Southby plans Ferns experiments
‘Exhausting game of chess’ awaits as coaches ponder pieces needed to checkmate rivals in Constellation Cup
The Silver Ferns may be forced into experimentation mode against Australia in this month’s Constellation Cup as they seek answers to positional shortages.
Coming into this season with a new-look squad, coach Janine Southby singled out the lack of cover in the centre and goal defence positions as her most pressing concern. The Ferns made limited progress in these areas over last month’s Quad Series and three-test series against England, with Southby unable to find meaningful opportunities to try alternative options in the positions.
Katrina Grant played every minute of the past six tests at goal defence, while Shannon Francois was also leaned on heavily at centre.
Southby said with the demanding schedule for the Commonwealth Games set to stretch team resources, the need to find strong back-up across all positions was acute.
“We’ve certainly worked hard in some areas, but we’ve still got two positions in centre and goal defence we’ve got to be making sure we’ve got back-up ready to go, should the unthinkable happen in either of those positions,” she said.
The lack of coverage at centre strongly influenced selections for the four-test series, which begins in Auckland on Thursday night, with young midcourters Sam Sinclair and Whitney Souness included in the 12-strong line-up because of their versatility. Kayla Cullen appears the obvious candidate to provide back-up at goal defence, but Southby is mindful that the athletic star needs to first “find her groove” at wing defence as she returns to fitness after off-season knee surgery.
Despite the urgency in needing to find solutions to the positional shortages, Southby is conscious of not pushing combinations that aren’t ready.
“We don’t want to be stupid about it and do it at the expense of throwing people in the deep end. It’s about making sure that the players when they’re running in training they’re showing that they’re ready to get out there and do battle against the best in the world,” she said.
“We’re certainly very aware we have to give people time to build their confidence, so we’ll be looking to [try new combinations] where we can, and if it comes off, that’s good. If it doesn’t then we have to try and find other ways to do that, but certainly in our trainings we have made a concerted effort to give players time in those positions.”
Australian coach Lisa Alexander is in similar position, with the Diamonds also looking at new combos — some through design, some forced — for the coming series. Along with planned changes to the shooting end, in which goal attacks Tegan Philip and Gretel Tippett have been swapped out from the Quad Series in favour of Susan Pettitt and Steph Wood, Alexander has tweaked midcourt, dropping vice-captain Madison Robinson.
With experienced stars Sharni Layton and Laura Geitz out this season, the Diamonds are also bedding down new defensive combinations, leaving Alexander with a lot to juggle.
“Watching what Janine is doing with the team, you can see that she is trying to find a group that is flexible and adaptable in their positions,” said Alexander.
“I’m trying to do the same things with our team, that’s why I’ve said previously this is going to be an exhausting chess game. We’ll each be moving players around a bit, which will frustrate the traditionalists of the game, because they always like to have their top seven.”
Netball Australia’s aggressive push to have the biggest and best domestic league has come at the expense of their national programme, according to Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander.
The Australian team is going through a rare period of turmoil as it heads into this month’s Constellation Cup series, which gets under way in Auckland on Thursday night, after its programme was thrown into disarray following the shock 57-47 Quad Series loss to the Silver Ferns last month.
The result flew in the face of predictions that the highly competitive Australian league, which was established following the split in the transtasman competition in 2016, would result in New Zealand dropping further off the pace of the world champion Diamonds team.
Alexander said her side’s performance in Invercargill revealed the Super Netball competition is not necessarily preparing her players well for the international environment. Netball Australia has been unashamedly ambitious with commercial aspirations for the new league, adding three new franchises to the mix, opening the door to unlimited imports, and making a series of subtle rule changes in an effort to enhance the television product.
Asked if the changes have had a detrimental effect on her programme, Alexander replied: “Definitely. You can see the reasons why — they want to make the Suncorp Super Netball a commercial success. But the result is the result — that’s what has happened, [ the Diamonds’ season] has been pushed into a very small window.
“The sport has gone through huge changes with the professionalisation, the 12-month athlete — all of that stuff has really impacted. It was to be expected, but it is hard to plan for and it never plays out exactly how you think it will.”
Following last month’s loss in Invercargill, Alexander highlighted the variation in time-out rules in the Australian league as having an impact on her side’s horror start to the match, in which the Australians found themselves eight goals down at the first break after being caught off guard by the intensity of the Ferns.
“Our players have gotten used to being coached halfway through a quarter, whereas at international level that’s just not available to them.”
There could be further rule changes next year, with NA still mulling over introducing a two-point shot to the competition. The controversial move was put on hold for the inaugural season following an outcry from high-profile players as well as fans. Alexander also joined the chorus of objectors.
“The thing is [ Netball Australia] have to make a decision on is the domestic competition going to be sitting alone as a product, or feeding into the national team.”
The Diamonds coach sympathises with the plight of NA administrators, who are trying to ensure Super Netball makes its mark in a congested sporting market across the Tasman. “We’re so competitive with other sports in Australia that one loss and we have completely dropped off the radar. But we can’t get too negative about things. When we look at what we planned for this season we were always looking out our options and what’s going to be the best mix of players for Comm Games, which is our key priority.”