KEY POINTS:
Young and exciting was how North coach Melissa Walker described her defensive unit going into netball's national championships.
She may now want to add destructive and relentless after her side came through what was a tough weekend unbeaten.
After the opening three games of the championships, Auckland Waitakere
and North lead their respective sections.
North's position at the top of section A was a little more hard earned than their crosstown rivals'.
After opening the championship on Friday night in Dunedin with a hard-fought 63-59 win over a revitalised Otago side, North had an equally tough battle the following day against Canterbury, where they managed to squeeze out an even closer 52-49 victory.
They finished the weekend with a comfortable 60-40 win over Eastern.
Walker, who has been named as the new coach of Ireland, had plenty of praise for her young defensive quartet of Areta Thatcher, Finau Pulu, Charlene Halapua and Amy Harte.
"My defence was just outstanding," Walker said.
"They were coming around so cleanly and doing such amazing things. Because they are young they just add that little bit of flair. They are not stressed, they just go with the flow.
"Their big eyes just stare at you and as a coach you know they are lapping up everything you say."
Having had limited time together leading up to the competition, Walker said improving their communication on court was something they will be looking to address before the week-long tournament which starts in Palmerston North next Monday.
"What we need to work on is just keeping that tight team unit and communicating with each other. Other than that, it is the fittest team I have ever had and that has been proven this weekend. I have had no injuries."
Trailing North in section A are Otago and Canterbury, who both lost to North, and defending champions Waikato, who went down 54-41 to Otago.
After the round robin play is completed, the top three teams in section A play the top three teams in section B. The bottom three teams in both sections also square off. The top four teams then advance to the semifinals.
In the section B matches played in Invercargill over the weekend, Auckland Waitakere easily dismissed Tasman 70-33, Bay of Plenty 50-34 and Wellington also 50-34. Sitting behind then on the table are Western and Southland, who suffered a defeat each.
All 10 Auckland Waitakere players were given court time over the weekend and having lost Maria Tutaia and Paula Griffin to the Silver Ferns, coach Paula Bailey said she was happy with the progress of Grace Rasmussen, who has stepped into the goal attack role.
"Grace really stood up and led that end. The onus was really on her to lift those young ones and guide them through and she did that really well."