KEY POINTS:
She was a little slow off the mark in netball's transtasman league but the numbers don't lie - Irene van Dyk is still New Zealand's premier shooter.
Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic veteran Van Dyk boasts the best shooting percentage of all the New Zealand attackers at 89.1 per cent after five weeks of the ANZ Championship.
Her return of 163 from 183 shots places her second overall, behind outstanding Adelaide Thunderbirds goal attack Natalie Medhurst, who has nailed 87 from 95 for 91.6 per cent.
Silver Ferns great Van Dyk was slightly off her game through the early rounds but her 40-from-40 effort in the Magic's 54-37 pounding of the Pulse last Saturday was the first perfect performance from any shooter this season.
They are the sort of figures to see worry lines return to the brow of Northern Mystics coach Yvonne Willering.
Willering's team play the Magic in Auckland on Monday, coming off their first win of the season, 50-48 over Southern Steel.
While the Mystics ended their four-loss start to their season, the Silver Ferns-laden Magic have the opposite record with four wins and one loss to quickly emerge as New Zealand's premier outfit.
Mystics defender Leana de Bruin will need a repeat of her strong effort marking Steel shooter Daneka Wipiiti to keep van Dyk in check, while there is always the turn-and-shoot game of Magic goal attack Maria Tutaia to also contend with.
The next-best New Zealand shooter on the competition percentage list is Canterbury Tactix goal attack Jodi Brown, fractionally behind van Dyk at 88 per cent.
Brown (nee Te Huna) is heavily relied on by the Cantabrians, having scored more goals per game than any other shooter at nearly 35.
Her team will hope to bounce back quickly from last week's bye when they face the Steel in Invercargill on Friday.
The two teams met in round three, with the Steel dominant 51-42 winners in Christchurch.
Veteran Tactix midcourter Julie Seymour was determined to reverse that result and was heartened to see the Steel's colours lowered at their Invercargill fortress on Monday.
"Any team that goes down to Invercargill and wins, it's an extra thrill, an extra experience," Seymour said.
"The Force would have enjoyed it for their first win of the season but also because it was down there."
Seymour has tasted defeat multiple times at Stadium Southland but hoped she and her teammates were more than ready for the noise from a probable packed house.
"Most of our team have played in that environment so we know what we're in for," she said.
"I've lost down there many times, definitely that crowd gets behind them and gets vocal."
It shapes as a tight contest, with the Tactix having won two from four games and the Steel two from five.
The other sixth-round matches this weekend see New South Wales Swifts travel to Brisbane to face competition leaders the Queensland Firebirds on Saturday while Thunderbirds host West Coast Fever in Adelaide on Monday.
ANZ Championship shooting statistics
Best percentage (more than 25 shots attempted):
91.6 - Natalie Medhurst (Adelaide Thunderbirds)
89.1 - Irene van Dyk (Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic)
88.3 - Caitlin Bassett (West Coast Fever)
88.1 - Romelda Aiken (Queensland Firebirds)
88.0 - Jodi Brown (Canterbury Tactix)
84.9 - Cathrine Latu (Northern Mystics)
83.8 - Susan Pratley (NSW Swifts)
Most goals:
171 - Aiken
169 - Caitlin Thwaites (Melbourne Vixen)
163 - van Dyk
160 - Daneka Wipiiti (Southern Steel)
158 - Bassett
157 - Catherine Cox (NSW Swifts)
139 - Brown*
124 - Latu
* played four games
Team percentage:
84.7 - Adelaide Thunderbirds
84.1 - Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic
82.3 - Canterbury Tactix
80.9 - West Coast Fever
80.5 - Northern Mystics
80.1 - NSW Swifts
79.5 - Queensland Firebirds
75.7 - Southern Steel
75.2 - Melbourne Vixens
73.3 - Central Pulse
- NZPA
