Irene Van Dyk has played 126 tests for New Zealand and 72 for South Africa. Photo / Getty Images
For the first time in her Silver Ferns career, New Zealand's goal shooting supremo Irene van Dyk is facing a serious challenger to her throne.
The long sign-posted selection of former Samoan international Cathrine Latu in the Ferns has created an interesting dilemma for the New Zealand coaching staff heading into next week's series against England.
Ruth Aitken and her assistant Noeline Taurua will have to juggle the talents of two very strong and deadly-accurate shooters in van Dyk and Latu.
Van Dyk has never had to contemplate the idea of sharing court time in a non-tournament environment before, but the newly eligible Latu is nipping hard at her heels after a superb ANZ Championship season with the Northern Mystics.
Having had limited depth in the shooting end for much of her 10-year reign with the Ferns, Aitken admits the selections in the shooting circle are no longer straight forward.
"I think because Cat has had an awful lot of frontline experience, she offers much tougher competition for that spot than Irene has had in the past," said Aitken.
"We're very lucky that we've got two different styled shooters and they do present different qualities into that circle. How we sort of balance the two of them is going to be interesting."
But if van Dyk is bothered by the sudden competition for her spot, she is not letting on.
"It is fantastic to have Cat in the team, she's an incredible player, she had a brilliant ANZ season and it's great we have that depth there," said van Dyk.
"It's great that Ruth can put either one of us on and it won't cost the team a single goal."
It would be wrong to write van Dyk off as a fading force - she was the stand-out for the Ferns in the world championship final in July, albeit her efforts were in vain.
But there is growing recognition that the Ferns need to begin to prepare for the post-van Dyk era. Although the same has been said for the past five years, at 39 years old van Dyk is a year-by-year proposition and the sooner Latu is brought into the international game, the better.
Aitken said while the aim is to integrate Latu into the Ferns system as quickly as possible, there will be no "easy roads" into the starting line-up. Van Dyk has no intention of simply keeping the seat warm only for Latu to slot straight in when she is ready.
"Irene's definitely rising to the challenge, which is just ideal," said Aitken. "And that's always been the interesting thing about Irene, she hits a road bump and then she goes away and thinks about it and works at it and then she goes forward again. So I think it will be very interesting to see in this series what she will bring."
Latu too knows the work she has ahead of her if she wants to snare the starting goal-shoot bib.
"I still believe, and I don't care what anyone says, that Irene is the best shooter in the world. So to try and get on the court in front of her is not going to be easy, but that's got to be my goal," she said.
"She knows I love her, but I'm going to try and replace her, which is what we have to do in sport."
While Latu was one of the stand-out shooters in the ANZ Championship this year, topping the competition in the accuracy stakes, Aitken is warning not to expect any miracles from the crafty shooter in her first few outings for the Ferns.
"I think people do still need to realise that it is quite a big step up to the Silver Ferns and there is a period of adjustment that Cat actually needs to make while she is in this environment." she said. "There's been a lot of attention around her, but now it's actually about settling her into the team."
With the retirement of Temepara George, Latu no longer has the safety net of her Mystics teammate backing her up in the midcourt. She now needs to familiarise herself with the subtleties of the midcourt play of Laura Langman and Liana Leota, who is expected to take on the starting wing attack role for the rest of the year.
Likewise, Langman and Leota are still learning where Latu likes the ball to be placed and how the fleet-footed shooter moves.
But it is van Dyk that is the first person to offer Latu advice and needed encouragement as she tries to find her feet in the new attacking set-up.
"Irene is amazing, she's a really giving player and she supports and encourages me all the way," said Latu.