Mila Reuelu-Buchanan: Northern Stars Captain previews the clash against the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic

The Northern Stars have bounced back after their first loss of the season. 

They claimed victory over the Central Pulse last weekend in a close match in Wellington. 

They’re back home this weekend, taking on the currently bottom of the table Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic. 

Stars Captain Mila Reuelu-Buchanan joined D’Arcy to preview the clash. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldgrave from News Talk SEDB.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Northern Stars bounced back last weekend after their first last
of the season. They beat the Central Pulse fifty nine
fifty five, a close match, a bit of a blow
out of a quarter. We'll talk about that later. They're
back home this weekend though, they're taking on the way
Couple Bay of Plenty Magic, who are currently struggling. They're
sitting at the very bottom of the table. Mela, really ruelu,

(00:33):
you can and excuse me as the captain of the Stars.
He joins us now, Marina.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Mela, good morning, how are we?

Speaker 2 (00:40):
I'm looking forward to this weekend of sport as per
and I expect you are as well. Captaining the Stars.
You've already done better than last season. We're only three
games in.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yes, that's true, Eat day. I'm really looking forward to
our twelve game tomorrow. It's going to be a good
battle against the Magic and yeah, so far, so good.
We obviously started off with the Hesten a raw and
ended up losing that second game against the steal but
I think the learnings were early. We're good for our
good for our team.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
What were they you started finish it off? What did
you learn?

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yes? Yes, what were our learnings coming out of a timeout?
So there's a rule now where you can as of
last season, you can call a timeout in each half
of the game. And we were coming out strong out
of those timeouts. Often we'd lose the ball, and so
we talked about what are our focuses what and to
gain clarity on what our roles are when we come
back on the cord, and that's one thing that we

(01:34):
wanted to focus on. And I feel like we really
nailed against the Pulse, and on top of that, I
feel like that second quarter gets the still really let
us down. We lost that twenty one to seven, and
that's just not good enough. So we acknowledged that and
the clarity piece was the biggest piece for us moving
in to the post game and as we head on

(01:54):
through the season.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
No, I'd say that's almost embarrassing and quarter like that
almost be ashamed of yourselves or is that too harsh?

Speaker 3 (02:01):
No, Look, I'm that person. I call it as it is,
and yeah, it was embarrassing and just not good enough.
And we had a good look at ourselves after the game.
We didn't even debrief in the changing room. I think
it was that somber, and so we took time to
reflect on the game, watched it as a team, came together,

(02:23):
came together along with our coaches and talked about what
we were we responsible for that game and taking accountability
and looking at ourselves.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Talk us through what happened last week, because very close
up to the break, then you accelerated in the third quarter,
and then can I say, decelerated in the fourth quarter
and nearly let the pulse bag into it again.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Yeah, you really nailed that. So exactly what you said,
we came out really strong. We our week, our prep
week ahead was really awesome for our team. One thing
we see we wanted to bring was energy and noise,
and that's exactly what you got from us. However, that
last quarter, I think we when we did this, when
we almost become complacent, it's like, okay, cool, right by

(03:10):
eleven and we can throw these fifty to fifty balls.
But yeah, we had a couple breaks and decisiveness towards
the last three four minutes of the game, and it
kind of was a bit frustrating because we did so
well and let ourselves down. So after the game, I
actually pulled the girls in and said, look, it's not
good enough that we're ending like this. You know, it

(03:30):
kind of felt like we ruined what could have been
a really consistent sixty minute performance. But again, it's great
to learn these things now and to acknowledge them, and
hopefully you see a sixty minute performance on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
I'll tell you about consistency. That's players on the court.
Last week, everybody ran the full gamut. You just had
the seven players. No one changed you guys, okay, are
you still feeling the pace?

Speaker 3 (03:59):
I know it's funny when you hear that a seven
have stayed on from the start to finish, because often
I think and need more. You know, that's the beauty.
You've got substitutions players who are good enough to be
on court. But buddy, just let us play it out.
And the only change that was made was the switch
between our shooters. So meals went back to goal attack
and teams went back into goal shoot, which I thought

(04:20):
was the best change. I think Tina really sound the
goalkeep and was able to hold a really strong hold.
But it just allowed for the connections to continue to grow,
and I feel like that actually helps with the success.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
And then and the way she still goes by the
name Bubby tim A Para the coach after all of
these years, it won't go away, which is it's a
really nice touch tell us about the magic because they're
stone cold motherless last year, but they're going to have
to turn things around eventually. Where are their threats do
you think?

Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah, look the measure if they're never a team that
you rule out. They've got a lot of mongrel and
the ability to keep fighting no matter what the score is.
So for us, we know defensively they are quite an
experience end. We've got Dana, Makaida and Mikey who's been
playing an A Z for many years now, and obviously
the likes of Georgia Edgetym, So I'd say a lot

(05:13):
of these strengths will be a defensive end, being able
to get hands to ball the big three foot marks.
So for us, going back to what our game plan is,
which is the HANDI ball, making sure that we're taking
the ball hard and strong because it does get quite
physical out there. But we're prepared for that and I
feel like our week preparation as we've head into our

(05:34):
game will prepare us well for the physicality that's to come.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
And I'll leave you on that. Enjoy yourself to Margaret
and there Grave yourself some more points in Nomela. As always,
thanks very much for your time.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Thank you Up the stars is all.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
I can say for more from the Your Sport Breakfast
with Darcy Watergrave. Listen live to News Talk said V
on Saturday mornings, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.