KEY POINTS:
Jodi Te Huna marked her return to netball with an "achieved" for team effort and a "merit" for biology.
It's been a laborious 12 months since the former teacher and Silver Ferns shooter wrecked her left knee, on the eve of the Commonwealth Games. But she passed her first tests yesterday, leading her new side, the Rebels, to a 47-42 win over the Shakers in their opening game of the National Bank Cup.
It was a rusty start - the Rebels dropped an 11-goal lead and allowed the Shakers to sneak within one; Te Huna lost a contact lens, damaged a digit and took a couple of spills. Of most encouragement was her rebuilt knee withstanding its first true test.
"It's fantastic - it's coming back. It's been over a year since I played a real game, and it definitely held up," Te Huna said.
Her shooting performance was also up to the mark - the powerhouse goal attack put up 28 shots from every angle and distance, and slotted 22. It would have had Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken feeling justified for her belief in Te Huna, bolstering her options in the shady shooting area a week out from naming a New Zealand team to tour England.
Two other shooters in contention for that tour, Diamonds pairing Maria Tutaia and Paula Griffin, had less than sterling performances first-up in Saturday's six-goal loss to the Flames, both finishing with 73 per cent success.
The weekend gave some hope for the future of New Zealand shooting - the stand-out effort by Jade Topia (37 from 44) for the Flames and the impressive debut of 19-year-old Shakers goal shoot Sala Hide.
Hide handled the aggressive defence of former Australian international Demelza Fellowes with grace, doing the lion's share of shooting, landing 27 from 34 attempts. Her self-assuredness should earn her a place at this year's world netball championships, for her native Fiji.
The Shakers, virtually unchanged from last season, trailed by 10 at halftime but pulled together as a team in the third quarter and almost upset the dark horses of the league, who had to call on all their star-player experience in the final minutes.
The Wellington side's gutsy effort was yet another example of a franchise without the biggest names in the competition playing as a team. The Flames played that card with success the day before in their come-from-behind 53-46 win over the more glitzy Diamonds.
Diamonds coach Sue Hawkins knew too well that her side fell short on team cohesion - especially in the vital two middle quarters.
"We might have the names, but they've got to work together," Hawkins said. "In the last five minutes before halftime, it just went bang. Then in the third quarter, everyone went missing."
An explosive start - a four-goal lead at quarter time - fizzled out after Diamonds captain Stephanie Bond left the court with a calf strain. A two-goal deficit at halftime looked salvageable, but in the third spell the tentative Aucklanders were completely outclassed, two goals to one, by a unified Flames assault led by captain Julie Seymour at centre.
Despite a Diamonds rally in the final quarter, with the introduction of new legs Susan Tagicakibau at goal shoot and Helena Hoult in the midcourt, it was too late.
Hawkins had hoped the Diamonds' pre-season tour to Melbourne would have got the team to gel, but she's hopeful the loss was first-game jitters.
She said a tough training tomorrow should "shake out some things" before Saturday's local derby with first-round victors the Force.
