The first match of the weekend saw the girls unravel in the heat, going down to the Fusion 46-26. The Magpies’ attacking end struggled against the likes of Augustini and the Hinchliffe twins who were able to restrict the team to just 3 goals in the second quarter.
Head Coach, Jon Fletcher, said “it was a fairly defensive match from both sides and we were really let down by how we handled our possessions on the attack”.
“We definitely didn’t make the most of our scoring opportunities”.
An injury to Mary Livesey added to the Pies’ problems on Saturday, with an x-ray that evening confirming she has a broken hand and will require surgery. It is unlikely she will make an ANL return this year.
However, it wasn’t all bad news for the Pies, who saw Cody Lange return for her first official match after recovering from the ACL injury she suffered last year. Lange played out a full two quarters in her return and was unscathed in the encounter.
The second clash with the Fusion was a different story altogether as the Magpies managed a one goal victory, 46-47. Adding Shae Brown, Micaela Wilson and Sam Gooden to the line-up, the team was feeling positive about being able to improve from their first performance.
Fletcher said, “we continued our full court defensive efforts and this time were able to capitalise on our scoring opportunities”.
“We were sharp with our ball use and really adjusted our attack based on, not just the game before, but also our loss against the Fury last week”.
This weekend also saw the return of former Melbourne Vixens and NSW Swifts athlete Erin Hoare, who had taken a break from the sport for the past twelve months. Hoare played just a half in her first match, with the Fusion keeping her relatively quiet scoring only 8 goals.
The Tasmanian Magpies are now preparing to take on the Canberra Giants this weekend. They will play at Hisense Arena on Saturday at 4:30pm before the Collingwood Magpies battle it out against the GWS Giants, and on Sunday at 11am at the State Netball and Hockey Centre.
