Netball: George adamant Aussie wins will come

Northern Mystics captain Temepara George says NZ sides need to work on their mental toughness. Photo / Brett Phibbs

SYDNEY - Northern Mystics captain Temepara George rued a breakthrough win that got away, but insisted the Australian hoodoo would not last for New Zealand sides in the transtasman league.

The Mystics suffered their third loss of the season, 55-59 to defending champions the New South Wales Swifts at Olympic Park here last night, but it was their best performance as they staged a stirring fightback to be 54-55 down with 2min 57sec left.

It rounded off a forgettable weekend for New Zealand sides who all lost to their Tasman rivals. The Auckland-based Mystics' defeat also made it none from five for New Zealand teams in Australia this season after they all went winless last year.

George felt her team were only a couple of passes away from an upset win, and was confident the drought wouldn't continue when transtasman matchups resume in six weeks when the Thunderbirds host the Mystics in Adelaide and the Fever host the Steel in Perth.

"The Swifts are really hard but we didn't have that in our minds when we came over. It must be like a hoodoo when we cross that Tasman sea," George said.

"New Zealand's got huge strength throughout their teams, it's just a matter of the consistency. The Aussies have got that mental toughness too, not just one or two players but the whole team who think like that, even the bench players.

"That's something the Kiwi teams are working on, and it's kind of showing in patches but it needs to be more consistent."

The Silver Ferns-laden Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic ended week four as the leading New Zealand team, second on the ladder behind the unbeaten Melbourne Vixens.

The Southern Steel are mid-table with two wins from four while the Canterbury Tactix, Mystics and Central Pulse fill the bottom three spots ahead of the local derbies in coming weeks.

George, yet to decide to make herself available for the Silver Ferns this year, led the way for the Mystics along with Samoan international Cathrine Latu who shot an impressive 38 from 40.

The Swifts led 33-27 at halftime and got home with the cool heads of their international shooting duo Catherine Cox (29 from 33) and Susan Pratley (30 from 34).

Defender Rachel Rasmussen and English shooter Pamela Cookey added some spark when injected by Mystics coach Te Aroha Keenan at halftime.

George took some encouragement from the effort of her young side, with no current Silver Ferns in their lineup.

"We had it, it was really good to see our fightback," George said.

"We had different combinations come on, we swapped positions and it was about time we showed some fight right to the end. Just a couple of passes was all it took, against a well-drilled Swifts team you can't afford it."

- NZPA