Netball: Kopua looking for momentum

Magic captain Casey Kopua will be a key player against the Queensland Firebirds tonight. Photo/Michael Bradley

All Kia Magic captain Casey Kopua wants is a decent win over the Queensland Firebirds in last-round ANZ Championship netball action in Hamilton tonight.

Dropping out of the top two for the first time this season after last week's loss to the NSW Swifts, Magic now trail the Firebirds in fourth spot on goal differential with this last round of the regular season set to determine the final order for the finals series.

With Magic having all but sealed a record seventh successive finals position - the only team to achieve that - Kopua is only interested in regaining winning momentum ahead of the playoffs.

"That's exactly what we need," Kopua said.

"We can't sit back and say, 'I wish we'd done that', because at the end of the day we didn't do it, so we can't change it, but we can change what we can do in the future and for this game.

"It's just trying to make sure we don't do the same thing every week otherwise, although it sounds cheesy, we'll end up with the same result.

"It's making sure you do what you need to do individually but as a team as well for your performance on the day."

They have a tough assignment against the in-form Firebirds, who come into the match on the back of a five-match winning streak and who have gone from strength to strength in the second half of the season.

Kopua acknowledges Magic have experienced some wobbles in the latter half of the season that she attributes partly to teams lifting their intensity in the run to the playoffs while they have also become more of a target after their near-seamless start to the campaign.

"We started with a bang and were great all the way up until our bye (round seven, halfway point of the season)," she said.

"At that point people didn't really know what to expect from us. We didn't know what to expect from ourselves. We certainly haven't taken the foot off the pedal, but things just aren't going as smoothly, and we've had our ups and downs towards the end of the season."

With nine new faces and new coaching staff on board, Kopua is genuinely chuffed Magic are the only New Zealand team to make the finals series, after being written off preseason.