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With rumours of a coaching rift and player discontent floating about, the Northern Mystics are under pressure to produce a unified display on and off the court in tonight's bottom-of-the-table clash against the Central Pulse.
While the Mystics' lack of cohesion on court has resulted in a dismal
one win from six matches this season, there are now claims the Auckland side have several disgruntled personnel among their ranks.
It is believed some of the former Diamonds players in the squad are unhappy about their lack of game time as coach Yvonne Willering appears to favour those who played under her at the Northern Force in the previous domestic competition.
Meanwhile, revelations of a rift between Willering and her assistant Te Aroha Keenan have also surfaced. Keenan, the NZA coach and a national selector, is said to be upset by her lack of hands-on involvement with the Mystics as Willering assumes complete control over trainings, player selection and match strategy.
The rumours paint a gloomy picture of the Mystics camp, but Willering insists team morale is high.
"That's news to me," she said when asked of talk of discontent among the team. "When everything's going sweet and you're winning everyone is totally happy. It's when the going gets tough that you have to stick together as a team and I think actually that is one thing we've done well."
But Willering admitted there probably are feelings of frustration from those players warming the bench.
"It's hard when you've got players out on court not producing the wins and you've got players sitting on the sideline, but you'll always have that. And I'd like to think I actually have given players opportunities, but there are times when you've also got a bit of stability."
With the struggling Pulse still winless this season, the Mystics are under a great deal of pressure to produce a convincing win tonight.
The Mystics come into the match refreshed after a bye in round seven. Willering said the break has given the Auckland side time to address some major concerns in their game, particularly in the attack end where the Mystics are failing to gel.
Midcourt dynamo Temepara George has been doing some strong work on attack this season, but she has received little support and as a result the Mystics have lacked any real cohesion in their shooting third.
"It's been a good opportunity for people to take responsibility and talk through things really," Willering said.
Given the Mystics' fortunes this season, the Pulse will be targeting tonight's match as a strong opportunity to jag their first win - a point that does not faze Willering.
"Obviously they see that we're a little bit vulnerable and they'd be silly not to try and capitalise on that."
The Mystics have had a disrupted build-up to the game with a stomach bug doing the rounds in the squad. Bustling defender Vilimaina Davu was the worst hit and has not trained with the team all week.
Four other players were also affected but Willering is hopeful she will have her full squad to choose from come game time.
