KEY POINTS:
They are calling it groundwork, but at the end of the day any loss hurts. So why is Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken still smiling?
SuperSPORT asked Aitken to provide five positives from the failed tri-series with Australia and England, and five things the Silver Ferns have to
work on to successfully defend their world title in Auckland in November.
Despite criticism back home of Irene van Dyk being "one-dimensional", Aitken is sticking by her sharpshooter and praising her team's progression from the shock five-goal collapse to England to the three-goal loss to the Aussies on Wednesday.
But she finds fault in the Ferns' fitness, forward drive and composure - flaws that need repairing when the squad regroups in the last weekend of June.
TextBox2: The Silver Ferns play two more matches in London before returning home - against England A this morning, and another shot at the dragon-slayers, England, in an unofficial test tomorrow morning (5am).
"The English are working really hard together, training together every fortnight. We won't touch our team again until the end of the National Bank Cup - we need to get some brownie points back with the franchise coaches after taking them away for two weeks," Aitken says.
The Silver Fern trials on June 29 will determine the team for two home series against Jamaica and Australia in July. After that, the team for the world championships will train together once a fortnight.
Maria Tutaia's shooting was one of the standout efforts in a disappointing tri-series. Photo / Getty Images
Aitken's five positives
1. Improvement from the first test to the second, against Australia. "It was a huge step up. The way we fought back in both the games in the second, third and fourth quarters was also really heartening."
2. The blossoming of Maria Tutaia. "Last year, she was: 'Just give me the ball in the circle and I'll shoot it.' That was all she was really prepared to do. But her feeding of Irene and her shooting in this series has been fantastic. She is truly blossoming as a player."
3. Grabbing turnovers. "When we stuck to our defensive plan, we managed to create good turnover ball. We didn't do it enough in the first game. But in the test against Australia, the whole team defence was so much better."
4. The step-up of Irene. "The improving game of Irene [van Dyk] from the first game to the second was really important. She was disappointed with her shooting accuracy [80 per cent], but the way she took the ball under pressure from Liz Ellis was great. The different options she gave us in that game - and the length of her shot - were huge improvements. We certainly have to put up longer shots - under the hoop you get knocked around a lot. Irene and Jodi [Te Huna] identified in the game against England that they should have just turned and shot."
5. Defensive duo - Casey Williams and Joline Henry. "I was really pleased with the links between Casey and Joline. They showed the benefit of having worked together - with Laura Langman - with the Magic. To be fair, the other defence combinations haven't had a lot of time together yet, so there was a little bit of unsureness there. The fact the Australians had to make a change in their shooting circle was great for us."
