Watson faces big battle against skyscraper
Southern Steel goal keep Jane Watson is hoping that hard work will pay off.
The 1.81m defender who was recently named in the Silver Ferns trials, will be working overtime in Sunday’s do-or-die trans-Tasman netball league semifinal against the Queensland Firebirds in Brisbane on Sunday.
Watson is looking forward to a ‘‘good battle’’ as she faces the daunting prospect of marking Jamaican sharpshooter Romelda Aiken.
Aiken is one of the tallest players in the league at 1.96m, which could present plenty of problems for the visitors.
Although she would ideally like to jump higher, Watson believes that it will take a determined team effort to stop the Firebirds.
‘‘Just a whole of hard work and a lot of hard work done by everyone in front of you as well,’’ she said.
‘‘Hopefully there will be ball we can get as a result of all the pressure created up front.’’
‘‘I guess we have got to take care of the ball that we have got and score off anything we get.’’
The southern netball franchise face a stern challenge if they are to create history by becoming the first side to topple the Queenslanders at home in a finals series.
The South Island based franchise have only won across the ditch twice, although they are unbeaten in Australia in 2016, defeating the Thunderbirds and drawing with the Swifts in a tense round-14 fixture.
‘‘It will be the same as Sydney, loud big crowds, but you sort of just ride it out and go with it,’’ she said.
The former Tactix player has worked in effective combination with Storm Purvis and Te Huinga Selby-Rickit this season in the defensive circle, although she was joined by debutant Abby Erwood in the NZ conference final loss to the Magic.
‘‘I found it fine, Abby did a great job,’’ she said. ‘‘At training we try a lot of different combinations, working with everybody.’’
The ultimate reward for both teams in Sunday’s fixture is a berth in the trans-Tasman netball league grand final in the last year of the competition.
The two teams clashed during the round 11 fixture, when the Steel downed the injury-hit Firebirds 66-51 in Dunedin.
Both teams enter the Brisbane encounter on the back of contrasting performances.
The Firebirds were too strong for the Swifts 63-52 in the Australian conference final, while the Steel never recovered from a poor start and were eventually defeated 59-57 by the Magic.
Steel coach Noeline Taurua will be hoping her side can start the way they finished in their last game, where they overturned an 11-goal deficit to draw level in the final quarter, before eventually going down.
They were slow starters in the high pressure game, dropping the first quarter 19-13, before reducing a 30-19 deficit by claiming the final two quarters against the experienced Magic combination.
Their success against the Firebirds will rely on how they handle the occasion as they search for their first finals win in competition history.
‘‘We have another opportunity to take what we learned on Sunday, I think that is the exciting thing for this group and time will tell if we can or not,’’ Taurua said.