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Australia captain Liz Ellis tells the Herald her team will not take the opposition lightly - especially New Zealand.
Are you ready?
"I can't wait to play. I am sick and tired of training."
This is your fourth world champs, what have you taken from the
last three?
"I think you learn a little bit from each of them. 1999 was a huge learning curve for us. We weren't favoured to win, New Zealand was but we just managed to scrape through. I have used that as a lesson for us. I continue to tell the girls that when you are the defending world champions you tend to find confidence and another level of performance, so we have to be quite wary of that with the Silver Ferns. We keep talking about that and the fact you can lose before you get to the final. If everything goes to plan we'll probably have a semifinal against England and that in itself is pretty daunting."
Are England and Jamaica really such a threat to Australia and New Zealand?
"I think this is the most open world champs I have played in. England and Jamaica have had some good results this year. England have beaten New Zealand and we struggled to beat them. A few weeks ago England struggled to beat Jamaica. So they are all up there. In 1995 the Silver Ferns didn't make the final, they lost to South Africa, so you can't go into it thinking 'it is going to be us and New Zealand in the final and because we have had some great results we are going to win'. That is just not how a world championship works."
Has being captain changed the way you approach the game?
"What it has done has made me more prepared to do the hard work because you have to lead from out front when you are the captain. It hasn't changed my philosophy - I have always been pretty determined and focused."
Who do you think your toughest opponent will be?
"England and New Zealand. I believe we can beat England. It is going to be tough. If we are not on our game then we will find out the hard way. If we meet the Silver Ferns in the final then I expect them to be the toughest. I still think they are the number one team in the world."
Who do you think will be your toughest personal opponent.
"Irene [van Dyk]. She is an outstanding athlete. I was watching a video the other day from the last test series and just some of the things she does. I know she is going to beat me nine times out of 10. You have to be persistent playing against someone like her because she is phenomenal. She has added a lot more movement to her game so she is a bit more difficult to predict. You don't know if she is going to stand and hold or start to move so you have to be prepared for both those things. She has shown she can adapt her game to a game plan."
But don't you feel like you are getting the better of her now?
"If you call her still scoring 40 points a game [my getting] the better of her. I think you guys are really harsh on her. After that tour of England she got so much criticism, I thought that was grossly unfair because she is still shooting the bulk of the goals. I think she is incredibly tough. There's not another shooter in the world like her."
How do you feel about the tournament being in New Zealand now?
"I would have loved it if it was in Australia but in New Zealand, the crowds are great. We know the world champs will get such a huge amount of publicity and it is not too far for all our relatives to come. I am excited I love playing netball in New Zealand I think the New Zealand public are fantastic, they know their netball and it makes for a really big atmosphere."
Are you superstitious?
"Yes. When I get ready for games I like to strap and put my shoes and socks on in a certain way. Which is stupid. You have your lucky undies and that sort of thing. It is not like you need them to perform but you just feel better that you know you have got a routine, and once you have gone through that routine you are ready to go."
What other interests do you have?
"Golf. I am not very good at it but I like it so I play that on Sundays. Surfing. Sadly at the moment I am not able to exercise my other hobby which is wine appreciation. I also like to cook."
Do you remember much about the 2003 final?
"I have never sat down and watched that final. I don't want to. I don't think we were particularly well prepared for that world championship. There were a lot of distractions. I don't think we went into the tournament playing particularly well. I don't think we had a really settled seven. We have got a lot of the desperation back which we lacked. We have a really young team who aren't that scared of stuff."
Does it feel as if your team are coming together at just the right time where as New Zealand are scrambling at bit following the loss of Temepara George and even Vilimaina Davu in the last 10 months?
"I would never down-play the Silver Ferns. They have lost Temepara and they have lost Vili but they have still got Adine Wilson, Casey Williams - they have still got world class players who are capable of really doing damage if you go into the game thinking that 'oh well we have got these great combinations'. The sign of a great team is one that can refresh and keep rebuilding and that is what the Silver Ferns have been able to do. The team that they are going to put out in this world champs is vastly different from the one that played in the 2003 but all through that time they have still been able to be a dominant force even though they have been rebuilding. So I am hugely respectful and wary of what they can do to us if we are not careful."