Netball: Sizing up the opposition

It was supposed to bea two-horse race for gold. It's anything but. The question now is which teams will line up in Sunday's netball final. Julie Ash looks at the semifinalists with the help of Silver Ferns assistant Leigh Gibbs

England
Pool 1
Beat: Malawi 63-47, Fiji 60-41, St Vincent 78-18.
Lost to: New Zealand 55-40.
Strengths: Defenders Sonia Mkoloma and Geva Mentor.
Weaknesses: Lacking a little bit in speed and power.

One of England's biggest downfalls in the past has been their inaccuracy under the hoop. But they seem to have addressed that shortfall, possibly thanks to former Australian goal attack Marg Caldow taking over as coach. In the game against New Zealand, England used four shooters who combined shot 80 per cent.

Defensively England have always been sound with the towering figures of Sonia Mkoloma and Geva Mentor. The pairs' reach vertically and horizontally is a challenge for most teams, including the Silver Ferns. Such is the cohesiveness between Mkoloma and Mentor that some rate them better than Australia's defence.

How Gibbs sees it: "We have always felt: Get them good shooters and they'll certainly be competitive. If England played like they did against us, they could take both Australia and Jamaica."

Australia
Pool 2
Beat: Barbados 70-27, Samoa 78-47, Wales 78-22.
Drew with: Jamaica 54-all.
Strengths: Sharelle McMahon, suffocating one-on-one defence, finely executed one-hand passes.
Weaknesses: Their defence doesn't possess the same fear factor as New Zealand's "smiling assassin" Vilimaina Davu, their inability to counteract tall shooters.

Following their record loss to the Silver Ferns in October, there was never any doubt the Australian team would turn up in Melbourne a much more polished unit.

In October the Australians were outclassed by the Silver Ferns, particularly in the midcourt where they couldn't match New Zealand's speed. But they've upped their ante with Selina Gilsenan, Jessica Shynn, Natalie von Bertouch and Natalie Avellino all establishing themselves as strong midcourt options.

A new-look shooting combination of McMahon and Susan Pratley is working well and is one that Gibbs wouldn't be surprised to see take the court in crunch matches.

Defensively Australia have used a number of lineups, but Gibbs suspects their strongest combination may be Janine Ilitch at goal defence and Bianca Chatfield at goal keep. There's been little talk about the "Fuhrminator", 1.96m defender Susan Fuhrmann, touted as a foil to New Zealand shooter Irene van Dyk.

Gibbs: "I think their midcourt has got more settled. They're a lot more confident with each other. The combination of Sharelle and Susan is a really good one."

Jamaica
Pool 2
Beat: Singapore 67-22, Barbados 69-30, Wales 74-21.
Drew with: Australia 54-all.
Strengths: Physical and determined, variation in speed through court, shooter Elaine Davis.
Weaknesses: Error prone.

Regarded as the most unpredictable side in world netball, the only thing you can bank on when it comes to Jamaica is that when the major tournaments roll around they somehow transform themselves from also-rans to heavyweights.

Having been trounced by New Zealand and Australia late last year, Jamaica rocked up to Melbourne and drew with Australia.

Their major asset in that game was the combination between their midcourters and the towering Davis. The Jamaicans showed plenty of speed through court and placed the high balls into Davis perfectly.

Their key defenders Oberon Pitterson and Kasey Evering aren't giants, but they get off the floor better than most.

Gibbs: "What they do well is get up to aerial ball, and if we get caught on the run and try to lift the ball to get over them, we find ourselves in trouble."

New Zealand
Pool 1
Beat: St Vincent 98-31, Fiji 80-26, South Africa 74-37, England 55-40.
Strengths: Variety of speed through court, Irene van Dyk, Temepara George and Vilimaina Davu, defence through court, combination between the shooters and the midcourters.
Weakness: The loss of Jodi Te Huna raises some concern in the goal attack position, the general reliance on van Dyk.

Going into the Games, coach Ruth Aitken said she was going to rotate her players as much as possible. She failed to do that in Manchester, contributing to their loss to Australia in double overtime.

This time Aitken couldn't have made more changes if she'd tried. As a result some of New Zealand's games have been scrappy and they have yet to execute the perfect game. Gibbs said that was good "because we want to do it when it really needs to be done".

Losing Te Huna was a major blow. But for the first time in a long time, New Zealand have depth at goal attack. Maria Tutaia offers the Ferns something different with her height, but the responsibility come the big matches is likely to fall on the shoulders of Belinda Colling, who helped New Zealand to success in the 2003 world champs.

A tireless worker and effortless feeder, the major qualm with Colling is her sometimes reluctance to shoot.

"Sure she needs to put shots up when she needs to but she is also a bit of a decoy," Gibbs says.

Realistically, the Silver Ferns are the only ones who can cause their downfall. On paper they are stronger than Australia and Jamaica. Their speed through court, relentless defence, accuracy under the hoop and Davu's defence should result in victory. Provided it all comes together on the day.