Netball: Flyers hope to improve shooting

The Flyers are under no illusions about the task of trying to upset the Otago Rebels in their national netball league match at Arena 2 here tonight.

The Flyers held six-time champions Southern Sting to an eight-goal win in New Plymouth last Sunday, but co-coach Yvette McCausland-Durie knows that won't count for much unless more improvements are made.

Most noticeably is in the shooting circle, where goal-shoot Julie Kelman-Poto's (80 per cent) and goal-attack Jessica Tuki's (60 per cent) shooting success was low.

McCausland-Durie said ideally they should be achieving 90 per cent and 80 per cent respectively at national league level.

"The expectation for the shooters is around the 90 range, so we're getting there, but not quite there yet.

"It (shooting) is the only thing that counts -- nobody is counting how much ball you got -- it only counts if it goes through the hoop.

"That's an area we'll be working on, and at the end of the day we're (also) working hard to keep possession and maintain a fast-paced game.

"We've got a small group (of players), so we want to play the ball nice and quick."

Although the Flyers were able to upset Otago during a pre-season tournament in Waikato three weeks ago, McCausland-Durie wasn't reading too much into it.

She said Otago had improved dramatically since then, as shown by their controversial extra-time loss to the Northern Force last Sunday.

"It will be a huge challenge," she said.

"They've still got a very talented line-up and they've got a few New Zealand A players and Silver Ferns.

"We are still slightly on the back foot, but we feel that we're ready to compete."

Key players in the Otago side are Silver Ferns goal-attack Angela Mitchell and Silver Ferns goal-defence Anna Scarlett.

A former Silver Fern herself, McCausland-Durie is unsure whether she will be required to play in mid-court again in the place of injured wing-attack Rebecca Kupa (ankle).

Defender Erica Tod still looks some way off returning from her ankle injury, having only just been taken off crutches earlier this week.

- NZPA