Netball: Concerns over Te Huna's fitness

MELBOURNE - The Silver Ferns netballers move into the Commonwealth Games village today, with concerns over the fitness of goal attack Jodi Te Huna who injured a knee last night.

The injury occurred during the New Zealand side's last warm-up match, against the Victorian men's side, before they play West Indies side St Vincents & The Grenadines in their first Games match on Friday.

Te Huna's injury would be assessed by medical staff this morning, coach Ruth Aitken said.

"She went over on her knee but it's too early to say what the extent of the injury is," Aitken said.

The knee was being iced late last night.

The injury could be a blow for the Silver Ferns who are warm favourites to win the last gold medal to be decided at the 17th Commonwealth Games on March 26.

Te Huna has been one of the young players that Aitken has developed during her successful tenure as coach of the national side and has emerged as a vital cog in their attacking strategies, striking a cohesive partnership with goalshooting ace Irene van Dyk.

The Silver Ferns won last night's match 60-53. Aitken said they started well but didn't finish off the match as well as she would have liked.

However, she has been pleased with the five-day stretch they have had in suburban Glen Waverley, where they have trained with the New Zealand A side and also played against the Australian Institute of Sport team.

She said yesterday that she planned to rotate her 12-strong squad during the early pool matches of Games competition. Other pool opponents are Fiji, Malawi, England and South Africa.

"We feel it is important over the length of the tournament that we use all 12 players and we have full confidence in those 12 because you never know what is going to happen further down the track," Aitken said.

"So we will look to rotate over the course of the first few games."

- NZPA