KEY POINTS:
Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken will contact Black Sox and All Black officials to get a second opinion before settling on her team's rejigged world championship schedule.
The president of world netball Molly Rhone is in Auckland this morning to announce the location and dates of this year's
world championships.
The world body took up Netball New Zealand's offer to host the 10-day tournament in November in Auckland or Christchurch after Fiji were stripped of it following the military coup.
For Aitken that has meant a major rethink on all fronts - from when she will name her world championship team, who they will play and strategies to deal with the pressure of playing at home in front of an enthusiastic netball nation.
Aitken has already mapped out a draft plan through to the world championships which she will seek feedback on from the Silver Ferns squad, who grouped in Auckland yesterday for a four-day camp.
"We certainly want to get the players' feedback on it," Aitken said.
"Then to make sure we also want to look at it from the point of view of other sports who have prepared for similar things like the Black Sox, who had their world championships in New Zealand and the All Blacks in terms of their world champs being around a similar time in September/October.
"Towards the latter part of February we should know what is happening from National Bank Cup onwards."
Aitken said the Silver Ferns' schedule through to June remained almost the same as it was before the championships were moved, aside from the trip to Fiji in February which had now been canned.
The Silver Fern squad members will play in the National Bank Cup, but will take a two-week break in May when a New Zealand team of 12 and maybe two training partners will travel to England for a tri-series against the home nation and Australia.
The Silver Ferns are then committed to a series against Australia which is scheduled for October.
But with the championships now in November, Aitken's preference is for the series to be moved forward to July, which could suit the Australians who have a three-week break in their Commonwealth Bank Trophy Competition during that time.
Aitken won't name her world championship team until at least the middle of the year which will allow her to take in the whole National Bank Cup. But the team will be announced before the national regional championships in September - a tournament the Silver Ferns may even sidestep.
"My feeling is you need time to build the team. While you can have a very strong squad and competition for places there is nothing like knowing, 'Yes this is us, we are in this lifeboat together'."
All three New Zealand squads are in camp in Auckland this weekend - the Silver Ferns, New Zealand A and the under-21s.
Sheryl Scanlan has been invited to the Silver Ferns camp. The defender, who is on the comeback trail after the birth of her first child, also took part in the Ferns' last camp in November.
"She has been working hard so she is an invited player at the moment and then we'll see how she performs," Aitken said.
Daneka Wipiiti, Liana Barrett-Chase, Bessie Manu and Jade Topia were also invited to the Ferns' November camp but because they are members of the New Zealand A squad will remain there this weekend.
For Aitken this weekend is not only a chance to assess the players' fitness - "while they send in their training logs it is great to see the whites of their eyes," - more importantly it will allow them to discuss the proposed schedule and whether or not the players can commit.
"Everyone has their own way of looking at it depending on their circumstances. It is a time for everyone to look at it and say I can cope with that or crikey I can't. But I think the opportunity to perform at home is going to be too much for any of them, they wouldn't miss it for the world."
The rescheduling of the world championships to November also raises the question whether former Ferns Belinda Colling and Anna Rowberry, who exited the game last year to have babies, would contemplate a return.
"I don't think either of them are past their best at all but your life is different once you have children and they have to be prepared to commit an awful lot.
"We would never close any doors but they know by the same token it is getting harder and harder to get back in. No one would be asked, 'Can you come back please', they'd have to go through the selection process the same as everyone else."
