Tasmanian Magpies prove too good for netball rival Queensland Fusion

For the first time this year – and for more than 14 months – the state’s only team was finally back home in its Tasmanian heartland.

The eighth win – all in a row – from nine matches should please coach Kate Upton.

But despite its predecessor, the defunct Tassie Spirit, never reaching such euphoria in its short history, Upton is still striving for perfection.

“We got [all] 12 players on the court, so a 14-goal win is great,” she said. “But I just sometimes think we let ourselves down with executing the basic skills consistently.

“We might get a little bit of a run on and we have possession of it, but we make a really poor decision when we had more than one option.

“That’s just something we need to ensure we fix quickly, so we can capitalise on the hard work and the dogged defence that we delivered.”

The Tasmanians looked in control from the outset.

They had earned five turnovers in the first quarter and just missed three shots in the first half.

That pressure escalated on the scoreboard with seven unanswered goals on either side of the quarter-time break to lead 22-12.

The Launceston hosts got that lead further out to 16 goals and would have been satisfied with a 37-23 lead heading into the long break.

But just mere minutes out from the final change, the Queenslanders had pulled the margin back to six.

When a scoreboard malfunction late in the third term blew the siren with nine seconds left, leaving hearty fans in a state of confusion until four minutes into the last, the Fusion piled on the first three to add to the chaos.

But star Magpies captain Cody Lange steaded the side from goal attack to push the margin safely back out to double figures.

“That’s her leadership qualities out there to make sure that we have high expectations of these girls,” Upton said. “Yeah, we won, but we still not ticking all the boxes.

“We’ve got to make sure we regroup and we come out with a better delivery.”

But it was her goalie in crime that proved a sight to behold for Launceston fans.

Standing at 201cms, Jane Cook was double-teamed quickly after scoring the first six Magpies goals.

The poor Fusion defenders tried everything.

They leaped, they pushed, they bounced off and the only way Cook was stopped was from her own misthrow.

But it was the other half of the court that proved concerning for Upton.

In pursuit of moving the ball at an alarming rate in quick transition from defence, turnovers mounted.

“We have to make sure that we don’t allow them to come back into the game nad making sure we convert on our centre passes,” Upton said.

“We have to make really good choices when it’s our centre pass and not frither the ball away.”