Netball: Up-front Aussie has final in sights

By DAVID LEGGAT

Ask a sports coach how they rate their team's prospects for a match or competition and too often they will box clever, under-play their prospects and give the opposition a decent plug.

Not so Maria Lynch, coach of the Force in this year's Coca-Cola Cup national netball league.

"We want to be in the final," she said.

No ifs and buts about that.

"That's me, I'm pretty up-front," she laughed.

Perhaps it's something to do with her being a Sydneysider, the first non-New Zealander to take charge of a national league team.

Australians invariably are not without a healthy dose of confidence and so it is with Lynch as she contemplates prospects for the perennial under-achievers from the North Shore.

Lynch, with 20 years of coaching behind her in New South Wales - and set to take over the senior state team when she returns home later this year - is relishing the challenge of lifting the team to a standard their quality personnel suggests they should be capable of attaining.

The Force boast a strong spine to their line-up, with Silver Ferns Teresa Tairi and Linda Vagana at either end of the court, and Temepara George, mid-courter of the year last season when she was with the Cometz, and promising Australian Elise Middleton in mid-court.

Lynch has been impressed with the input of the senior players, likes the fact that they have strong, engaging personalities, and the way they have been willing to take responsibility for what happens on the court.

"When we selected the team we were aware we wanted to create a balance, and having senior players like that helps the younger players," she said. "They're great role models for the younger ones."

The pre-season build-up was an important time for Lynch.

"We sat down, and did a lot of talking with the senior players as to where they wanted to go this year, and how best we could run with our strengths."

Last weekend, the Force comfortably beat the Magic 50-36 in Taupo to get the ideal start.

But they were not alone in that, as the Diamonds got up to impressively beat last year's finalists the Otago Rebels 69-60 in Dunedin, and set up an intriguing cross-bridge showdown at North Shore Events Centre on Sunday afternoon.

That Diamonds result hinted at two things - the Rebels, shorn of some of their senior players this year, might not be the force they have been in the past, and the Elaine Davis-inspired Diamonds will be a handful for any team in the league this year.

The tall Jamaican goal-shoot potted 59 of her 64 shots and Force goal-keep Vagana will clearly be a key figure in Sunday's shootout.

"It's been playing on everybody's minds this week," Lynch said. "There'll be a lot of clashes out there."

Just keep an eye on the Vagana-Davis match-up for starters.

In other games, the Magic play the Western Flyers in Rotorua, defending champions the Sting entertain the Flames in Invercargill, both tomorrow, while the Capital Shakers play the Cometz in Wellington on Sunday.