Silver Ferns coach insists NZ teams' dire weekend results needn't set the pattern for rest of season
You could almost hear the sighs from Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken echoing around the hills of Paeroa on Monday night as the Northern Mystics wrapped up a horror weekend for New Zealand netball.
The much-hyped Rivalry Round featuring five transtasman matches proved to be a misnomer as four New Zealand teams crumbled badly against their Australian opponents.
Only the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic managed to notch a win - but they were far from happy with their performance after just scraping home against the West Coast Fever in Hamilton.
New Zealand's continual struggles against the Australian teams has been a recurring complaint over the first two and a bit seasons of the ANZ Championship.
The problem is exacerbated when they plonked on Australian soil, with New Zealand's tally across the Tasman just one win from 30 matches.
The travel element and a lack of mental resilience are often pointed to as key reasons behind this embarrassing statistic, but the biggest factor is undoubtedly the difference in umpiring interpretations.
Indeed, the Australian teams also experience difficulties coming to grips with the local officiating when they cross the Tasman. But while it makes the going tougher, they still manage to win over here regularly.
With two full seasons under their belt, the Kiwi teams should be starting to make improvements in this area. Even if they aren't winning, you would hope they would at least be getting close.
With 14 goals being the closest losing margin over the weekend, many believe the Kiwi teams are falling further behind their Aussie rivals.
But Aitken insists this is not the case.
The weekend's matches certainly didn't make for pleasant viewing for the coach of the national side, but she said you couldn't draw such conclusions on the basis of one round's play.
"I'm disappointed for the weekend, but we're not at panic stations just yet."
Aitken said the Pulse, Steel, Tactix and Mystics all managed to run with their respective opponents for at least a couple of quarters, which proved they could compete with their transtasman rivals.
"I think you have to appreciate that each of the teams did actually foot it for two or three quarters, for some of them it was probably only a seven-minute period that it got away on them.
"So I certainly feel that the talent is there and the skills are there, it is that consistency of performance that just eluded them over the weekend."
Aitken said the most disappointing aspect of the weekend's performances was that when the teams did find themselves in a hole, the players tended to drop their heads and didn't show any resolve to get themselves out of it.
"I think it really showed at times that when things went wrong, that the confidence in each other sort of dissipated really, and some teams didn't have the determination to pick it back up again.
"There were some interesting umpiring calls at different times, but that happens. Each team had their own individual issues - but none of them are a good enough excuse."
The Ferns coach said what was important now was that teams did not lose confidence.
"What the teams need to remember and what we need to remember is that it is a long season, and this is one snapshot, but it does not necessarily need to frame their season unless they let that happen to themselves.
"I believe attitude is hugely important and that it can be turned around, and in the end there is personal responsibility that senior players in particular need to take to help lift their team out of a slump."
FOR THE RECORD
New Zealand on Aussie soil - how bad are we?
* 1 win from 30 matches: 49-38 - Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic v West Coast Fever, Round 13, 2009
* Average losing margin: 16 goals
* Biggest loss: 41 goals - Central Pulse v Melbourne Vixens, Round 14, 2009
* Closest loss: 2 goals - Southern Steel v Queensland Firebirds, Round 12, 2009
