Now on the back of a four-game winning streak, the Collingwood Super Netball affiliate “toughed out” a 53-47 win over Netball NSW Waratahs in Sydney.

“All games are now pretty important closing into the finals,” Tasmanian Magpies coach Jon Fletcher said.

“We toughed out that one, which was good, as it was pretty close for most of it.”

The victory on Saturday has boosted the Tasmanians to a enviable 6-5 record and to just outside the final four. 

Southern Force’s six-goal home loss has the Adelaide side only sitting precariously ahead by percentage.

After teething problems with a new playing list, two training camps and readjusting to a revamped Australian Netball League, Fletcher can feel well vindicated his squad is on the right track.

“I think we were always, realistically in the early days, going to take a while because we were pretty much putting a brand new group together, like some other teams as well,” Fletcher said.

“But we’ve always been talking about aiming as high as we can…so we’re a real show and we are building towards a realistic outcome.

“We played well last week too, so we give ourselves every chance. Our confidence is building as we go.”

The Tasmanians were four goals down in the final minutes of the first quarter to level at the break and stretch its lead out to five by half-time in a courageous turnaround. 

The Waratahs challenged in the third to cut the lead, but the visitors held their nerve in a near replica of the Force win at the Silverdome that started the season turnaround from second-last spot.

“In the last quarter it got down to three and when it was in dispute each time, we made some important plays,” Fletcher said.

“I thought even though it got tight, we were in reasonable control in the second half and I was pleased that we maintained a bit of their run.”