KEY POINTS:
The Northern Mystics' bid to sign Vilimaina Davu for the upcoming ANZ Championship season has taken on greater urgency after it has emerged star defender Leana de Bruin is recovering from ankle surgery.
De Bruin is expected to be out of action for around six weeks following keyhole
surgery on her ankle last Friday to clean up some cartilage floating around.
The lofty Silver Ferns defender picked up the injury in the semifinal of the World Championships in November against Jamaica and was initially cleared of any long-term damage. But an MRI scan in late January revealed bone fragments on her ankle and de Bruin was advised to get it fixed before the start of the season. The late diagnosis may rule de Bruin out for the Mystics' competition-opener against the Canterbury Tactix on April 6 and the former South African international said she was disappointed the problem wasn't picked up earlier.
"At the time I just thought it was a bad sprain and nothing was picked up on the X-rays. But when I started doing netball specific stuff in my pre-season training, I knew something wasn't right and I had a scan and it was picked up then," she said.
While de Bruin said she hopes to be back on the court within the expected six-week recovery period, it leaves the Mystics in a bit of a bind until then.
The Auckland franchise now face the prospect of heading to next month's pre-season tournament in Sydney, where they'll play around eight games over two days, with only 10 players as they await a resolution over the Davu appeal.
Mystics coach Yvonne Willering believes the de Bruin setback has added further weight to their fight to include Davu in the line-up.
"It's shown to us that you have one injury and you're looking at having to fill positions rather than having people in their preferred position," she said.
The Mystics had their initial application to sign Davu declined by Netball New Zealand and submitted their appeal last Wednesday. They are still awaiting a response from the league board to find out how and when the appeal will be heard.
Having already faced several delays in the player contracting process, Willering said she was disappointed to be facing further hold-ups with trying to assemble a full squad. "We want to get the court combinations together and we don't want to do that at the last moment."