KEY POINTS:
Tonight's transtasman netball final between the NSW Swifts and Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic has taken on test-match intensity.
It's been an especially nervous week then for defender Jodi Tod, the only member of the Magic's run-on side without a test cap.
The last few weeks of the Magic's
campaign have been a huge step into the unknown for Tod, who rates the title clash in Sydney as the biggest of her career.
Which is not to say the talented defender will be out of her depth.
Tod, who joined the Magic only this year after playing in Canterbury in the previous domestic competition, has proved a handy acquisition for the Waikato side.
She wasn't initially considered a starter by Noeline Taurua, but Tod's hard work and application at training and some impressive form in the pre-season forced the Magic coach to rejig her line-up.
The often underrated Tod has been the silent assassin in the Magic's defensive end, forming a lethal combination with Silver Ferns stars Casey Williams and Joline Henry.
Tod's impressive form has been such that she herself is now in line to receive the call-up for national honours when the Silver Ferns squad is named on Thursday.
But the 27-year-old said she was putting any talk of Ferns selection firmly to the back of her mind as she focuses on tonight's season finale.
"These games over the past few weeks has been the biggest games of my career so I've just been trying to get my head around those," she said.
"[Silver Ferns selection] hasn't really crossed my mind too much. There's been a lot of talk about it lately and a few people have said something to me, but all I'm thinking about is getting through this 60 minutes and trying to play consistently. What will be on Thursday will be."
With a record netball crowd of more than 15,000 expected in Sydney tonight, the pressure-cooker atmosphere will be unlike anything Tod has experienced before.
She joked it has caused her a few sleepless nights.
"It wasn't until I drove home on Monday night and [Magic assistant coach] Hikitia Gallagher actually said to me 'Acer Arena seats about 15-16,000' that I even thought about it. So it has been haunting me in my sleep.
"But no, I'm just really looking forward to the experience, it's going to be awesome."
Magic captain Amigene Metcalfe said playing in front of a fanatical crowd of that size would take exceptional focus and control from her side.
"It's really hard to imagine until you're actually there. So we just need to be really clinical and focused on what we're doing and try and block everything else out," she said.
"I think if we can keep our composure, we can control the result."
* Grand final
NSW Swifts v Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic
Acer Arena, Sydney, 9 tonight
Live on Sky Sport 1 from 8.30pm
The odds: Swifts $1.55 Magic $2.30
