Netball: Crunch time for Silver Ferns' World Cup hopes

Laura Langman. Photo / Getty Images

Two warm-up matches against Australian under-21 side will complete preparations.

There is no more time for the Silver Ferns netballers.

Whether they're ready to take on the world's best or not, the team departs for Sydney today ahead of their opening World Cup clash against Barbados on Friday.

It was only a month ago the new-look Ferns side assembled in a meeting room at the Millennium Institute on Auckland's North Shore, after a brutal selection process that resulted in three long-serving members of the team - Joline Henry, Liana Leota and Cathrine Latu - being left out of the World Cup line-up.

Since then, the team has had a week-long training camp in Auckland, before taking on Fiji and South Africa in a three-test series, with "cluster sessions" held in their hometowns in the intervening weeks. Despite the limited timeframe to prepare her new-look side, Ferns coach Waimarama Taumaunu is happy with the work they've got through in the past month.

"Coaches always want more time, having said that we've known for a long time the start dates for the World Cup and the end dates for the ANZ Champs, so the plan has been in place a long time. There was a lot of thought put into how we could make best use of our time, so no, I don't feel rushed," said Taumaunu.

After last week's hit-outs against South Africa, the Ferns will round out their build-up with two warm-up matches against an Australian under-21 side that features some of the transtasman league's top young talent.

The training games will provide the Ferns with a quick refresher course on the Australian style, which they are set to encounter on day three of the tournament, having drawn the same pool as the world champion Diamonds.

But New Zealand vice-captain Laura Langman said the final shakedowns were more about ensuring the team remained sharp ahead the 10-day tournament.

"A lot of people refer to these games as preparation for the World Cup, but for us the preparation began two years ago and now we're at the stage of executing those plans," said Langman.

World Cup favourites Australia have been putting the finishing touches to their preparation at the weekend at a team camp in Newcastle, in which they welcomed star defender Julie Corletto back to the court.

The two-time World Cup winner has been in a moon boot for the past four weeks to rest a recurring foot injury, but declared herself fit and firing after coming through her first training session with the team on Saturday.

"It was an unreal feeling to be out there [on court] with the girls, we've been away from each other for the last three weeks doing individual training so it was good to have the boot off and be back out on court," Corletto said.

The 28-year-old's World Cup preparations were limited to ball work and non-weight-bearing activities after she succumbed to soreness during the Diamonds' camp on the Gold Coast early last month.

While frustrated by the injury, she acknowledged that the rest was in her best interests.

Corletto announced last month she would be retiring from all netball after the World Cup.