Netball: Magic have big hill to climb on Aussie road trip

Magic coach Noeline Taurua says her side has to concentrate on their own job. Photo / Dean Purcell

The Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic leave for Australia tomorrow for what they hope will be the last time this season.

The Magic take on the West Coast Fever in Perth on Sunday and will remain in Australia next week to prepare for their clash against the in-form Adelaide Thunderbirds in the final round of the ANZ Championship.

If all goes to plan over the last couple of rounds and the Magic maintain their position on top of the standings, they will book themselves a home play-off. The aim is to win that and take the direct route in to the final of the transtasman league.

Unfortunately for the Magic there are two very strong Australian teams circling, both eager to disrupt the Waikato side's play-off designs.

And then there are the factors they cannot control.

The Magic can only hope the Melbourne Vixens, who are equal on points with them in first place, do not score enough goals to overtake them on goal percentage.

While the Magic have two very tough assignments over the final two rounds, the Vixens should be relatively untroubled at home against the Canterbury Tactix and Central Pulse. The two games present a strong opportunity for the Vixens to record some big wins and boost their goal percentage.

But Magic coach Noeline Taurua said her side had to concentrate on their own job over the next two weeks and hope the rest fell into place.

"We've just got to maintain control over what we're doing, we can't rely on anybody else to do the business for us."

Right from the season's start the Magic have earmarked this road trip as crucial to their finals hopes.

Taurua said that since her side's round-four loss to the Queensland Firebirds the team had been working on implementing strategies to ensure success against the Australian teams.

"What we've been doing since we got beaten by the Firebirds has been setting ourselves up for the Australian style. I think when we got beaten by the Firebirds we got exposed in certain areas, as all New Zealand teams have been," said Taurua.

The Southern Steel's difficult play-off assignment has got even tougher with Silver Fern defender Sheryl Scanlan still struggling with a recurring calf injury that has sidelined her for the past two rounds.

After Monday night's two-goal loss to the Firebirds, the Steel must win their next two games against the Thunderbirds and NSW Swifts and rely on other results going their way if they are to make the top four.

Scanlan, who hurt the same calf at a pre-season tournament in Queenstown, suffered a twinge in her side's loss to the West Coast Fever in round 10 and then exacerbated the problem by returning to training too soon.

"It's torn off the scar tissue from before, so I think I've ruptured that."

The 31-year-old said she was still in a lot of pain and was unsure what role she would be able to play in her side's remaining fixtures this season.

"As much as I'd love to be out on court with the team, I'm not confident that I'll be out there," she said.

"If I push it too soon I could be out for months and months so I just have to take it one day at a time."

The injury is untimely not only for the Steel but also for the Silver Ferns, who are already down one defender after Leana de Bruin withdrew from the squad because of pregnancy.

Scanlan said she hoped the injury would not affect her chances of being involved with national play this year.

"I've got my fingers crossed, I don't know what my chances are now with this injury but I'm just going to hope for the best."

Former Tall Fern Jessica McCormack's netball comeback has been put on hold with the 19-year-old withdrawing from the New Zealand Under-21 team for the World Youth Championships in August.

McCormack's recovery from Achilles surgery is not progressing as well as the national selectors would like. The 1.94m defender has been replaced in the under-21 line-up by Otago's Claire Kersten.

Kersten has been a member of the NZU21 squad since last year and will be playing alongside fellow WYC teammates Jessica Moulds and Emily Close in the Otago U21 Team at New Zealand Age Groups in Auckland next month.