KEY POINTS:
The gap between the New Zealand and Australian sides in the ANZ Championship returns to the spotlight this week with transtasman match-ups back on the menu.
The opening four weeks of the competition highlighted the vast gulf that exists in player depth between the two nations, with the Australian teams dominating their Kiwi counterparts.
Of the 12 transtasman match-ups held to date, Australian franchises have won nine of them, with only the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic and Canterbury Tactix having any success against an Aussie side.
While most observers admitted the Kiwi sides were off the pace, they believed the New Zealanders would fare much better over the second half of the season.
The period of domestic clashes over the past five rounds was supposed to give the New Zealand sides a chance to reconsolidate and put into practice the lessons from the opening rounds.
But most of the Kiwi franchises have struggled to find any real consistency and, on the evidence of the past five weeks, it is difficult to see them turning the tables.
Only the Silver Fern-laden Magic, who hold down the No 1 spot on the competition ladder, look to have the goods. The rest of the New Zealand sides have been plagued by patchy and error-ridden performances.
While some of the Australian sides have also had mixed results, on the whole their domestic matches have been more competitive and the play has been a lot more skilful. As a result four Australian teams make up the top five in the standings, and it's difficult to see that changing over the remaining five regular season rounds.
New Zealand's hopes of having two sides represented in the play-offs are looking increasingly unlikely after the No 2 ranked Kiwi side, the Canterbury Tactix, fell to the Northern Mystics on Monday night.
After a promising start to the season the Tactix have failed to bring that same intensity to all their games and simply haven't shown the consistency needed to be a top-four side. In the past three weeks the Canterbury side needed extra time to dispatch the lowly Central Pulse before pushing the table-topping Magic right to the final whistle. Then on Monday night they came unstuck again, with a lacklustre performance against the Northern Mystics.
In a tight, competitive league concentration is crucial and a couple of poor performances here and there will ultimately prove costly.
It is perhaps unfair to make an example out of the Canterbury side when the Mystics, Pulse and Southern Steel have all struggled to find any form at all in the new competition.
The championship has proven a steep learning curve for the Kiwi sides and finding a way to match the Aussies will take longer than five weeks.
