Netball: Mystic on the make

Cathrine Latu says it's great to see the Mystics gain support. Photo / Brett Phibbs

When Northern Mystics shooter Cathrine Latu looked around her teammates as they lined up on stage at her side's 2010 season launch last week it suddenly dawned on her: "I'm one of the only ones left from the first year."

Only two other players - captain Temepara George and attacking utility Grace Rasmussen - were standing alongside Latu at the team's inaugural season launch two years ago as they embarked on new era of semiprofessional netball.

Since then the Mystics have undergone a series of transformations both in the terms of the coaching staff, and the player roster.

The most dramatic of which was at the end of last season, when, after finishing just two places off the foot of the table, Mystics management went on a bold recruitment drive.

Eight new players will line up for the Auckland side this season, including Silver Ferns Maria Tutaia, Joline Henry and Larrissa Willcox, Jamaican defender Althea Byfield and former international Jenny-May Coffin.

Now that Latu has realised that she is indeed a club stalwart, she is relishing her role.

"It's great having been there from the start and seen our support grow. We haven't had the best of seasons but we get amazing crowds and our support is fantastic so it's great to have been a part of that," said Latu, whose affable nature defies her surly on-court persona.

Despite the blanket changes to the squad this year, Latu said it hasn't been hard to build team unity.

"The feel off the court is like we've known each other for years, it doesn't feel like we've only just come together in the past couple of months."

"We're working really well together and I think things are coming along faster than we thought."

She is particularly enjoying the challenge of forming a new shooting combination with Tutaia - although their progress was hampered for a while there, when they were both struck down by similar afflictions at different times.

The pair have both battled hand and ankle injuries in the months leading up to the start of the competition, but Latu said over the last week they have been able to finetune their combination and she is confident of a polished performance in tomorrow's season-opener against last year's beaten finalists, the Adelaide Thunderbirds.

The New Zealand selectors will be watching closely to see how the Latu-Tutaia combination develops as they contemplate life without the prolific shooting talent of Silver Ferns star Irene van Dyk beyond next year's World Championships.

While Van Dyk has made no announcement on her future, it is thought she will most likely step down following the 2011 tournament in Singapore.

Handily for the national selectors, that is about the same time Latu, a former Samoan representative, will be eligible to represent New Zealand. Latu last played for Samoa at the 2007 World Championships in Auckland and new international rules dictate a player cannot represent two different countries at successive world tournaments. As she rides out the stand-down period, Netball New Zealand are grooming Latu for a future role in the Ferns, including her in the national accelerant squad last season.

The 23-year-old gained further exposure to the Silver Ferns environment at the beginning of the year, when she was invited to attend the national squad camp in Brisbane. For a player who readily admits fitness and nutrition are not her strong points, the gruelling 10-day conditioning camp opened Latu's eyes to the level of professionalism and training intensity she needs to aspire to in order to make the step up to the Ferns when her time comes.

"It was a real wake-up call for me because I'm not really a runner but I made it through and I surprised myself a lot. There were a couple of times when I thought I'm never going to make it, but I pushed through it," she said.

"It was a great experience to actually be in the environment and see what actually goes on at a Silver Ferns camp and where I need to get to."

Ferns coach Ruth Aitken said she was delighted with the way Latu responded to the heavy workload in Brisbane.

"I think [the camp] was a real turning point for her. Just allowing her to see the level we operate at and actually being able to see herself in that environment if she does the work," said Aitken.

"It won't be a case of the calendar hitting August next year and us saying, 'Right Cathrine, in you come'. She has to put in the work, and I think she's heading down the right track."

While Latu is regarded as more of a long-term project for the national high-performance programme, Aitken is certain the investment will pay off.

"I think she's got huge talent. It showed in that world seven series last year, she holds space extremely well and can be very hard to stop," she said.

Having had a taste of the Ferns environment, Latu admits it will be tough being consigned to the sidelines for the two big pinnacle events over the next 18 months.

"It is hard having that stand-down time but I made the decision that has put me in this position and I'm really happy Netball New Zealand are on board with me and they're trying to help me so that I'm ready for when I am available."

A prodigious young talent, Latu was in her final year at West Auckland's Massey High School when she was plucked from obscurity by Yvonne Willering to play for the Northern Force in the old domestic league.

From there she caught the attention of local netball identities heavily involved with Samoan netball, and offered the opportunity to play for the Pacific Island nation. With the lure of world travel and the chance to play against the best in the world, Latu jumped at the opportunity, despite having limited Samoan heritage.

The move has proved both a help and hindrance to her career. Latu said she is exceptionally grateful for all the opportunities she got with Samoa. But with tougher international eligibility rules subsequently put in place, and then the advent of the new transtasman league meaning she was now considered an "import" in her country of birth, it has stalled her career progression.

"I got lots of different information about how the rules would affect my chances of playing for the Silver Ferns later on in my career, and at that time there was no ANZ Champs so the import rule wasn't a factor," she said.

"But it was a decision I made and I don't blame anyone for the position I'm in now. And Samoa just allowed me to do so many things that I wouldn't have otherwise got to experience, so I don't regret what they've done for me."