New Zealand coach Ruth Aitken says her wily Australian counterpart Norma Plummer is keeping everyone on their toes as the netall world championships build toward the title decider.
Defending champions Australia and arch-rivals New Zealand have been cruising through their pool games, seemingly destined for a grand final showdown on
Sunday afternoon at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Likely semi-final opponents on Saturday are Jamaica against Australia while England will probably face New Zealand.
Aitken, who equalled former coach Lois Muir's record of 107 tests in charge of the Silver Ferns with their 75-23 win over Trinidad and Tobago, said she had been keeping a close eye on the Australians' progress.
Plummer has kept opponents guessing, chopping and changing her combinations during each of the pool games against the minnow teams.
"They're very talented, very tall, and very athletic and they've got lots of options," Aitken said of the Diamonds.
"Norma's been keeping us on all our toes looking at possible line-ups so I think they're going very well."
Aitken said the Australians' approach was different to what she'd encountered in the past but her Silver Ferns were familiar with the players through the trans-Tasman competition.
"We've certainly come across everyone through that but it's how they match up together that is still a bit unknown so we're keeping a close eye on them."
She said Jamaica had an "awful lot of firepower and are playing very well" while England had been a little bit inconsistent.
Aitken felt her own side was also travelling well, and was particularly pleased with their fast starts which she put down to New Zealand skipper Casey Williams, who had tinkered with their warm-ups.
"She's (Williams) certainly been driving the intensity a bit more and they've been looking at doing a lot more contested work and I think it's been working well for us," Aitken said.
"I'm confident that we've played just about every combination that we possibly could going forward, the state of the team's in a really lovely place."
- AAP
