Netball: Signs worry ex-Ferns duo

Silver Fern Irene van Dyk is closely marked by Susan Fuhrmann. Photo / Getty Images

Two former captains believe all is not well with the Silver Ferns.

The Commonwealth Games are just weeks away and Adine Wilson and Bernice Mene say there are some worrying signs for the Ruth Aitken-coached squad.

While the recent series with Australia was - quite correctly - painted as an opportunity to experiment and finetune, the pair believe some lessons aren't being learned.

Wilson, who represented her country between 1999 and 2007, says the close defeats in the first and third tests continue a disturbing pattern.

"You wonder what aren't we learning when we are suffering these losses," Wilson says. "What is disappointing - and it is not just this era - is that we have won the close ones right at the end only a small minority of the time."

Since 1998, there have been 23 transtasman clashes where the winning margin has been five goals or less. Australia have won 17 (74 per cent) of those.

Mene, a 78-test veteran, said that in the last test, when the whole game had been even, letting the Australians get away in the last quarter should not have happened. "It is about being calculating and you just can't afford lapses like that."

Wilson admits she is mystified by the trend of the Diamonds shining brighter when it gets tighter.

"I'm not sure what it is. We definitely do a lot of talking about it," she says. "You always try to prepare and emulate those situations of close games but the Aussies seem to have an advantage. They have such an amazing nous for when the pressure comes on - they seem to step up."

Current Fern Joline Henry admitted some in the present squad found pressure situations "challenging" while Aitken added that, due to depth, the Ferns haven't always had "everyone on the right page at the right time, so there have been little chinks".

Mene was also disappointed with the Ferns' discipline and composure around the umpiring, and says that will be important when deciding the gold medal in Delhi.

"I thought there was a lot of talk during the series about the umpiring and I think it is wasted breath," says Mene. "It is one of the things you can't control and how the team deals with that definitely affects the game."

The neutral umpires, generally drawn from England, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, appear to struggle with the pace of transtasman clashes and can mystify with their interpretations but Mene says that anything but acquiescence is counterproductive.

"It is such a quick game now you don't have time to react to an umpiring call. You have to adjust as well as you can and get on with it quickly."

In the third test in Auckland, several of the Ferns often seemed bemused by decisions, and made their feelings known - verbally or otherwise - sometimes to the detriment of their play in the next sequence.

The Australians have every trick, legal or not. They are physically demanding - one coach compared their defensive marking to wearing a "human backpack" - and like every other Australian sporting team play to the limit of the laws.

"The physicality is part and parcel of the sport," says Mene. "You have to adjust to the opposition and do it quickly."