Netball: Friends are now the foes

By JULIE ASH

She is a southern girl at heart, but this weekend Silver Fern captain Anna Rowberry is hoping the north will get the better of the south in the final round of preliminary games in netball's national provincial competition.

Rowberry's Auckland Waitakere side are at home to Southland and Otago. To advance to the top-six playoffs Auckland Waitakere have to finish first or second in their pool, which they can do by either winning both games or just beating Southland, who lost to Otago last week.

"This weekend is really crucial for us," said Rowberry, who is in her first year with the Auckland side after playing for Otago and Canterbury in the past.

"We really want to get two wins to secure a place in that top six."

Auckland Waitakere opened their NPC account last weekend with a comfortable 49-30 win over Eastern.

"It was a bit scrappy," Rowberry said. "From the start we had a lot of unforced errors and just couldn't get into our game."

Rowberry said little could be taken from Southland's 20-goal loss to Otago.

"Southland are a very steady team who do the basics well.

"They are one of those teams who are hard to beat because they make it difficult to get the ball."

Southland will be without shooter Donna Loffhagen, who is involved in the Tall Ferns' series against Australia, which will obviously be to Auckland Waitakere's advantage.

"The key for us will be to dominate that first quarter," Rowberry said.

Finishing runner-up to Canterbury last year, Otago have lost three key players this season, in Anna Scarlett, Adine Harper and Angela Mitchell, who were unavailable.

With Silver Fern Lesley Nicol and up-and-coming players Stephanie Bond, Maree Grubb and Katie Ritchie in the mix, Otago are one side Rowberry rates.

"They are reliable and you can guarantee they will go out there and give everything. For us it will be nice to have that hit-out against Southland before we meet them."

Born and bred in Christchurch, Rowberry has lived in Auckland for three years, but opted to play for Canterbury in the last two championships.

However, a shake-up of the rules has meant players must be affiliated with a club in the province which they represent, which meant Rowberry had to play for Auckland Waitakere because of her affiliation with the College Rifles club.

"I don't regret playing for Canterbury," she said. "I needed to play for a strong team and with players I was familiar with.

" ... But this year the Auckland Waitakere team include a lot of the Diamonds players so it is nice to keep that continuity going."

Auckland Waitakere face Southland tomorrow at 11am and Otago on Sunday at 11.30am. Both games are at Auckland's ASB stadium. In other matches, Netball North and Counties Manuakau face Canterbury and Tasman in Christchurch.

Waikato meet Western and Wellington in Wellington.

Following this weekend's preliminary games the first division will be divided into the top six and bottom six.

The top six will play off for the national title at a week-long tournament in Hamilton from September 21-27, while the bottom six will play off to determine next year's seedings.