Netball: Mystics expect umpire's beady eye

Northern Mystics defender Joline Henry expects she and defensive partner Althea Byfield will come under extra scrutiny from the umpires in Monday's transtasman league clash with the Queensland Firebirds.

The Firebirds are without a win from their opening three hit-outs and their coach Roselee Jencke has blamed the constant barrage of overly physical tactics on Jamaican shooter Romelda Aiken for the pre-season champions' poor start.

The 1.96m shooter, one of the stand-out players in the opening two seasons of the league, has struggled to make an impact in the opening rounds, returning mediocre shooting stats and a high turnover rate.

Jencke believes this is because the match officials are allowing far more dangerous contact in the goal circle this year and has lodged a detailed report to tournament officials.

Now Jencke has gone public with her complaints, Henry expects the Mystics' defensive end will be watched very closely by officials in Brisbane on Monday.

"Without a doubt, now the debate is out there, they will be looking at us very closely," said Henry.

The Silver Ferns defender, who gives away 13cm in height to Aiken, admits the Jamaican star does come under extra attention from opposition teams, but points out so too do most dominant shooters in the league.

She said the Mystics defence would never deliberately rough up a player.

"I don't want to endorse that type of play, but at the end of the day defenders are going to do whatever it takes to get that ball, that's the nature of elite-level sport."

Henry said the best plan of attack was to try to stem the flow of ball into the goal circle by turning the ball over further up court.

"We need to make sure we're capitalising on gaining the ball outside the circle, we don't want to get into competing in the air with someone who has almost a foot on you."

But should the Mystics defence be forced to get in a jumping competition with Aiken, they will be well served by the athletic Byfield, who also wears the Jamaican colours. The Mystics import has had an instant impact for her team this year, leading the competition for deflections and intercepts.

"Althea's got a few things up her sleeve, which I'm really excited about for Monday," said Henry.

The Auckland side have been making use of Byfield's inside knowledge of her international teammate as they look to come up with a strategy to counter Aiken.

"[Byfield] knows which side of the circle [Aiken] likes to hold on, which is her dominant side she likes to pass off, where she likes to take the ball, so it's really neat to have her alongside me and listen to her."

Monday's match could potentially be the deciding game of this weekend's Rivalry Round, which features all transtasman clashes.

The round kicks off in Hamilton today with the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic taking on the young West Coast Fever.

The ability to adjust quickly to the Australian style against the Perth-based franchise will be key to the Magic's rising stocks following two solid wins against the Northern Mystics and Southern Steel.

The Magic have won both previous encounters but the young Fever team were the big improvers in the competition last year. They pulled off a couple of surprise wins over their more experienced rivals and now have several players, including their beanpoles at either end of the court, Caitlin Bassett and Susan Fuhrmann, vying for spots in the Australian Diamonds.

Also today, the Central Pulse look set for more transtasman misery when they take on the in-form NSW Swifts in Sydney.

The Southern Steel also face a difficult away trip, with a round-four showdown against the Thunderbirds in Adelaide tomorrow.

ANZ CHAMPIONSHIP

Round 4 (Rivalry round)

Today: 2:20pm Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic v West Coast Fever, Hamilton; 4:20pm NSW Swifts v Central Pulse, Sydney.
Tomorrow: 4:50pm Adelaide Thunderbirds v Southern Steel, Adelaide.
Monday: 7:20pm Canterbury Tactix v Melbourne Vixens, Christchurch; 9:05pm Queensland Firebirds v Northern Mystics, Brisbane.