Netball: Lees sees Tri-Series as way to Cup berth

Camilla Lees has a chance to add to her 11 test caps. Photo / Sarah Ivey

The Silver Ferns are unlikely to be pushed on court in this week's Oceania Tri-Series, but midcourter Camilla Lees believes she can still use the matches to push her case for World Cup selection.

After a breakthrough 2012 season, in which she established her place as the Ferns' first-choice wing attack, injury disruptions, work commitments and indifferent form saw Lees slip down the pecking order.

But with the national selectors rewarding the players who have done the hard yards over the summer break to improve their fitness and conditioning with a call-up for the Tri-Series involving Fiji and Samoa, Lees will finally get the chance to add to her 11 test caps this week.

While the two Pacific Island nations won't offer the same level of competition that the Ferns' key World Cup rivals - or even an ANZ Championship franchise - would pose, Lees says there is still plenty she can do on the tour to boost her chances of selection for the Sydney tournament.

"Any time you get the opportunity to play for the Silver Ferns you've got to show that you are able to stay accurate, execute well throughout the match and work well in a lot of different combinations," said Lees, who takes up a contract with the Mystics this year after six seasons with the Pulse.

"The focus for me going to Fiji is playing good, smart netball and making sure I keep the intensity up in trainings and match play."

The 25-year-old doctor is one of four players gunning for effectively two spots in the Ferns' World Cup line-up. She missed out on Commonwealth Games selection to the Steel's Shannon Francois and Liana Leota, while Grace Rasmussen was favoured ahead of Francois for the Constellation Cup and England test series at the end of last year. Lees hopes to force another rethink of that mix with strong performances in Suva, backed up by a consistent season with the notoriously inconsistent Mystics.

To boost her chances, the super-fit midcourter is putting medicine on hold this year to focus entirely on netball. Remarkably, for the past seven years Lees has managed to juggle her medical studies and, since graduation, fulltime work as a doctor in Wellington with elite netball.

But she accepts that to have any chance of making it to the World Cup, this year needs to be all about netball.

"I loved being able to do both, but with this being such an important year, I made the decision to take some time off work and just really knuckle down and focus on netball because it's not going to last forever and I feel where I'm at now in my medical career I can have a bit of flexibility."

The Oceania series gets under way tonight with the Ferns taking on the hosts.

3 reasons the Oceania series is important

Big year
The series is the beginning of what will be an intense 2015 programme as the Ferns build towards the World Cup in August. On top of match play, the team will be put through rigorous training sessions each day.

Comeback kid
After a lengthy lay-off with injury, star shooter Maria Tutaia - a key part of the Ferns' World Cup plans - has a chance to regain some form and confidence ahead of the ANZ Championship.

Helping out the neighbours
The series will help support the development of netball in the Pacific Islands, with the Silver Ferns coaches also offering their expertise to local Fijian coaches.

Oceania Tri-Series

Tonight: Silver Ferns v Fiji.
Tomorrow: Silver Ferns v Samoa.
Wednesday: Fiji v Samoa.
Thursday: Silver Ferns v Fiji.

All matches live on Sky Sport at 7.30pm from the National Netball Centre, Suva.