Netball: Jamaica on their minds

By DAVID LEGGATT

Memo fringe Silver Ferns: The door to July's world championships in Jamaica is far from closed.

When the National Bank Cup starts next Friday, apart from the usual fascination as to which franchises will emerge from the ruck to contest the semifinals in May, there is the small matter of a trip to the Caribbean which will add significant interest this season.

Anyone assuming the Silver Ferns will pick themselves should speak to national coach Ruth Aitken.

She has made it clear there is room for players who did not make the trip to the Britain last month to elbow a place for themselves simply by dint of consistently high-quality performances over the next few weeks.

The ball, you might say, is in their court.

At the same time ...

"It is absolutely vital that those players seen as more established really perform well during the competition," Hamilton-based Aitken added.

It would be fair to say Aitken and her fellow selectors, national under-21 coach Te Aroha Keenan, Tapanui-based Annette Heffernan and Adrienne Hayes from Christchurch, have a core of players in mind for Jamaica. After all, Aitken has now presided over a trip to Jamaica, last year's Commonwealth Games in Manchester, and the tour of England and Wales this year.

That should be ample time to form opinions of their best players under different conditions and against a range of opponents.

While Aitken and the other selectors will take in most cup games, she won't be giving the coaches guidelines for what she wants to see, either in terms of style or positions.

"We talk through with coaches about players performances and the communication lines are very open. But at the end of the day the coaches must play the team the way they feel best.

"And at the Easter trials we can look at players in different positions than those they play for their franchise teams."

In fact, Aitken sees merit in having a chance to watch a Silver Fern in a different role, and perhaps adding a fresh dimension to their game - and bring something new to the national team's table.

There is a valid comparison with the Blues in this year's Super 12. Doug Howlett is, day in day out, New Zealand's best winger. Yet he played with distinction at fullback in the first three rounds. Would the All Black selectors have furrowed a brow at the move? More likely, they will have discovered their World Cup fullback options broadened by one.

"At the end of last year we met all the coaches and our fitness co-ordinator to sort a programme out. Our problem this year is our [world championship] preparation cuts across the cup. While the cup is going on, players need to be physically preparing for July."

It's not a bad problem, mind you, given that the tour of England and Wales last month was effectively a pre-season trip, which highlighted lack of match practice. There won't be any excuse along those lines by the time the world championships start.

"Our performances were not as polished as we would like to think they will be later in the year," Aitken said of the 52-36, 61-40 and 64-45 wins over England.

The trial camp at AUT Akoranga on the North Shore runs from Good Friday until the following Monday, and will include video analysis and match sessions. The present squad of 16 will be enlarged by Academy players and any who catch the selectors' eye - what she called the "left-field selections" - in the first four rounds of the cup.

And for those who want the style desired by the national panel outlined, it goes like this:

"I like a no-nonsense team, one that does the job with a really strong work ethic.

"Physically, the players will be well prepared, fit and fast. They need mental strength ... keeping on keeping on, no matter what is happening round them."

Defensively, Aitken is happy to mix things up between one-on-one and a more zonal philosophy.

On attack? "Hard, flat, fast."

And what underpins all this?

"It's the basics, because in the end you live and die on the simple things being done well."

Simple as that.

Players are under starters orders with 12 plane tickets the prize.