Mystics defend national title by thinnest margin

After a ferocious battle that wasn’t decided until the final second – when Grace Nweke sunk a shot she missed at first attempt – the Mystics have retained their ANZ Premiership title with a 54-53 victory over the Pulse.

Nweke, who put away 48 goals in the grand final, bawled her eyes out in relief – and maybe a little disbelief – to have scored the winner in a drama-filled, see-saw encounter where Pulse, the minor premiers, could never quite shake off the dogged Mystics – even when they were down to six players on court.

“It feels so surreal… it could have gone anyone’s way. But there was a lot of belief that we were capable,” Mystics defender Phoenix Karaka said. Karaka was unhappy with herself for copping a two-minute suspension in the last quarter for a late challenge on Pulse feeder Whitney Souness, who was already sporting stitches for a gash to her head.

Such was the intensity of the match, which saw the Mystics become only the second team – alongside the Pulse – to win three premiership titles.

It was the closest ANZ Premiership grand final since 2018 – when the defending champions Steel also came from behind in the final minutes to tip out the favoured Pulse by a solitary goal.

That showdown had so much in common with this grand final in Wellington – which sold out in minutes. Pulse, the minor premiership victors as they were in 2018, have been tenacious, barely dropping their guard throughout the season even after losing pivotal players to injury. And co-captain, Kelly Jackson, has led by example as the top defender in the league.

Mystics, the defending champions, were also stricken with injuries, but dropped six key matches mid-season and slumped to fourth. Since the return of their explosive attacking duo, Grace Nweke and Peta Toeava, they’ve been on a winning streak and would be difficult to stop.

They proved in last week’s 68-64 elimination final victory over Tactix they could hold their nerve, coming from behind in the final quarter. But Pulse were much more decisive shaking off Tactix in their last match – a strong first half and a run of 11 unanswered goals in the final stanza cementing a 14-goal win.

Before the grand final, LockerRoom looked at the statistics behind the match-up (with the help of netball’s peerless historian and statistician Todd Miller), and beyond the season finale.

What might the 2025 premiership look like? And could the contentious two-point ‘super shot’ finally work its way across the Tasman and give some vital zing to the Kiwi competition?

The finalists

Over the last two seasons, the Pulse have won four of their six encounters with the Mystics. But the Mystics won by 10 at their last meeting, the penultimate round of the regular season – when Pulse struggled to shut down the Mystics attack bolstered by the welcome return of Nweke and Toeava from injury, and the injection of Filda Vui at goal attack.

The Pulse have won the premiership three times, the Mystics two. They’ve been the only champions for the past five seasons.

In those five seasons, whoever won the minor premiership, went on to win the grand final. The difference this time, however, may be Nweke and Toeava coming back to fitness in time for the finals.

In every round this season, either Pulse or Tactix topped the ladder (first place changed four times between the sides in rounds 10 to 15). Mystics were in the top three for all but rounds 10 and 11, when they dropped to fourth.

If Mystics succeed on Sunday, they’ll be the third premiership team to go back-to-back (as Steel did in 2018 and Pulse in 2020).

The players

Former Mystics captain Phoenix Karaka, who’s been in blinding form at this end of the competition, will play her 149th national league match in the grand final.

Pulse co-captain Tiana Metuarau will play her 99th match for the Pulse in this showdown. At just 23, the shooter is already three-time winner, playing in her fifth final. Maddy Gordon has also won three titles with the Pulse.

Five Mystics players have won two grand finals – Nweke, Toeava, Vui, Karaka and Tayla Earle.

Nweke shot 60 of her 70 attempts in the Mystics’ elimination final victory over Tactix – the highest shooting performance this season. And the fourth time she’s shot over 50 goals this year.  She’s averaged 88 percent accuracy (For the record, Tactix replacement shooter Ellie Bird was the most accurate of the season at 93 percent).

Salmon has shot 50 or more goals three times this season (she also played two games for the Steel when she was on injury replacement duty). She’s averaged 87 percent accuracy, but it’s likely Amelia Walmsley will get the nod at starting goal shoot, even though her accuracy has been 83 percent.

Toeava tops the season stats for feeds on 472 – even though she was out for four games – with Earle close behind her. Whitney Souness is the league’s No.1 centre pass receiver.

And as far as defence statistics go, no one comes close to Pulse captain Kelly Jackson. She’s top of the pops in defensive rebounds (37), deflections (89), and intercepts (42). Astounding.

Mystics defender Catherine Hall and midcourter Katie Te Ao have been great impact players this season; Te Ao changed the momentum in the dying minutes of the elimination final against the Tactix to swing Mystics’ way.

Similarly Pulse have had a stacked bench at the business end of the competition, and will likely call on Salmon, Kersten and Pelasio to change the pace.

The injury count

An unusually high number of injuries impacted on this year’s league, affecting every team’s starting line-ups. Both finalists now have their full complement of players back for the showdown.

Pulse were the hardest-hit – losing shooters Metuarau, Amelia Walmsley and Khiarna Williams, as well as midcourter Gordon.  Fourteen players took the court in the yellow and black dress this season.

Mystics didn’t have the lethal Nweke-Toeava combination for eight games in the middle of their season, which cost them vital points and threatened to deny them a place in the finals play-offs. Mystics used 12 players through their season.  

Led by Michaela Sokolich-Beatson, who’s no stranger to injury, Mystics struggled to fill those gaps – even calling in retired Silver Fern Kayla Johnson. Whereas Pulse managed to keep up their momentum, bringing in Manawa shooter Martina Salmon (the find of the season) and training partner Kiana Pelasio. Claire Kersten came out of retirement and made a huge impact – also hitting her century of matches for the Pulse. 

The coaches

Mystics coach Tia Winikerei and Pulse coach Anna Andrews-Tasola have the least experience as head coaches in the ANZ Premiership – which, it seems, doesn’t matter a jot.

Winikerei won the title in her first season as a head coach last year, having worked through apprentice and assistant coach roles for the northern franchise under the guidance of Helene Wilson.  

Andrews-Tasola spent the past two seasons on the Pulse bench as assistant coach, sitting alongside the most successful coach in premiership history, Yvette McCausland-Durie. But she’d been involved with the Pulse and Manawa sides for seven years.  She was also a player at this level, shooting for the Shakers and the Flyers in earlier versions of the national league, and represented the Cook Islands at World Cup level (she also coached the Cooks to victory at the Pacific Games).

Both women came through the Netball NZ coaching pathway and were part of High Performance Sport NZ’s excellent Te Hāpaitanga initiative, helping more women have careers in high performance coaching.  

Half of the premiership franchises are now in the process of finding new head coaches for 2025 – with the Stars’ Kiri Wills joining the Queensland Firebirds in the SSN competition; the Tactix Marianne Delaney-Hoshek taking a break from netball after 13 years in the league; and Reinga Bloxham leaving the Steel after eight seasons at the helm to coach the Cardiff Dragons in the UK’s Netball Super League.

It’s understandable why coaches at this level head offshore for experience. Netball NZ has this week reappointed Deb Fuller as the Silver Ferns assistant coach to Dame Noeline Taurua, so positions at the top of the sport don’t come around often.

The question is, has Netball NZ done enough to bring through the next generation of head coaches? They have a high performance coach development programme which has brought through the likes of Taurua and Fuller, Magic head coach Mary-Jane Araroa, NZ U21 coach Julie Seymour and Paula Smith – who’s been assistant coach to Wills, and would be a strong candidate for the Stars role.

The National Netball League – below the ANZ Premiership – has fostered some strong talent like Andrews-Tasola and winning Comets coach Michelle Parsons.

Or will Kiwis working overseas, like Temepara Bailey coaching the Gold Coast Titans, be lured home?

Changes to the league

So we know the New Zealand competition will reduce from three rounds to two next season – 12 weeks instead of 17 – in response to “team and audience feedback”.

It may not be a bad thing. It should bring more urgency to teams to deliver from the start of the competition – so dropping a game could be ruinous.  

And it could mean there’s a larger window to have a trans-Tasman play-off competition against the top sides in Suncorp Super Netball. Our elite netballers need to experience as much international play as they can.

There’s a strong likelihood more New Zealanders will end up in Australia’s league in the next couple of seasons. And Netball NZ will have to consider their eligibility rules for Silver Ferns.

It wasn’t the most gripping premiership this year, and most fans would agree, Netball NZ needs to try something different to boost interest, up against competition from other sports.

There’s plenty of talk around the two-point shot – a feature of Super Netball across the Tasman since 2020. Netball NZ trialled it the recent men’s series between the Mystics and the Stars, where it was played through the whole game, rather than the final five minutes of each quarter in the SSN.

A LockerRoom straw poll on whether the two-point shot should be introduced in the ANZ Premiership next season found at least three out of four people were in favour.

Among those ‘for’, one said: “It was interesting to watch the men’s games live this season –  [the two-point shot] really changes up the goal circle activity.”

Another: “It will spice it up a bit. We can keep the traditional game for international tests; but let’s try something.”

And those against: “It’s not a World Netball rule so it has no place in the game.”

There will be slight changes to the way the premiership is televised in 2025. Next year’s broadcasting deal has been signed – with a one-year extension of the existing Sky Sport sponsorship, and a 12-month free-to-air deal with TVNZ for Saturday matches. But Netball NZ will self-produce those Saturday games, which will screen delayed on Sky.

The ANZ Premiership grand final will screen live on Sky Sport 1 and free-to-air on Sky Sport Open on Sunday at 3.30pm.