Under Janine Southby, the Ferns have now lost nine of their past 11 against Australia. This was merely the latest in Southby's fast unravelling tenure – all sense says she has one game left before the SOS is sent to Noeline Taurua, if it hasn't already.
Last time the Ferns met Australia they lost by 19 goals, their second worst defeat to the old foe, in the Quad Series in Johannesburg.
This eclipsed that, but didn't quite overtake the worst of 31 goals back in 1948. Some solace, perhaps. That is the grim reality the Ferns are in.
Southby admitted pressure is weighing heavily on her shoulders.
"It's only natural you care so much about what you do and you want to put out the best product you possibly can so there's disappointment in that. We certainly didn't plan to be in this place – no one ever does – but that's the reality for us at the moment and we've got to deal with it and go again," she said.
"We set the standards for ourselves and we haven't been achieving those. That's hugely disappointing for all of us but it's not through lack of trying and people being honest and doing everything they can. It's tough. We know that people outside our group are feeling hugely let down by us and we know that's not good enough."
As expected, the Ferns were never in the same league as Australia. The hosts consistently built their lead. Six in the first quarter became 11 in the second and 20 in the third. With the result decided so far out, there was no real tension at the Coomera Indoor Sports Centre.
Katrina Grant did her best to inspire, leaping through the air with anticipation to snaffle intercepts but the skipper couldn't do it alone. She cut a forlorn figure post match.
"We were here to win a gold medal and now we don't even have that chance," Grant said. "I don't care how anyone feels even if you're broken you leave it out there because a bronze medal is what we need.
"We need to pick ourselves up because this is not great for the Silver Ferns legacy."
The same issues reared their head. The Ferns threw away or failed to convert turnover possession; Southby continued her much-maligned interchanges with midcourters Shannon Francois, Samantha Sinclair and Claire Kersten regularly rotating.
The shooting end battled to gain good position and, again, percentages were poor (76).
Australia, meanwhile, shot 92 per cent.
While Australia largely enjoyed smooth, slick passages through to the towering Caitlin Bassett stationed under the hoop, the Ferns struggled to establish any pace and fluency in the face of suffocating one-on-one marking.
In such dark place, the third place playoff now awaits the Ferns; a situation no team ever wants to confront.
In the other semi, England eventually pulled away for a dramatic 56-55 victory, winning the last quarter by five goals.
Given the Ferns lost their last two games to Jamaica, they start Sunday's bronze playoff outsiders.
"Losing in that fashion is hard – we've never not been in the gold medal match but we've got to park it now for the bronze medal match we don't want to go home empty handed," Grant said. "Jamaica are going to be tough. Tomorrow is a really important day for us."
Grant conceded the lack of recent game-time against Australian opposition after the breakaway from the trans-Tasman league contributed to the Ferns' deminse.
"Probably, I'm not 100 per cent sure but I suppose it does work when you're playing against the high quality competition week in, week out. That one-on-one marking getting used to that probably does help but the ANZ Premiership is good because we're building young players for the future and at the moment we're not seeing that but in three of four years' time that's going to show through."
Even the most loyal supporters must be shaking their heads.
