Southby wants rough stuff better policed

Silver Ferns’ coach Janine Southby is calling for the umpires to crack down on deliberate infringements in tomorrow’s final Constellation Cup netball clash at Stadium Southland.

The New Zealand attack was hassled and harried into submission by a noticeably more physical Diamonds defensive effort in game three of the series in Auckland at the weekend. The Australians’ ruthless defence was the foundation for their 62-50 win, which saw them take a 2-1 lead in the series and all but lock away the Constellation Cup for another year.

Their lift in physicality was in response to the Ferns’ shock 53-51 win in game two in Tasmania, with the Australians believing they were outhustled by a more combative New Zealand side.

But Southby believes the Diamonds took their retaliation too far in some areas.

She was particularly frustrated by some fairly cynical circle edge defence, with players attempting to slow quick delivery of ball into the Ferns’ shooting circle by deliberately obstructing, blocking and smothering players.

Diamonds midcourters Gabi Simpson (WD) and Kim Ravaillion (C) were penalised a combined 31 times on Saturday night, with the latter receiving a caution in the second quarter for persistent infringing.

By comparison, the Ferns midcourt duo of Shannon Francois and Laura Langman had 12 penalties in total — nine of those going against Francois.

While the Australians were heavily penalised, Southby said she would like to see the umpires do more to deter such tactics.

“I think the umpires need to take more of a stand on that stuff. I don’t think we say we’re a non-contact sport any more, but there is some stuff that is pretty deliberate and it’s done to slow play and get in our heads, and it works at times,” said Southby.

“We’ve identified a few things in our video debrief so there’s an opportunity when the umpires come into training tomorrow to get some understanding of the things they’re seeing.”

Southby acknowledges her players need to make an adjustment as well in order to cope with the tight one-on-one marking of the Australians.

“We know we let ourselves down in areas on Saturday night, they put us under a lot of pressure and we didn’t react well to that pressure,” she said.