New coach keen to stretch Pulse momentum
Looking to make her own mark, Gail Parata has big shoes to fill after taking over the helm of back-to-back champions Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse in 2021.
Back in her home city of Wellington after six successful years coaching the Scottish Thistles, Parata is the only new coach in this year’s ANZ Premiership, mindful of the weight of expectation following the Pulse’s most productive era under former coach Yvette McCausland-Durie.
“With what the Pulse have achieved there are expectations, that’s only natural. However, I keep reminding myself about what I’ve achieved and how I’ve achieved it and I know that I can do that here as well,” she said.
“I am backing myself, knowing I’ve got the athletes. We have got real firepower in the middle and at the shooting end, a little bit of inexperience at the defensive end but I’m looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds.”
With the loss of stalwart Katrina Rore, who is expecting her first child, and the robust and athletic Karin Burger to the Tactix, an influential chunk of the Pulse defensive line has gone but with five Silver Ferns squad members in the mix, Parata still has plenty of potency at hand.
Defender Kelly Jury is set to play a key leadership role in what will be a youthful defensive end which includes exciting young talent Paris Lokotui and Parris Mason, who will be keen to impress as they start their elite level careers.
“Kelly is very aware of her positioning now as being one of the leaders in there. She was new into the group last year and it was her first real year back on the scene after being plagued by injury but made huge strides and she’s got lots of reasons why she wants to make sure that she establishes herself,” Parata said.
The Pulse are blessed with talent in the midcourt and shooting end, the return of accomplished little pivot Whitney Souness adding to the skill base alongside Claire Kersten and Maddy Gordon while shooters Ameliaranne Ekenasio and Aliyah Dunn are proven match-winners. Back-up shooter Te Amo Amaru-Tibble is an astute and experienced campaigner
“Optimally, we’ve talked about wanting to win the championship but I also want to take one game at a time because we play each team three times and I’m very wary that we’ve lost a lot of experience,” Parata said.
“In terms of style, a lot is going to depend on how we settle in our defensive combination and at this stage, we’re trying to work out our back three.
“In a lot of ways we have to play to the style that naturally suits our newcomers, whether it’s attacking the ball, man-on-man etc, and those are the types of things we’ve been working on during the pre-season.
“They are different types of defenders to what we’ve had previously, so I’m very mindful that the style we play suits them and it comes naturally to them.”
Parata has praised the leadership of her Silver Ferns who continually lift the energy and professional levels in the environment. In that respect and on the back of a team vote, Ekenasio will captain the team this year with Kersten and Souness included in the leadership group.