\u201cWe were quite quick to pull apart what happened at the back end of last season and so we had some very strong information that highlighted some real gaps in where we didn\u2019t meet the standard. We used that information to set up how we went forward in \u201926.<\/p>\n
The Mystics beat the Steel to win the 2026 ANZ Premiership. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we started that final, we had four players that had never started a final in \u201925. Three of those four players started again tonight and you see the difference in their ability to cope with the pressure of a final, which is quite different to a regular season game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mystics weathered a slew of injuries in 2026, starting their campaign without two primary midcourt options. Tayla Earle had a lower leg issue, while Katie Te Ao was managing a foot injury.<\/p>\n
It saw Sokolich-Beatson – usually a goal or wing defence – playing centre through the opening rounds.<\/p>\n
Silver Fern Catherine Hall was then ruled out for the season after sustaining an ankle injury against the Pulse in round five. At the time, Hall was the ANZ Premiership\u2019s form defender, leading in intercepts and deflections.<\/p>\n
Charlotte Manley, 21, stepped up, playing a pivotal role in the Mystics\u2019 defensive circle during the regular season, though she did not feature in the final.<\/p>\n
Winikerei said Hall\u2019s injury forced them to adapt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the fairytale of the Mystics\u2019 journey is the younger players who have stepped into those spaces. And when you lose a couple of centres up front early, it is tough.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went through that really difficult time as a team and we were quite disjointed, but the way we brought ourselves back together is the part that I\u2019m most proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Catherine Hall was ruled out for the season after an ankle injury in round five. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
The victory was a poignant moment for Mystics shooter Maia Wilson in particular, who had previously made three losing grand final appearances with the Pulse and the Stars. Wilson admitted to the Herald before the final: \u201cI\u2019m sick of being the bridesmaid\u201d.<\/p>\n
Winikerei is super excited for the 52-test international, who missed out on the Silver Ferns\u2019 Commonwealth Games squad<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s got such a long outstanding career and she\u2019s shot superbly for us throughout the season. She\u2019s been a real anchor in there. She\u2019s very calm as a player and there\u2019s been moments through the season where we\u2019ve been able to weave her both through goal shoot and goal attack.\u201d<\/p>\n The Northern Mystics are looking offshore for their future, with chief executive Phil Vyver confirming to the Herald this week that they have submitted a bid to enter Australia\u2019s Super Netball.<\/a><\/p>\n The Australian competition were looking to add two teams next year, but the expansion was delayed until at least 2028 due to extended television rights negotiations.<\/p>\n It comes with the future of the ANZ Premiership still unconfirmed, with the one-year TVNZ broadcast deal now expired. Athletes and coaches are awaiting confirmation of their jobs for 2027, leading Mystics assistant coach Rob Wright to label it \u201ca disgrace\u201d.<\/p>\n The attention of New Zealand\u2019s netball public now transitions to the Silver Ferns, who will have a three-day camp in early July before jetting off to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n Nathan Limm<\/a> has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast<\/a> and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe were quite quick to pull apart what happened at the back end of last season and so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2246,12465,31100,4189,539,5904,10813,305,42,14046,104,685,11556,48937,24691,247446,43,7977,90,1523,226233,31842,13180,171,1620,223,40,38,41,39,6027,1530],"class_list":["post-500044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-2246","tag-anz","tag-champions","tag-driving","tag-emerging","tag-final","tag-grand","tag-have","tag-headlines","tag-hurt","tag-injuries","tag-last","tag-losing","tag-messy","tag-motivation","tag-mystics","tag-news","tag-northern","tag-on","tag-over","tag-overcoming","tag-pointed","tag-premiership","tag-southern","tag-steel","tag-the","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-win","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}