Netball: Silver Ferns have little time to address shortcomings against Australia

Silver Ferns midcourter Sam Sinclair exhibiting the frustration the whole team feel after their poor start to the Constellation Cup. Photo/PHOTOSPORT.

The Silver Ferns will have to rely on the work done off the court if they're to reverse their results over the second half of the Constellation Cup.

The New Zealand side head into the Australian leg of the competition 2-0 down in the four-test series after poor performances in Auckland and Christchurch.

The tight turnaround and travel schedule leaves little time for the Ferns to address the attacking wobbles and defensive lapses that plagued them in their first two outings ahead of Wednesday night's third test in Adelaide.

Given the demanding schedule, which sees the teams play each other four times in the space of 10 days, thrashing the team in training would be counter-productive for the Ferns coaching staff.

Silver Ferns assistant coach Yvette McCausland-Durie said with just one full court session planned before Wednesday's match, the team will have to concentrate their efforts on their performance analysis sessions.

"With the playing group we can't physically do too much more with them at this stage," McCausland-Durie said before today's flight to Adelaide.

"We need to continue to look over the footage and looking from an individual perspective is there enough clarity around what everyone's roles are? Are we actually all thinking the same thing? We're indicating we are, but do we actually have that absolute sense of what is required in terms of our own role on court?

"If we can get that absolute clarity, then the execution will absolutely change and be on the up."

After claiming the Quad Series crown last month with a 10-goal win over Australia, the Silver Ferns had the opportunity to heap further pressure on the Diamonds programme by taking out the Constellation Cup for the first time since 2012.

But the Ferns hopes of getting their hands on more silverware this season have all but been extinguished with their lacklustre start to the series, as they followed up a three-goal loss in the opener with a 60-52 loss in the weekend's second test in Christchurch.

McCausland-Durie said the most disappointing aspect of her side's performance on Sunday was the Ferns' failure to put into action the things they had worked on in training.

"Frustration is probably the word. We feel we have the gameplan and the skillset to execute it, we're just making fundamental errors at critical moments.

"It's that absolute desire to commit to task. We seem to drift in and out, we have moments where we sustain really good focus and we do some great stuff and then we tend to lose it. So some of that on-court communication - the ability to hold everyone to account in action, rather than post-action are all little work-ons."