Northland netball injuries cost ACC $1.8m - Silver Ferns coach backs injury prevention

Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua, here with the national squad, is highlighting the importance of injury prevention ahead of the coming season. ACC accepted 753 netball-related injuries in 2024 from Northland.

Northland’s netball players and coaches have got a message from one of the sport’s greats - Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua - ahead of the upcoming season, warning of the importance of injury prevention.

The warning comes as ACC reveals that it accepted 753 netball-related injuries in Northland in 2024 - at a cost of $1.8 million to help people recover. Nationally, in 2024, ACC accepted 23,796 netball-related injuries, which came at a cost of $48m to help people recover. This was the highest number of injuries and cost for the past five years.

As a result, Netball NZ has revised its NetballSmart warm-up to focus more on the landing and deceleration components, and it is more game-specific.

“We need to protect our players for the long term,” Taurua said as the netball season gets under way this week.

Taurua is taking time out from the national team to highlight the importance of injury prevention, and she knows that to remain at the top of international sport, you need to keep evolving and improving.

It’s an important year for the Silver Ferns as they look to consolidate on their Constellation Cup victory in 2024 and prepare for the 2026 Commonwealth Games and 2027 Netball World Cup.

“The thing that I was most pleased about [in the win over Australia] was our ability just to mentally be in tune with each other,” the 56-year-old coach said.

“So that is our focus for this year. We need to consolidate on those performances and hit those standards again. We need to keep building.” That same philosophy applies to player welfare.

Taurua (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua) is educating netball coaches and players across New Zealand about the changes to the NetballSmart dynamic warm-up.

“It is important work because our Silver Ferns come from the grassroots of our game,” she said.

“That is our pathway from local level coming right through to high performance to the Silver Ferns. We need to ensure our coaches have the resources to protect our players for the long term.”

In New Zealand, there were 373 ACL-related netball injuries in 2024, and 335 of those were female.

“We know that an ACL is a debilitating injury that can take a player up to 12 months to recover from,” Taurua said.

“That has a huge impact on the person’s career and their life.”

ACC has partnered with Netball NZ since 1997 to deliver NetballSmart. It is the only injury prevention programme to focus solely on improving outcomes for females.

The Ferns’ lead physiotherapist, Sharon Kearney, has driven the revision of the programme.

“NetballSmart is brilliant. We are so fortunate to have Sharon, and her team involved,” Taurua said.

“And for athletes and coaches to have these resources available is great. We have reviewed the programme and listened to the feedback of our community to improve it. We are lucky to have our partnership with ACC who have played a massive role in minimising injuries in our game.”

Netball NZ is supporting coaches with a range of resources like videos on the warmup.

Taurua, who played 34 tests for the Silver Ferns, has simple advice for coaches and players on how to approach their netball.

“For players it is all about enjoyment. You need to look after your body and know that your body is the tool and the more you invest in it, the more you are investing your longevity in the game.

“For coaches, understand clearly why you’re doing it. It is easy to overthink it, but the best coaching is when you pull it back to the core fundamentals and keep it simple. ‘’

For more go to https://www.netballsmart.co.nz/