KEY POINTS:
After three straight losses, the doomsayers are already writing off the Northern Mystics' ANZ Championship chances.
Certainly there is no hiding from the fact that the Mystics have played terribly early on in the season, but if the early rounds of the competition have taught us anything, it is that making predictions is a risky business.
The scenario seems to change each week. After round three, the Aussie teams are perceived to be leading the way, but it was only a week ago that the Kiwi teams looked to have the edge. And this may well change again after this weekend's play.
It will be another three of four weeks before we'll have a true gauge of which teams are play-off contenders.
So to declare the Mystics' season over after three rounds, particularly when every team in the competition have recorded at least one loss, is very premature indeed.
In some ways, the Mystics' slow start to the season is not surprising.
In the previous domestic competition, Auckland franchises the Diamonds and the Force were traditionally slow starters, only hitting their stride come the sharp end of the season.
But the Mystics are in danger of being left behind if they don't start performing now, and their task certainly isn't going to get any easier. They have a difficult assignment in Brisbane tomorrow against the Queensland Firebirds, who are headlined by Jamaican starlet Romelda Aiken. However, it will be the clash between the two styles of play rather than individual match-ups that are likely to decide the outcome of the match.
The differing styles of New Zealand and Australian play adds a further element of unpredictability to the transtasman matches. While Australian teams make up the top four, albeit on goal differential, the Aussie style of play is not necessarily superior.
Much has been made of how the lesser-fancied West Coast Fever managed to unhinge the Mystics last weekend after showing all the hallmarks of the tenacious Australian attitude. But the New Zealand style of play has also caused the Australian franchises a few problems early on as well.
In round two, the Canterbury Tactix stunned the NSW Swifts with their strong through-court defence, while the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic toppled the Adelaide Thunderbirds by forcing them in to making a number of errors. The Thunderbirds made countless speculative cross-court passes - something you just can't do against a zone defence - and the Magic defence gobbled them up.
Sides who stick to their own structure and gameplan come out on top. Those teams that fall into the trap of trying to beat the opposition at their own game are made to pay.
