Smith not happy at form slip
Steel polishing a twin-edged attack, says Finch
All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith is the first to acknowledge he’s not having the sort of season which saw him go from Highlanders understudy to first choice test halfback in 2012.
Critics have been quick to ask why Smith’s game has gone quiet – particularly the run-and-gun passing and the accuracy of his kicking which saw him become established in the black jersey in the immediate post-World Cup era.
‘‘I’m not really to fussed on what people are saying, to be honest,’’ Smith said.
‘‘I keep my standards of how I play pretty high and I’m not very happy with how I’m playing either. [I’m] just trying to improve. I’m trying my hardest to go out there week to week and do the best I can. A lot of what I do comes down to the sort of ball I’m getting but I’m still disappointed in my error rate at the moment.’’
Playing for a team which has started with five straight losses doesn’t help, nor does playing behind a forward pack which has not always dominated.
‘‘Obviously, if the forwards go well, and I can be accurate in my role and do my jobs right, then hopefully that goes a long way towards our team going well. Being a key cog in our team, I’d definitely like to be playing better.’’
But the message coming out of the Highlanders is reminiscent of a British propaganda poster from the World War II – Keep Calm and Carry On Rucking – perhaps.
‘‘We are just trying to put it all together. We’ve done a lot of good things in past games and just getting a couple of key errors wrong,’’ Smith said.
‘‘I don’t think there’s a whole lot to change, we’ve just been on the wrong end of some results that we obviously aren’t happy with. We are sick of being on the end of close results that we don’t win.
‘‘We don’t have to freak out or anything. We know if we can sort some little key mistakes and not let in some soft tries with defensive lapses. I think our attack has proved it can put teams under pressure.’’
The Highlanders have spent a good part of this week flagellating
‘‘I keep my standards of how I play pretty high and I’m not very happy with how I’m playing either. [I’m] just trying to improve. I’m trying my hardest to go out there week to week and do the best I can.’’ Aaron Smith
themselves. It’s something Smith believes was the right move, a bit of attitude readjustment as they look ahead to the Blues at Eden Park tomorrow night.
‘‘We did a lot of hard work, grinding. We did a few oldfashioned down-ups and a bit of fitness, just trying to get some fight back into the boys . . . smashing each other, trying to get the attitude and the little things back in our game,’’ Smith said.
‘‘The key thing this week has been getting the little things right.’’
The Highlanders team to play the Blues will be named today.
BLUES NAME TEAM – P19 Southern Steel midcourter Phillipa Finch isn’t too concerned about the netball naysayers who would suggest teams like the Steel are relying too much on lobbing the ball to giant Jamaican goal shoots.
Steel import Jhaniele Fowler grabbed headlines with a competition record 65 goals against the Canterbury Tactix last weekend.
The sight of the Gilbert launched on a perfect parabola from the midcourt and into the waiting arms of the Jamaican international was a regular occurrence as the Ascot Park Hotelsponsored Steel scored a franchise record 75-56 result against the hapless Cantabrians.
Finch, who is loving having such a big target to aim at, said there was no danger of the Steel becoming a one-dimensional attacking unit with skipper and Silver Ferns goal attack Jodi Brown also in the shooting circle.
‘‘It’s quite interesting because there has been quite a bit of comment going around,’’ Finch said.
‘‘In saying that, Jodi is an ex- perienced goal attack, so we aren’t silly about it. If it comes to an issue where we can’t reach Jhaniele, Jodi can shoot from anywhere as well. We’ve got options, that’s for sure. She’s an asset, Jhaniele, so why not use her?’’
Finch was one of a handful of players, including Brown, who headed north to the Canterbury Tactix at the outset of the transTasman competition in 2008.
The amalgamation of the Otago Rebels and Southern Sting to form the Steel meant there were only so many contracts to go around.
Wendy Frew’s withdrawal from the team last year to start a family created an opportunity for Finch and it’s one she has taken.
Starting the 2013 season, it looked as though her lot might be as a dependable bench player behind Shannon Francois but, after replacing the New Zealand under21 player at halftime in the opening round loss to the Queensland Firebirds, Finch was favoured at centre in the second round win. That game snapped an 11-game losing streak which stretched back to the third round of the 2012 season.
Not surprisingly,
there’s been more of a bounce in the step of the Steel players at training this week, and it was a win which was particularly satisfying for Finch, coming against her old team.
A win is one thing – the focus now, however, is very much of Saturday’s third round game against the Adelaide Thunderbirds in Dunedin.
‘‘It gives us a little bit of confidence, knowing that we can do it, but it’s only round two so it’s more like ‘tick the box and move on’ and take some momentum into this weekend,’’ Finch said.