Katrina Rore comes out of retirement to help Northern Stars beat her former side

At Pulman Arena, Auckland: Stars 59 (Maia Wilson 41/45, Jamie Hume 18/24) Pulse 51 (Amelia Walmsley 32/37, Tiana Metuarau 17/20, Joyce Mvula 2/3). 1Q: 17-12, HT: 30-26, 3Q: 48-37

Sweet, sweet revenge. And to top it off, the Northern Stars had a Pulse great helping them out.

Former Pulse captain Katrina Rore came out of retirement and played the second half of the Northern Stars’ 59-51 win against the reigning champion Central Pulse in Auckland on Sunday.

Rore, who led the Pulse to three straight titles between 2018-2020, answered a one-off SOS call with Elle Temu unavailable due to illness, slotting in at the defensive end in the rematch of last year’s final.

The 35-year-old hadn’t played in the competition since 2020, when she made the last of her 147 appearances for the Pulse, and the mother of two still looked the part.

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Her injection into the match coincided with the Stars outscoring the Pulse 18-11 in a decisive third quarter, one they utilised to power out to a 48-37 lead with 15 minutes to play.

The Pulse surged back to within five goals with seven minutes on the clock to give the hosts a scare at Pulman Arena, only for the Stars to tidy up their act and close the game out.

Goal shoot Maia Wilson was typically dominant in the attacking circle, draining 41 from 45 attempts, including a long-range bomb as time expired in the first half, while goal attack Jamie Hume drilled 18 of her 24 shots.

The Stars’ third win of the season at least temporarily propelled them to the top of the ladder with nine points, although the unbeaten Northern Mystics could jump them by the end of the weekend.

What will please Stars coach Kiri Wills most from the result will be the defensive performance.

Led by Kelera Nawai-Caucau and Holly Fowler’s busy hands, they smothered the Pulse and made life miserable for their midcourters.

As good as centre Madeline Gordon was in a losing cause, the visitors never got into a groove and had endless problems feeding shooters Amelia Walmsley and Tiana Metuarau.

Walmsley landed 32 from 37 attempts, but on numerous occasions had long balls slip from her grasp as the Stars’ tight defence forced them to push passes into tight windows.

Best on court

Maia Wilson. The recipe is simple for the Stars – feed the shooting machine. As she proved, even if she misses the odd shot, chances are she’ll go up and get the rebound.

The big moment

The start of the third quarter, when Rore hit the court against the side she played almost 150 games for. Rore, who retired from international netball last December, has still got it.

Match rating

7/10. It wasn’t always pretty, but the physicality of the finals rematch made up for the sometime sloppy and clunky action.

The big picture

It’s still early days, but this was a timely statement from the Stars, a side which improved to 3-1 on the season with the result.