KEY POINTS:
Hell hath no fury like a Magic woman scorned. And no one knows better than Diamonds midcourter Jenny-May Coffin what wrath to expect from the Magic this weekend, striking back from an old-fashioned hiding.
"We're not expecting anything less than a fired-up Magic who want to redeem themselves in front of their home crowd," says Coffin, the former captain of the Magic side.
"Unfortunately, the Magic have this ability to bounce back."
Coffin expects the National Bank Cup champions will have studied the footage of their 21-goal loss to the Sting last weekend and will only come back the wiser.
"Noels [Noelene Taurua] is a pretty shrewd coach - everything she does is very calculated. I'm sure she will have gone over the video of the game a dozen times, literally.
"But that's the strength of the Magic - they totally focus on their own game."
Sure enough, Taurua was boasting a new enthusiasm in her side after their once-a-week training session.
"That was definitely our best training of the season. There was just more intensity, everyone was mentally in tune, the buzz was back and it was great," Taurua said.
Coffin is confident the Diamonds can win, but knows they have their own problems to solve after last weekend's "abomination" against the Shakers, where the Aucklanders pulled away only in the final quarter.
"We've been working on our driving hard into the ball, turning and letting it go," she says.
The Diamonds are on equal points with the Magic going into Sunday's game in Hamilton, one point behind leaders the Force and the Sting.
Coffin played 26 tests for the Silver Ferns and seven seasons in the NBC before stepping out of the game, but returned for a last shot at the title this season. She's balancing her netball with part-time sports reporting at TVNZ.
"I had a few misgivings at the beginning of the season about playing again, but I'm slowly finding my feet. Last week I finally felt I had some of my old form back," she says.
"These young Diamonds players are uber-talented and it reminds me of my days playing for Waikato, when Laura [Langman] and Casey [Williams] were coming through. That's why I chose to come back this season - to mix it with that young talent again."
ROUND 5
Tonight: Shakers v Flyers, Wellington, 7.30pm (delayed coverage tomorrow 4pm, TV One).
Sunday: Force v Flames, North Shore Events Centre, 1pm; Magic v Diamonds, Mystery Creek, Hamilton, 1pm (Live TV One); Rebels v Sting, Dunedin, 1pm.