Trans Tasman netball's most-prolific shooting duo are pleased rather than peeved that Casey Kopua is fit enough to potentially cause them plenty of headaches in Sunday's semi-final in Hamilton.
Silver Ferns stalwart Kopua missed a large chunk of the season due to knee issues, but played in both of the Magic's earlier finals matches.
The NZ conference winners will need her imposing presence to help quell the threats posed by the deadly NSW Swifts shooting duo of Caitlin Thwaites and Susan Pettitt.
The Swifts are the only one of the four semi-finalists to boast two of the competition's top-10 highest-scoring shooters in Thwaites (443 goals, 4th) and Pettitt (369, 8th).
Kopua didn't play in the regular season meeting between the two teams, which the Swifts won by five in Tauranga way back in round two.
"It does feel like forever ago, but it's great to see that Casey is back out there and playing after having returned from a knee injury," goal shooter Thwaites told AAP.
"It's really good to have her out there."
Her sentiments were echoed by goal attack Pettitt.
"Casey is such a quality player and it is fantastic to see her back on court," Pettitt told AAP.
"She played really well on the weekend, so we're looking at how we can address that."
Unlike some of the other semi-finalists, especially the Magic and Firebirds, the Swifts are not heavily reliant on one shooter to score the bulk of their goals.
Thwaites only averages around six more goals and attempts per game than Pettitt, with both converting about 87 per cent of their shots.
Conversely, the Magic's British shooting star Jo Harten accounts for around 70 per cent of their goals when combining with Malia Paseka or Ellen Halfpenny.
"It's fairly unique now that the two shooters are sharing the shooting," Thwaites said.
"I think that's one of the strengths of our team is if the defenders decide they want to focus on me, then she (Pettitt) can pick up the shooting load and she's just as dangerous as what I can be.
"There's so many of the tall (goal) shooters, the goal attacks have turned into a third feeder as opposed to the two shooters sharing the shooting load a bit."
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