Netball: Diamonds down but not out, Aitken warns

Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken. Photo / Getty Images

You can forgive Australian coach Norma Plummer for being tempted to keep her team wrapped in cotton wool in the lead-up to Sunday's opening test against the Silver Ferns in Sydney.

Once again the Australian Diamonds have endured a horror run of injuries in the lead-up to a test series against the New Zealand team.

Last season it was Australia's shooting end hammered by injury, this year Plummer's defensive end has been virtually wiped out, with Bianca Chatfield (knee), Laura Geitz (hand) and Mo'onia Gerrard (ankle) all ruled out for the five-test series.

The injury curse now appears to be creeping into her midcourt, with starting centre Natalie von Bertouch sustaining a chest injury in Wednesday night's surprise 52-43 loss to the World Seven in Adelaide.

Plummer is beginning to wonder if karmic forces are at fault for her current predicament.

"I think I've done something wrong somewhere along the line, someone is paying me back, I don't know what's going on," she joked.

Von Bertouch suffered a heavy knock to her sternum in the opening minute of the match, but managed to battle through the first quarter before being replaced at the first break.

The Australian vice-captain was whisked away to the hospital for x-rays, but as of yesterday the team's medical staff were still trying to determine the full extent of the injury.

Given nothing has gone her way up until this point, Plummer is not holding out much hope of her star midcourter being available for the opening test.

"We don't think she's travelling to Sydney with us at this stage, she's going in for x-rays to see if there's any broken ribs or anything like that. We're just not sure at this stage how severe it is. It's one of those funny injuries right down the middle of the chest," the Australian coach said.

"She's in a bit of pain and didn't sleep very well last night, so we'll just have to wait and see. But it looks like it'll be four [players out with injury]."

If Plummer were to look for a silver lining in all her injury worries, she need only consider what happened last season when she was faced with a strangely similar predicament.

The loss of captain Sharelle McMahon, Catherine Cox and Natalie Medhurst forced Plummer to throw a number of rookie shooters in the deep end in last year's internationals, the net result being seven world class shooters to choose from this season.

Plummer hopes it will once again be a case of short-term pain for long-term gain, and those players called in as injury cover - West Coast Fever defenders Susan Fuhrmann and Johannah Curran, and Australian under-21 star Amy Steel - will make the most of their opportunities.

"We want to keep building that quality in there and then hopefully we'll have the best choice when we get to Commonwealth Games."

In the meantime though, the Australian side could be in for a tough run, if their performance on Wednesday night is anything to go by.

While many expected their new-look defence end to be a bit rusty, nobody predicted their experienced and much-vaunted attack to falter.

"I knew it was always going to be tough, because you can't lose the quality of players that we've lost out of our side, and expect it to all come together," said Plummer.

"But overall I was just disappointed in our execution of the pass. I think everything else was going all right and then we missed a couple of vital shots and the passes went off and that sort of opened the door for the world team."

Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken was at the match in Adelaide with assistant coach Waimarama Taumaunu and said the result once again proved how tough the World Seven outfit were.

She said as we saw in the tests against the Ferns, the world selection side were not under any pressure, while the Diamonds, playing in their first test of the season, looked to get worse the harder they tried.

"Norma had a look on her face as if to say 'what's happening out there?' and I understood how she felt completely," said Aitken.

But Aitken said her side won't be fooled into thinking Australia are down and out after their scratchy opening performance.

"I think it certainly showed that in the end they are as human as anyone and if you put a team under enough pressure anything can happen.

"But I am also incredibly realistic about their ability to turn it around by Sunday. I'm sure Norma will give them a clip around the ears and they'll come out and play properly."

Aitken also refuses to buy into the belief that the Ferns' chances of a series victory have been significantly boosted by the Diamonds' injury crisis.

"In the same way the perception from the outside was that the world team would be easy, the perception is that the Australian team that has lost a few will be easy. But we know that is a foolhardy position to take.

"We know they have great depth coming through, and as seems to be the case in the past, the minute one drops out they have another one ready to step up and take their place."

The Silver Ferns assembled in Sydney yesterday afternoon, and will have two training sessions today before taking on a NSW selection side in a warm-up match tomorrow.