It's the toughest job in netball at the moment and the Central Pulse goal keep knows when she steps on to the court to defend Southern Steel shooter Jhaniele Fowler-Reid she will lose more ball than she will win.
Fowler-Reid stands 1.98m tall and grabs passes from seemingly anywhere in the shooting circle but the 1.86m Grant and her Pulse side were able to slow the Jamaican international down enough to deliver a 67-56 win over the Steel at the TSB Bank Arena in Wellington yesterday.
Grant didn't drop her chin as she watched pass after pass allude her grasp as Fowler-Reid gobbled it up and deposited it through the net but what the Pulse did do well was limit the Steel's ability to deliver accurate service to the ANZ Championship's reigning MVP.
"You just can't get despondent if the ball goes over your head five times in a row, otherwise if you do that your head's going to go down and you're never going to get anything," Grant said after the game knowing they will meet again in the return fixture next month.
The Silver Fern's toil paid off though as she did pinch a couple of balls that were heading towards Fowler-Reid and one intercept in the fourth quarter defined the dominance of the performance from the Pulse.
After dropping their first game of the transtasman competition 45-44 to the Adelaide Thunderbirds last Monday, the Pulse had to get past the Steel yesterday to provide themselves with a hit of confidence.
"I'm hoping this kind of win proves to ourselves that we are a good side and we will beat other quality sides with a decent scoreline," Grant said.
The clinical aspect of the Pulse's victory came in their ability to repel a late charge by the Steel, who got within four during the final quarter but when the Pulse felt them coming they clicked in to another gear and finished well.
There are still concerns around their ageing shooting circle of Donna Wilkins and Irene van Dyk who are yet to forge flawless links with their mid-court friends.
But the pair only missed three shots between them during yesterday's win and given they have played the game at an elite level since the 1990s, you get the feeling they will find a way to make it work as the season rolls on.
Central Pulse 67 (Irene van Dyk 39/41, Donna Wilkins 28/29) Southern Steel 56 (Jhaniele Fowler-Reid 41/44, Jodi Brown 15/19) 1Q: 18-14, halftime 34-26, 3Q: 50-41
- by Daniel Richardson of APNZ
