Netball: Relieved Magic hit Hamilton

Grace Rasmussen (with ball) returned to the Magic lineup last Sunday for the first time since week one of this year's ANZ Championship.

After securing their first ANZ Championship points of the season, Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic play their first home game in Hamilton on Saturday against Northern Mystics.

Coming at the seventh attempt, Sunday's 58-57 win over the Tactix in Nelson has head coach Julie Fitzgerald relieved.

"This team has worked so hard and pulled together so well that I thought things would have to turn around for them, but obviously there is an enormous amount of relief for them and to get two points on the board is obviously a relief as well," she said.

The win came six days after the 58-44 loss to the Fever in Tauranga.

"We've been working very hard on our attacking connections all down the court and I thought that, even though we lost to Fever, we showed some improvement and a player like Kelly Jury, every time she takes the court, she's a game older and a game more experienced and that's good for us as well."

At one point in the third quarter on Sunday, Magic were eight points down - a position they have been in in past games and been unable to recover.

"I think that shows tremendous character and spirit because there's no way you could say we went into the game full of confidence.

"There's always that gut feeling that the season hasn't gone so well, so when they got out to a lead like that it would have been easy to think 'here we go again'. But to have been able to dig deep and lift their performance like that the way they did says something about the character of this team."

Fitzgerald hopes the combination of being back in Hamilton and the confidence from the win will lift the side.

"Hopefully it helps us put in a better performance because now we have to be better every week. We can't slacken off in what we're doing."

After her contribution to the opening game of the season was cut short with a calf injury flare-up, Grace Rasmussen returned on Sunday, but skipper Leana de Bruin has yet to appear on court in 2016.

"I didn't expect [Rasmussen] to be able to play a full game, but she did play a full game and pulled up really well afterwards, so that was a real plus. But it's too early in the week to be sure about anything about Leana."

Mystics' slow start to the season has been noted by Fitzgerald, but she admired the way they beat the Pulse 55-53.

"They virtually controlled that game from start to finish and, although Pulse did come back, they were never really going to have any chance of winning. [Mystics] are definitely finding their form now."

Saturday's game starts at 4pm.