KEY POINTS:
Another week of soul-searching looms for Yvonne Willering and her Northern Mystics side as they ponder a way out of the mire.
The Auckland franchise slumped to their fourth straight loss at the weekend, suffering a 46-40 defeat to the Queensland Firebirds.
Having yet to register a win in the new transtasman league is concern enough in itself for the Mystics, but of even more disappointment will be the manner in which they are performing. Play has been punctuated by poor option-taking and unforced errors.
As was the case in their third-round loss to the West Coast Fever, the Mystics struggled to adapt to the aggressive man-on defence of the Firebirds and looked devoid of ideas in the attack end.
The powerful Mystics defensive end managed to snaffle a great deal of ball for their side, forcing the Firebirds to make countless errors themselves. But with the young, inexperienced attack end struggling to gel, the Mystics were unable to capitalise.
For all the ball the defenders managed to secure, the Mystics should have won the match by 10 goals.
The road is only set to get harder for the Auckland side, who are yet to face the top three Australian teams - the Melbourne Vixens, Adelaide Thunderbirds and NSW Swifts.
For now though they have the opportunity to regroup and try to get their own game in order against the more familiar New Zealand style of play. There won't be any transtasman matches for any side until round 10 of the competition with only local clashes scheduled for the next five weeks.
The Mystics venture to Invercargill next week to take on the Southern Steel, who themselves will be seething after a 54-41 loss to the Adelaide Thunderbirds.
The Steel could not match the pace and accuracy of the Thunderbirds side, while the crack Adelaide defensive pairing of Geva Mentor and Mo'onia Gerrard caused the Southerners all sorts of problems in the goal circle.
The Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic provided the only joy for Kiwi teams over the weekend, steamrolling the West Coast Fever 61-47.
Though the scoreline suggests a comfortable victory, Magic coach Noeline Taurua said the Perth-based side were a very difficult side to overcome.
"The West Coast Fever are a bloody good team and the scoreline didn't reflect how tight and how hard it was. You really had to compete hard for everything," she said. "We had to work hard to keep our structure in place and stay strong mentally."
Taurua believes her side's loss to the NSW Swifts the previous weekend gave the Magic the wake-up call they needed.
"Fever are a team that know how to rattle the Kiwi sides but because of our last game against Swifts, we were prepared for that physical presence in the attack end."
The weekend of transtasman showdowns continues tonight with the Canterbury Tactix set to take on Aussie favourites the Melbourne Vixens in Christchurch.
The Tactix will be hoping to continue their giant-beating run at home following their round two win over the Swifts.
Home advantage has proved crucial in the transtasman battles to date, with visiting sides heavily penalised as they struggle to adjust to the different umpiring calls. Kiwi umpires officiate games held in New Zealand, while Australian umpires control matches on the other sides of the Tasman.
The Central Pulse are hoping to recover from last week's battering against the Firebirds when they take on the Swifts in tonight's late game in Sydney.
But with the Swifts high on confidence after toppling the Magic in round three, the Pulse could be set for another heavy defeat.
