FRIDAY means the eve of another exciting weekend of the ANZ Premiership season. After a round of only three matches, it is back to a four-match weekend this time out, with two lucky sides getting to turn out twice.

One of those lucky sides is the Tactix, who have a real opportunity to make the most of some good early season form.

The other key thing for the Tactix is that both matches are at home, which is a huge advantage for them and will certainly make things a lot easier.

Game one is Sunday’s clash with the Pulse, which will be a huge challenge for them, but they matched it with the Mystics for much of the match back in Round 2, and they won their other two games, so this should be a fascinating battle.

The Pulse are also no doubt a little down on confidence after the loss last week, but will be hungry to bounce back quickly.

The other match for the Tactix this weekend is against the Magic, which is sure to be an even more tantalising battle. They may have been last year’s two bottom sides, but one has seen a vast improvement this season and the other is coming into the weekend off a remarkable come from behind first win of the season, so this should be a rather entertaining battle.

The Magic are the other side with two matches to tackle this weekend, and they start their weekend with a trip to Invercargill to take on the Steel.

The Magic should take a lot of confidence into this match, because they are on the board in season 2023, and the way they won last week was quite remarkable, so that will give them confidence that they are never out of a contest no matter the situation.

Meanwhile the Steel will no doubt be very frustrated with the way their season has started, and desperate to finally get a win on the board and not slip even further behind the rest of the competition.

The weekend’s fourth match is Sunday afternoon in Auckland, as the Mystics do battle with the Stars.

These two sides could not be coming into this weekend off more different results. The Mystics will be disappointed with the way they gave up the lead last week against the Magic and ultimately lost the game, while the Stars will be on cloud nine after avenging their Grand Final loss against the Pulse and are now sitting on top of the table.

It is also a battle of the top two, so is sure to be played at a high standard.

ANZ Premiership Round 4 Fixture

Steel vs Magic – Saturday at 7:15pm – ILT Stadium Southland, Invercargill
Tactix vs Pulse – Sunday at 2:10pm – MainPower Stadium, Rangiora
Mystics vs Stars – Sunday at 4pm – The Trusts Arena, Auckland
Tactix vs Magic – Monday at 7:35pm – MainPower Stadium, Rangiora