The Silver Ferns have a New Game Plan
And it involves a lot of young talent and faster netball
Today, Netball New Zealand selected their squad to play in the Quad Series in Australia in just under three weeks.
“Out with the old and in with the new,” seems to be the idiom for the selectors today with the shock exclusion of superstar goal attack, Maria Tutaia (Edit: her exclusion was confirmed to be injury related) and her shooter teammate, Catherine Tuivaiti as well as Southern Steel defensive darling, Jane Watson.
It’s an odd squad that New Zealand has selected. There’s no hint of Tutaia and Tuivaiti in the shooting position, instead the selectors opted for a younger lineup with players from the Central Pulse and the Mainland Tactix to fill out a brand new, potentially faster, offense.
However, it could prove a costly exercise in blooding talent by not having some of the world’s best shooters in Tutaia and Tuivaiti.
Tuitaia had a lackluster season with the Mystics with overall effort wavering and the team’s inability to sustain a healthy starting seven. Tuitaia wasn’t given any consistency over the course of the final ANZ Championship season and was bundled into teaching young shooters and attackers the ways of Mystics netball.
Tuivaiti had an efficient, but controversial season with people attributing her efficiency and high scoring numbers with greed — Tuivaiti’s ultimate goal, apparently, was to lock a position representing the Ferns — and her physical play made her a nightmare to deal with shooting while under the post. It’s an addition all teams would scream for.
It’s a wonderful and tested mix that consistently put the Ferns at the top of the world — or second, for now, at least.
So why fix what’s not broken?
The answer is the Australian Diamonds.
The Australian and New Zealand rivalry has run deep for decades and the NZ selectors are gunning for a younger and faster offensive output than years prior. Traditionally, the Silver Ferns have played a slower form of netball which has always been highly effective, except when outrun by teams like Australia.
Ameliaranne Ekenasio’s and Te Paea Selby-Rickit’s ability to shoot from a distance while creating space is key to their selection. Selby-Rickit’s role with Jhaniele Fowler-Reid has allowed her to open up better passing opportunities and a more well rounded game.
Combining all of that with Bailey Mes’ overall experience and ability to rebound against the Australians makes this a grouping to keep an eye on.
But the exclusion of the Steel’s Jane Watson — who had an MVP-like defensive performance all season — feels like one of the biggest missteps in all of this. The goal keeper’s ability to switch her defensive assignments at the drop of a hat made her an unpredictable menace for a lot of shooters, but, like Sharni Layton, found herself struggling to defend taller shooters.
It’s understandable that some New Zealand fans aren’t happy with some of the crazy changes, but given time, these newish-looking Silver Ferns could well catch and keep up with a Diamonds outfit that might soon rely too heavily on aging stars.
It’s crazy, but it just might work.
Edit: Stuff.co.nz reports that Tuitaia was ruled out with a foot injury a week ago.
