SYDNEY - Australian netball coach Norma Plummer has kept her fuses intact heading into tonight's netball test against New Zealand, but occasionally the steam can be seen rising.
Plummer got her hackles up in the last series in Australia last November when she accused New Zealand coach Ruth Aitken of trying to intimidate the umpires.
This time the lead up has been more genteel -- there's been no debate about the umpires -- and Plummer has been mostly complimentary about the Silver Ferns she once called "scrubbers".
But at a press conference yesterday, her eyebrows arched when a reporter asked how the Australians would counteract the aggressive New Zealand approach.
"I think we match that all the way," she bristled.
"I don't think you have ever seen us going out without any aggression. Last July (series in New Zealand) we might have been underdone, but I don't think you saw an underdone team in November."
Later she said: "There's a lot of aggression there because the girls are punching one another to get out there."
Like Aitken, Plummer is trialling combinations ahead of the Commonwealth Games next March in the game tonight at the Sydney Superdome.
But there is no doubt she does not want to give away any ground to New Zealand, after winning the series in Australia last November 2-1.
"New Zealand have the (world champion) title on their head and we haven't and I guess from our point of view that makes them number one at the moment, but at this stage it is all up for grabs," she told NZPA.
"Both teams are on an equal par."
She said tonight's game would come down to who had the better gameplan, or who made fewer mistakes at vital stages.
"It's going to go down to the wire. I don't have any qualms in saying that. It has to, it's Australia-New Zealand."
Plummer said her team might be lacking in matchplay together -- they only went into camp on Sunday -- but she was pleased with the form of her four attacking players in the domestic Commonwealth Bank Trophy competition.
"They are shooting very high percentages. It was an area that I hit them with... because if Irene (van Dyk) is getting the ball under the post all the time and New Zealand is working through one shooter and she's shooting 94 per cent we have to have both shooters at 85 per cent plus.
"And that was happening for our shooters over the weekend."
Plummer said goal attack Sharelle McMahon, returning after missing the November series because of an ankle injury, was about 70 per cent fit going into tonight's test.
"It's about her getting her confidence back. It's the Commonwealth Games where we want her at her peak."
McMahon told NZPA she had put a lot of hard work into getting fit again.
"I still have a bit to go before I get to my peak but I'm getting there."
She said she was looking forward to the "tough, tight, physical" game against New Zealand which embodied "all the things I love about playing netball".
* Tonight's one-off netball test starts at 9:45pm (NZT)
- NZPA
Netball: Australia aim to match NZ for aggression
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