Netball: Mystics expect backlash from inconsistent Swifts

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On paper they are two of the most formidable teams in the transtasman league, but the Northern Mystics and NSW Swifts have also proven to be two of the most inconsistent sides of the competition.

Which makes trying to predict just which team will stand up in tonight's crucial clash between the two semifinal hopefuls rather difficult.

The Mystics, a side with seven past and present internationals, have long been pegged as the underachievers of the league, having never made the play-offs. But they now have a rival for that mantle with the talent-stacked Swifts, who by their own reckoning have the deepest team in the league, in danger of missing out on the topfour.

The Northern Mystics are bracing themselves for a backlash from the wounded Swifts tonight after the Sydney team's shock loss to the Adelaide Thunderbirds on Saturday.

After an impressive seven-goal drubbing of the Magic last week, the talent-stacked Swifts looked to be finding a rich vein of form at the right time of the season. But a patchy display against a gutsy Thunderbirds unit at the weekend has the punters reassessing the Swifts' play-off credentials. Again.

Swifts coach Julie Fitzgerald said her side needed to regroup quickly for tonight's must-win game. The pressure was no different from what they had faced since the mid-point of the season, she added.

"The pressure has been on us for weeks. We knew when we lost three games early on that every game we played was virtually a grand final."

The Mystics will welcome back two key personnel for tonight's match, with coach Debbie Fuller back at the helm after missing last Monday's breakthrough win against the West Coast Fever in Perth as she was unable to travel with her young baby. Silver Ferns defender Joline Henry has also joined the team in Sydney, having missed last week's trip after aggravating an ankle injury.

In tonight's early game the Canterbury Tactix are hoping to lift themselves off the bottom of the ladder with a win over the Central Pulse in Christchurch.