is that it will be a highly charged Grand Final.The trajectory of the Pulse is not lost on anyone, and neither is the plight of the Steel.

There is so much to admire in what Reinga Bloxham has done with this side, inherited from Noeline Taurua, in turn inherited from Janine Southby.Each woman has added touches of her own, but the core has remained, and at the centre of that core is Frew. Whether she’s on the sideline, or in the thick of it, her influence is immense and it would be a brave person to bet against it.

The ANZ Premiership Grand Final between the Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel and Te Wananga o Raukawa Pulse will be played at ILT Stadium Southland, Invercargill, on Wednesday night. NZ-based fans can tune into SKY Sport 1 or Radio Sport for live coverage. International fans (outside NZ) can watch via our Facebook page.