Netball: Kiwis rake through ashes of poor season

Sonia Mkoloma would be a desirable acquisition for the Northern Mystics next season. Photo / Christchurch Star

As the Melbourne Vixens and Adelaide Thunderbirds prepare for tomorrow's ANZ Championship grand final, the New Zealand franchises are in various stages of dissecting their season and plotting for next year.

Not surprisingly, with two Australian sides battling it out for transtasman supremacy, grand final fever has bypassed New Zealand.

It has been a disappointing season for New Zealand netball fans.

Sure, there have been highlights - the Central Pulse recording their first win of the competition, the Magic becoming the first Kiwi team to win on Australian soil, two New Zealand teams in the finals - but once again the competition has exposed the gulf in depth between the two countries.

This is nothing new, the Australians are always going to have greater player numbers. But what is worrying is that increasingly the New Zealand teams appear to have been left behind as the Australians take to the semi-professional era with greater gusto. The Aussie sides were simply fitter, stronger and better-prepared this year.

It is disappointing then, that as many Kiwi sides look ahead to next season their first priority is to ask: which players can we get in next year to make us stronger?

What they really need to be asking themselves is: as a team what can we do better? How can we ensure we are better prepared next year? What do we need to change in our structure and planning to make ourselves more competitive?

Northern Mystics - final placing 8th

What has happened to Auckland netball? The Mystics backed up last year's disappointing seventh place finish with another poor result in 2009. For a franchise that boasts the biggest playing population in New Zealand, they should be able to mount a stronger challenge than this.

Expect an announcement in the coming weeks about new recruits to the management team. Once the foundations are in place, the Auckland side will turn their attention to their playing roster. It is important that they maintain a strong core of their players from this year, but undoubtedly they'll be looking to recruit a couple of marquee players for each end of the court. It is thought English defender Sonia Mkoloma will be high on their shopping list, but it is not known if the 30-year-old wishes to return Downunder for another season.

The Auckland side would be foolish to persevere with defender Vilimaina Davu for another year. In two seasons Davu's fitness and conditioning has not improved and in this increasingly professional era, you have to wonder if there is still a place for her.

Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic - final placing 3rd

Third place seems a pretty respectable finish in the highly competitive transtasman league.

But with five first-string Silver Ferns, a pregnant Fern, a New Zealand squad member and a Samoan international in their ranks, the Magic were expected to do much better.

But it wasn't so much their final placing as it was the Magic's woeful performances over the last three weeks that disappointed Magic fans.

Looking ahead to next season, the Magic will try to keep their star-studded group together, although early indications are there may be departures.

But if this season has taught the Magic anything, it's that in this league, a team can't rely on talent alone.

The management staff must take a long hard look at their planning and preparation for next season.

Central Pulse - final placing 10th

Despite finishing last in the league, it is hard to be too critical when assessing the Pulse's season.

Considering the off-season dramas at the club and the talent they had available, they have in a sense exceeded expectations by notching their first win in the competition. The challenge for them now is to ensure it doesn't take another 25 games for their next win.

Canterbury Tactix - final placing 6th

The Tactix' sixth-placed finish was an improvement on last season but it is hard to take much satisfaction from that when you consider what might have been.

They had the talent but their performance at the death is a major concern with six of their eight losses being by five goals or less.

Looking to next season the Tactix will be keen to retain the services of Mkoloma, but their chances of doing so appear slim with the star defender said to have been very unhappy in Canterbury.

But even without Mkoloma and retired skipper Julie Seymour, the Tactix still have the basis of a very good team if they can work on the mental aspect of their game.

Southern Steel - final placing 4th

The Steel are one New Zealand team that can feel justifiably proud of their performances this year, with the southern franchise making their maiden finals appearance.

But you can't help but feel the Steel have sacrificed the long-term development of the team for short-term success. Coach Robyn Broughton's loyalty to former stars of her old Sting regime, Adine Wilson and Donna Wilkins, has been at the expense of the development of young up and coming players.

Their reluctance to play young shooter Julianna Naoupu was particularly disappointing.

Naoupu did the job for the Steel last season when she was thrust in to the starting line-up in place of an injured Megan Dehn, but the return of Wilkins meant the youngster was given few chances this season.