Heffernan solving midcourt riddle
Wing defence point of contention, with no clear specialist
Silver Fern Kate Heffernan has revealed her preferred midcourt position as Dame Noeline Taurua weighs up how best to fill the wing defence bib for the Silver Ferns at the Netball World Cup starting on July 28.
The New Zealand side today travel to the Sunshine Coast, where they will start their second pre-tournament boot camp, running until Monday.
Wing defence looms as one of the biggest points of contention, with no clear specialist in the 15-strong squad.
Heffernan is the only named midcourter with experience there but played mostly at centre for the Southern Steel in the ANZ Premiership.
The only other apparent option is to shift standout goal defence Karin Burger to the midcourt, disrupting her dominant Mainland Tactix partnership with goal keep Jane Watson.
Heffernan said centre was her favourite position but she is training in both roles.
“I do enjoy going into the wing defence position in this environment because I can just really focus on my defence, which is my strength. That’s what I’m a lot more natural at doing and what I love, so I don’t mind.
“We do heaps of different line-ups and get to sort out all the combinations. I’m just making sure I know my role in both centre and wing defence, and wherever I end up, I’ve got it sorted.”
The Silver Ferns will begin to shift focus to derailing Australia as progress is made on the Sunshine Coast.
Their main objective has been solidifying attack and defence strategy but Taurua has been analysing New Zealand’s biggest threats for months.
Australia won the last two Constellation Cup outings in October and followed that with victory over the Silver Ferns in the Quad Series final in Cape Town in January.
Heffernan said a lot of work has gone into decoding the Diamonds.
“We’ll keep building the analysis stuff. That’s going to be massive in the next couple of weeks as we go to the Sunshine Coast and our last camp in Auckland. But we’re focusing on clarity, structures, ourselves, and then we can start to think about the other teams and how they might slightly change.”
Heffernan said they have been drilling small tweaks at both ends of the court.
“So we’re really clear on every structure. For defence, where there are intercepts. On attack, how are we getting the ball to our shooters in the most efficient and easiest way?”
The 23-year-old has relished getting the chance to meet Laura Langman, who joined the side in Auckland for the first camp as a specialist coach and will do so again in Australia.
The 163-cap veteran centre has been brought in as a warm-up specialist and to provide guidance to the players. Langman retired in 2020, just as Heffernan was selected for the Silver Ferns development squad.
“So I just missed her, which I remember being really gutted about. So it’s cool I get to learn from her now.”