Netball: Aussie with high hopes for Kiwis

By DAVID LEEGAT

R'toto Force coach Maria Lynch is not someone for whom sitting on the fence comes naturally.

Australians are not usually noted for sporting reticence, so it should be no surprise that she calls her goal for this season's Coca Cola Cup netball league in one word: champions.

The North Shore franchise will kick off their campaign tonight with the Bridge battle against the Auckland Diamonds at Unitec Stadium. Anything less than a win will be a significant setback but, taken solely on a check on the respective squads, that should not happen.

The Force have six past or present Silver Ferns; the Diamonds, under new coach Georgina Salter, have Anna Rowberry as their sole senior national representative, backed up by a young, enthusiastic support cast.

Last year, the Force were beaten in the semifinals by champions the Southern Sting. Lynch hopes lessons have been learned.

"We have stepped up our intensity and certainly we are better prepared for the competition this year.

"We have picked up our fitness levels.

"Last year we dropped off in the second half of the season.

"We went to Australia a couple of weeks ago, played a lot of games in a short period and had no injuries - and that's down to better fitness."

One player to watch will be Nicolette Ropati, a national squad member while still finishing Auckland Girls Grammar last year and one of the game's brightest young talents.

"There are a lot of big expectations on her and we'll try to help her cope. But it's a big step from schoolgirls to the Coca-Cola Cup," Lynch said.

What of the Diamonds? Salter, one of the more experienced netball coaches around, has moved from the deep south and has one problem to resolve for a start.

"It's a team I don't know very well. I'm used to seeing players come up as youngsters, through the high school system.

"With this group, apart from Anna Rowberry, the rest are all reasonably new," she said.

So while the Force are determined to become the first North Island franchise to win the title - the Otago and Southland teams have had a mortgage on the first four years - the target is somewhat broader for the Diamonds.

"I'm no different from any other coach," Salter said. "We all want to win. The first game is a high priority, then we'll assess. Long term we want to be in the top four."

The Sting will be the benchmark for the other eight franchises.

Any team with a spine of Silver Ferns captain Bernice Mene and fellow internationals Lesley Nicol, Adine Harper, Donna Loffhagen and South African defender Leana du Plooy, have to start as the warmest of favourites.

Their coach, Robyn Broughton, is doing her best to play that down.

"People will look at us and think we should be doing everything, but I'm not going in believing this is going to be easy for us, because I don't think it will be.

"I've had success with far less talent in previous teams and not been as worried as I am now with as many as I've got in this one," she said.

Players have moved between the franchises since last year, and coaches have been packing their bags in the off-season as well.

Only Broughton and Lynch remain at the posts they had in the 2000 campaign.

New Zealand's most revered coach, Lois Muir, has swapped the Capital Shakers to the toughest job in the league at the weak Otago Rebels; former international Tanya Dearns steps in at the Shakers; Ruth Aitken moved south from the Cometz to the Waikato/BoP Magic; and Margaret Foster has been replaced by Leigh Gibbs in Canterbury, with Foster stepping back on court to add strength to the Flames midcourt.

Who will make the semifinals in mid-May?

Ink in the Sting and the Force, pencil in the Flames, then close the eyes and draw one of the Shakers, Diamonds and Magic.