KEY POINTS:
The Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic look set to have their cake and eat it too when it comes to umpiring appointments for the play-offs, whether or not they play the semifinal at home.
Yet another quirk in the ANZ Championship has emerged with the make-up of the umpiring panel for the finals likely to favour the Magic.
At the end of the round-robin stage of the competition next week each country will nominate their two best umpires to create a pool of four from which the officials will be selected for each match.
But with only one Kiwi side making it through to the semifinals, New Zealand will be over-represented in the umpiring panel.
It creates an interesting predicament for ANZ Championship management who are in charge of appointing the umpires.
Should they stick to their policy of appointing local umpires for domestic clashes, it means the first semifinal between the two Australian teams will be officiated by Aussie whistleblowers.
So if the Magic have a home play-off they will be given the two remaining Kiwi umpires on the panel, putting the visiting side at a disadvantage.
But if the Magic have to cross the Tasman, there will be one New Zealand and one Australian umpire in charge.
Magic coach Noeline Taurua admits her side get the best of both worlds from the deal.
"That's a really positive advantage for us to be honest," she said.
Just how the umpiring duties will be allocated for the play-offs won't be the only permutations going through Taurua's head this week. Her side are hanging on to the number one spot on the competition ladder by a finger nail after their shock loss to the Southern Steel on Monday.
It was the Magic's second loss in three weeks and as a result, their comfortable four-point lead at the top of the table has evaporated.
They are now in a head-to-head race with the red-hot Sydney Swifts to nail down the number one seeding for the finals. Just half a percentage point separates the two sides in goal difference, with the Magic holding a slight edge.
The sides will be looking for convincing wins this weekend to boost their differential, but Taurua said winning, rather than number crunching, will be the sole focus for her side against the Canterbury Tactix on Saturday.
"My thoughts are the two points are most important, so that's what we'll be aiming for otherwise we're getting too far ahead of ourselves," she said.
"If we come second we've still got the two lives, that's why we can't afford to drop this game and be either third or fourth."
Taurua's sentiments are shared by Swifts captain Catherine Cox who said her side are also concentrating on picking up a win against the West Coast Fever in Perth on Monday, with goal difference a secondary consideration.
"I think one thing at a time. We obviously want to beat Perth and if we only do that by one, that's fine.
"Really we don't care about finishing number one, we'd love to finish number one or number two so we get a second chance, but we don't mind travelling and playing on the road."
