Silver Ferns coach Waimarama Taumaunu is targeting both ends of the court as her team look to level the Constellation Cup series against Australia in Auckland on Thursday.
Beaten 50-44 in Christchurch on Tuesday, the New Zealanders are looking to level the series before they head to Australia and the final two Tests in Melbourne and Perth.
Both sides looked rusty in the series opener, two months on from the netball World Cup final won 58-55 by the Diamonds in Sydney.
There were glimpses of class but consistency was lacking across the board.
Goal attack Natalie Medhurst was outstanding in orchestrating the Australian attack, sinking 12 from 14 and generally making newcomer Paige Hadley's life a breeze at wing attack.
For New Zealand, goal shoot Bailey Mes continued her steady improvement, shooting 24 from 28 at 86 per cent and looking slick in her circle movement and combination with Jodi Brown (20 from 25).
Taumaunu, who retires at the end of the Constellation Cup, knows exactly where she wants the Kiwis to improve.
"We've got some work to do in the defensive circle about getting ball, and I'd like to see us being a little bit more effective on turning our gains into goals," she said.
"I thought we got a bit of ball, particularly through those middle quarters, that didn't get to our circle, so there's a little bit of work around that."
Taumaunu was pleased with the way Mes and Brown stood up against some fearsome defensive work from Sharni Layton and Laura Geitz.
Mes's circle work was excellent, and her rebounding as reliable as ever, while Brown's intelligent feeding and solid shooting were used to good effect.
But Taumaunu wants more variety from her circle in Auckland, and expects them to react and adjust quicker than they did on Tuesday.
"I don't think we responded well to the marking of the shot in the circle," she said.
"We discovered after halftime to vary between offloads and taking shots.
"It's pretty hard to see the goal post in there and to get a shot cleanly away, and I thought it took us a little bit of time before we got that right."
Taumaunu says all the components are there to beat Australia.
"We need to be a bit more consistent."
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