Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken is looking for more flow and less hesitancy from her attack in tomorrow night's test against Australia.
The Silver Ferns have arrived in Sydney fresh from comfortable wins over Melbourne sides the Kestrels and Central. They played their final warm-up game against the Hunter Jaegars
last night.
After a clean sweep of the Aussies in June last year, the Silver Ferns lost the return series 2-1 in what was their first hit out in the post-Belinda Colling era.
The instrumental goal attack was by then living in Scotland and had announced her pregnancy.
Otago's Angela Mitchell was the initial replacement but was quickly cast aside in favour of the powerful Jodi Te Huna in the first test in November.
Te Huna's performance against the no holds barred Australian defence was a little wobbly to start with but as the series progressed her confidence seemed to grow.
Her form in the series against England in March and during the National Bank Cup was a little indifferent but she is still expected to start tomorrow ahead of newcomers Anna Senio and Maria Tutaia.
The last time the Transtasman sides met it was the Silver Ferns' hesitancy in feeding shooters Te Huna and Irene van Dyk, and their slow adjustment to Australia's tight one-on-one marking, which cost them the series win.
"If we think back to last November [wing attack] Adine Wilson had come off a very long injury and her confidence at feeding wasn't at its best and we all know what a great feeder she can be," Aitken said.
"The work that happens outside the circle is really important to how the ball gets in. If we can get our middies on to the circle edge and feed clean ball from there I think we'll have a much better show."
While NZ should have an edge in the midcourt, where they are vastly more experienced than their rivals, the key to a win will revolve around whether they can stifle the Australian attack and how successful they are on attack themselves.
"Australia are strong, they are fit and they'll be hungry for it," Aitken said. "I think for us it is really doing the basics well under pressure ... If we do the bread and butter stuff clinically and execute our game plan then I think it is going to be one hell of a game."
* Australia v NZ, Sydney, tomorrow 9.30pm, live on TV One.
