Silver Ferns and Central Pulse netball defender Katrina Grant is the first to admit her feet are a pain in the butt.
After an enforced five-week break from the game due to a foot injury, Grant is itching to get back out on court in the trans-Tasman league, especially after watching her teammates battle to an extra-time single-goal loss to Northern Mystics on Monday.
Having lived every pass, intercept and turnover of the 60-61 loss, Grant said she was "stoked" to be named in the Pulse 12 for an eminently winnable match against Canterbury Tactix in Wellington on Saturday.
"I've missed about four games in five weeks, it's been ridiculous," Grant told NZPA today.
"I had a stress reaction in my calcaneus. It was one of those things if I did any kind of jumping or moving, it could crack at any stage.
"It wasn't quite stress fracture, but leading to it, in quite an important part of my foot."
So in the past few weeks, the 11-cap Silver Fern has patiently persevered with a protective moon boot, pool work and weights before finally being allowed to test out the injury with some impact work.
Inactivity doesn't come easily to the former Southern Steel defender -- "it was pretty tough to have to do bugger all" -- especially as was a distinct feeling of deja vu.
"I had a stress fracture about four years ago, in my right foot, which is pretty much the only other major injury I've had.
"My feet seem to be a pain in the butt at the moment."
Grant said the enforced break meant she had lost a little match fitness and timing, but it hadn't taken too long to slip back into top gear.
"I've had a couple of practice games under my belt, and I'm slowly getting my confidence back, getting things back on track," she said.
"You don't realise how tough netball is until you don't do it for a while."
Pulse coach Yvette McCausland-Durie agreed, and is cautious of expecting too much from her star defender after such a long break.
"I think it's a real challenge for her to step in, and we've got to be realistic. Our expectations of her can't be that she's going to walk out there and get everything right straight away," McCausland-Durie said.
The Pulse haven't had the best of seasons, lying stone cold last on the table with no wins from eight matches, and the chilling memory of a couple of 25-plus goal losses.
But since sitting out the bye two weeks ago, the Wellington-based team have shown encouraging signs of life, beginning with a 12-goal loss to second-placed Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic and followed up by Monday's one-goal loss to they Mystics.
Grant said the first phase of their season had been tough.
"But as soon as we hit the bye, we knew it wasn't good enough and we had to change things round. We had a few discussion sessions, and just decided to dump everything and start from scratch," she said.
That meant making sure the absolute basics -- catching and passing -- were done properly.
"Once everyone stopped the turnovers, and helped each other out, it all seemed to flow a lot easier."
McCausland-Durie is looking for that to continue against the Tactix, a team with only one win this season, a 54-48 victory over the Pulse in the first round on March 20.
"We've talked hugely about consistency -- we've always had quarters where we didn't maintain form and last week was no different. We still haven't had our best performance."
Accuracy around the .9m obstruction rule, reducing turnovers, raising shooting stats -- McCausland-Durie is looking for improvement in all those areas.
Against the Tactix, who have an aggressive, ball-hunting defence and a zappy midcourt marshalled by the canny Maree Bowden, plus a mobile shooting circle, the Pulse will again need a full-team effort both on attack and defence.
In the other New Zealand game this weekend, the Steel come off the bye to play the Magic in Invercargill on Monday.
In Australia, the unbeaten NSW Swifts meet West Coast Fever in Perth on Monday while Adelaide Thunderbirds are at home to Queensland Firebirds.
Northern Mystics and Melbourne Vixens have the bye.
