Silver Ferns on dual mission

The work has been done inside the Silver Ferns camp and now it’s time to put it to the test.

The New Zealand netball team flew out of Auckland yesterday for Saturday night’s Quad Series opener, against South Africa in Brisbane.

Silver Ferns coach Janine Southby clearly has one eye on next year’s Commonwealth Games and the upcoming series is a chance both to get a close look at her players and get one over New Zealand’s main rivals in the Gold Coast early next year.

Southby says the squad has had a good week in camp.

‘‘You’d always like more time as a coach, but we knew that it was going to be a busy time, so we prioritised what we needed to do.

‘‘The focus really goes onto the netball side of things now, so we’re really looking forward to the opportunity to get out there and mix it in the Quad Series and it’s a good chance to measure our progress towards the Commonwealth Games next year.’’

The Quad Series draw is a good one from a New Zealand point of view. After starting off with South Africa, they take on England in Auckland on Wednesday night, then face Australia in Invercargill the following Saturday.

The way the games fall allows the Silver Ferns to build for their toughest game, but Southby doesn’t want to see it like that.

‘‘I don’t ever stress too much about these things,’’ she said.

‘‘We’ve got to play them all at some stage and I don’t ever think someone’s an easy beat or a hard beat, it’s just the opposition you’ve got to play on that day.‘‘

Southby said there a few parts of their game they want to focus on against South Africa, with doing well from the centre pass being one of them.

‘‘The big thing is starting off strongly when we get centre pass,’’ she said.

‘‘Centre pass has been a big focus in the last week in camp. Building combinations and connections on court and two other areas we’re really looking at are retaining possessions and gains.’’

With there being South African players in the New Zealand and Australian netball leagues, the Silver Ferns team will have a fair idea of what they’re coming up against on Saturday.

But Southby says there’s always the potential for their coach, Norma Plummer to spring a surprise.

‘‘Until you see them out on court, you don’t know what changes they bring,’’ she said.

‘‘But certainly from what we’ve observed in the Quad Series we had last year and also through our competition and observation of the Suncorp League, their players have certainly got the capabilities.

‘‘The big thing about South Africa for us is that they can be unorthodoxed in the style they play the game, so for us it’s expecting the unexpected.’’