KEY POINTS:
Speaking to new Silver Ferns netball assistant coach Wai Taumaunu and goal keep Casey Williams, it's hard to tell who rates whom the higher.
Taumaunu, who earned a fearsome reputation as a uncompromising goal defence during her 10 years in the New Zealand team, has returned to the Silver Ferns after five years as national performance director for All England Netball.
Williams has spent barely three years in the national team, yet has entrenched herself so deeply in the goal keeper's position that it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role.
Taumaunu, not given to fulsome praise, couldn't over-estimate Williams' importance to the team ahead of tonight's match with arch rivals Australia at Christchurch's Westpac Arena.
"Casey is one of the best defenders I've ever coached," she said simply.
Taumaunu should know a good defender when she sees one - she represented New Zealand for a decade from 1981, was an integral part of the 1987 world championship winning team, and captained the side for her last two years.
She also served as assistant coach of the England team, working with another former New Zealand captain, Lyn Gunson, for two years until 2003.
Now back in New Zealand, Taumaunu has teamed with long-serving New Zealand coach Ruth Aitken as she rebuilds after last November's soul-destroying four-goal world championship final loss to Australia in Auckland.
Williams has all the essentials of a top-class circle defender, Taumaunu said yesterday.
"If you look at Casey, she's a magnificent athlete, but she's also very thoughtful and likes working with people to get the ball.
"There's a real lack of ego at the defensive end - they're just happy if we get the ball."
Williams has been equally impressed with Taumaunu and what she has to offer.
"It's amazing, I've learnt so much already and it's made a big difference to our game," Williams said before yesterday's final pre-test training run.
The changes were subtle - reading the opposition players more, watching their feet, and knowing exactly what job had to be done and by whom in any situation.
"It's making it simple, cutting down the options so you know exactly what your job entails. It's good to have that structure."
A lot of good defensive work is instinctive and reactive from inside the circle, but Williams said the disruptive tips and spectacular intercepts were built on the defence work done all the way down the court.
"That's the whole thing about defence: the front people do stuff and the back people react to it."
Which is why Taumaunu has been revisiting defensive work right through the court, although she is adamant what she has been doing isn't particularly difficult.
"We've started with some fundamental work just to revise and really we've just been working with combinations in the circle as well as combinations outside, getting some links between the outside defenders and the circle defenders.
"It's just the basics - it's not really rocket science."
There wasn't a great deal to teach a player like Williams, Taumaunu said.
"Perhaps a bit of reminding her about some fundamental things, and occasionally looking at some things that are happening to her and suggesting ways she might solve those.
"But she, Sheryl (Scanlan) and Leana (de Bruin) tend to solve their own problems - it's really just a matter of keeping them focused and making sure they're thinking about the right things."
- NZPA
