Netball: Wilson leaving nothing to chance

Adine Wilson says New Zealand have not lost sight of Australia. Picture / Chris Skelton

Adine Wilson has a simple philosophy as she eyes the Silver Ferns' weekend doubleheader: tick all the boxes, leave nothing to chance.

Unlike hosts Australia, New Zealand have made serene progress through their pool programme, which ended with victory over Malawi yesterday.

Their toughest opponents, predictably, were England, whom they beat 55-40 on Wednesday. It was a good workout after the earlier romps against South Africa and Fiji.

By contrast, Australia's players got a bad fright when Jamaica's late surge earned a 54-all draw on Wednesday and turned the semifinal permutations on their head.

Australia's players looked sick at the final whistle because they knew it opened the prospect of an Aussie horror: a transtasman semifinal tomorrow instead of the anticipated showpiece event on the final day.

Midcourter Wilson believes there has been a shift in the balance of power between netball's perennial hotshots. But New Zealand's pre-eminence since winning the world title in Jamaica three years ago isn't going to induce any over-confidence.

There's no sense that winning the gold medal here is a one-trick operation, and even if there was, that drawn match will have removed any trace of it.

"Everyone knows we had the potential to win. Now it's not, 'Can we win against Australia?', It's, 'We can do it'," Wilson says. "We are extremely aware Australia always pull it out in the big games. They've been the ones who can dig in at the end."

Wilson has vivid recollections of beatings at Australia's hands, and if those memories provide a spur this time, all the better.

She said that other than studying video footage and watching the Australians or Jamaicans play, the prime focus is on themselves.

"We can't control what anyone else is doing, but we can definitely control what we're doing," Wilson says. "We have to tick all the boxes, so that no stone is left unturned."

Wilson wants her team primed to the extent that the dropping of a particular word will produce an immediate, instinctive action.

"We don't want any what ifs, so when we step on court there's no surprises."