Buoyed by successive wins, Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic have set the platform to continue that momentum against Central Pulse in Monday's ANZ Championship netball clash in Porirua.
After starting the season with a demoralising four-game losing streak, the Magic have gone some way to righting their ship with back-to-back wins in their last two outings. The application and execution during the latest, a 16-goal towelling of West Coast Fever, was particularly encouraging and, for the team, the priority is to keep building.
"We took another step up in the match against Fever and did more of what we do well, more often,'' Magic import Khao Watts said.
The South Australian rookie, who paid her own way to attend Magic's final pre-selection trial, is continuing to blossom after being thrust into the challenging wing attack role.
A virtual unknown, Watts, 23, previously played for South Australia in the Australian Netball League while also representing the state at age-group level, gradually working her way up court from wing defence and centre to the pivot's role where she has found her calling with Magic.
"I've definitely grown in confidence but I've still got a lot of improving to do. I'm feeling a lot more comfortable now that I'm settled in that wing attack position,'' she said.
"In wing attack you have to create your own momentum ... it's a lot more working in a confined space and having to be very, very quick, whereas from centre you can create that momentum as you're coming down court. But it's a lot of fun, I'm loving it and I just hope I can keep improving and be a lot more dominant.''
With some tutelage from a coach she had in Australia last year, Watts was given an insight into the professional side of netball but has still found the step-up a big one. The travel and intensity of training and the actual games has been something of a revelation.
"You can't have a breather or a moment of concentration loss because that's when something will go wrong,'' she said. "You just have to be focused 100 per cent of the time.
"But I'm living the dream. Playing with the best players in the world and being coached by such an experienced and fantastic coach as Noeline (Taurua), you really couldn't ask for much more than that.''
