Netball: In-form Force have their sights on home semifinal

By JULIE ASH

North Harbour's Force are a step closer to securing a home semifinal as the scramble for playoff spots in the national league continues.

The Force thrashed the Counties and Manukau Cometz 71-33 in Papatoetoe and are now second on the table with 21 points.

Defending champions the Southern Sting wrapped up their final game of the round robin competition with a 77-44 win over the Capital Shakers today.

With 29 points the Sting will finish the competition at the top of the table and secure a home semi.

The Otago Rebels and the Bay of Plenty/Waikato Magic share third place with 20 points while the Auckland Diamonds have 17 points and the Canterbury Flames 16.

For the Force to cement second spot they must beat the Capital Shakers in the final round of the league of Sunday.

"The match against the Cometz was a new start for us after our loss to the Magic (the week before)," said Force coach Yvonne Willering.

"Now if everything goes to plan we should play either the Magic or the Rebels at North Harbour."

Since the introduction of the national league in 1998, the Force have failed to finish higher than third despite consistently boasting a team full of current and former Silver Ferns.

But with a loss against the Sting and the Magic their only hiccups to date Willering is confident the Force can break the Sting's stranglehold on the national title.

"We haven't reached our full potential yet," Willering said.

"We are in a situation where we had a bit of a headache against the Magic and this is really a chance for us to regroup," she said.

In other key matches this weekend the Magic square off against the Rebels in Dunedin.

The winner of the match will move up to 24 points and secure a playoff spot while the loser could still stay in the top four depending on the outcome of the Diamonds and Flames match.

If the Diamonds win then it will take them to 21 points which should secure them fourth spot.

If the Flames win then they will move up to 20 points which will make them equal on points with the loser of Magic and Rebels game. If two teams are equal on points after the round robin the team with the better goal differential will progress.

Diamonds coach Joan Hodson said her team have no other option but to give it their all against the Flames.

"We have just got to go hard and do our own stuff well," Hodson said.

"The Flames have been a bit shaky lately and that is what is so good about this competition - you don't know what is going to happen until the day."

* The Netball New Zealand board will meet later this month to confirm the structure of next year's national league.

While there has been plenty of discussion about reducing the number of teams in the competition all will be revealed in an announcement from the board following the national league final.