Netball: Disasters leave little doubt Ferns in trouble

Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken. Photo / Sarah Ivey

The nagging doubts over the Silver Ferns' quality that emerged after their opening test against the world seven have escalated considerably after their second disastrous loss to the visiting side.

The world team romped to a series win on Wednesday night after another bumbling and inept performance from the home side.

The perception that the Ferns were simply a bit rusty after a limited build-up has now given way to the thought that the problems may be more deep-seated.

With the Ferns staring down the barrel of an embarrassing series whitewash to the composite world side thrown together just a week ago, the outlook for next month's five-test series against the Australians looks grim.

With little more than a week to go before they line up against Australia in the opening test in Sydney, the Ferns have no shortage of areas to work on. But coach Ruth Aitken says now is not the time for panic.

"Coaches never have alarm bells ringing because we are process-focused on what we are going to do. But it is hugely disappointing, there's no getting away from that, we've got to own the performance."

Aitken admits her side's performances this week hardly instil confidence in fans that the Ferns have got the goods to even challenge Australia. She hopes to allay the fears of the public with a convincing performance in tomorrow's third and final test in Auckland.

"We've got to make sure we give those people at home something to have faith in and that for us is all hanging on the last test."

But it is her own players' confidence that will be of more pressing concern. The huge number of basic errors committed by the Ferns in the opening two tests appears symptomatic of a side whose self-belief is at rock bottom.

While there can be no doubting the individual talents on offer, the team as a whole seems strangely lacking in fluency, plagued by a high error rate and incapable of establishing through-court links with any sort of consistency.

Aitken puts the lack of cohesion down to limited build-up for the series. But she admits this excuse is a rather weak one when you consider her counterpart Julie Fitzgerald has been able to mould her eclectic group of world players into a well-oiled machine in a matter of days.

"A lot of it is actually time in the saddle together, which does seem ironic when we're talking about the other team and I certainly appreciate that."

While there is no shortage of areas for the Ferns to work on before tomorrow's match, one facet that needs particular attention is the connections between the shooters and the midcourt.

The talented English defensive pairing of Geva Mentor and Sonia Mkoloma have done an impressive job of closing down the Ferns' options in the shooting circle, with Irene van Dyk and Maria Tutaia kept incredibly quiet in the opening tests. The poor form of the New Zealand pair follows on from a disappointing ANZ Championship campaign with the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic, where they were well accounted for by the better Australian sides.

"I think our shooters were either too stationary or not an option to the ball. They are very good defenders in there, there's no doubt about it, but we know we're capable of playing better, and that's what is disappointing," said Aitken.

However, the New Zealand coach feels the blame cannot be squarely laid at the feet of the shooters, pointing to a need for the midcourt to provide better service in to the shooting circle.

"We weren't quite street smart enough. I think we didn't work it in enough, especially early on they had changed their defence and had got a bit tighter and I think we needed to get the ball to circle edge and make the ball work. But we gifted them too much."

It's an opinion shared by midcourter Temepara George, whose return to the national side has not quite gone as smoothly as she would have liked. She believes communication will be the key to rediscovering their timing in the attack end.

"We obviously haven't spent a lot of time as a team and I know we're still building, but we need to demand more from each other.

"We've got another opportunity to go out there and show our best, and we haven't given it our best yet."

George said the team had received some open and frank feedback from Aitken and her assistant Waimarama Taumaunu.

"I think they're really, really frustrated. I'd hate to be a coach," she said. "They've been really stern and they're demanding a lot and we've just got to stop talking about it and get out there and show what we can actually do."