Netball: Foster itching to pull side out of doldrums

Margaret Foster (left) wants to coach the Tactix. Photo / Getty Images

Former Silver Fern Margaret Foster believes she has the perfect antidote to New Zealand's poor showing in the ANZ Championship - put her on the payroll.

Foster coached the Canterbury Flames in 2000 and again from 2002 to 2007, taking them to five National Bank Cup finals, the country's former premier netball competition. And she would jump at the chance to coach the Canterbury Tactix.

Foster has New Zealand A coaching credentials and worked a stint as Southern Steel's assistant coach and believes she can lead a Kiwi franchise in the transtasman league, now in its third term.

"I have sat on the couch and watched TV and said, 'I think I could do that better'," Foster said. "I have that feeling. You've got to put yourself out there."

But putting herself out there hasn't always ended the way she'd envisaged.

Foster was passed over for the inaugural Tactix contract. As well, a diagnosis of breast and ovarian cancer shelved any hopes of coaching.

Now her cancer is in remission, Foster wants to pick up where she left off.

"This year is the first year [since diagnosis] that I feel physically and mentally well."

Foster's knock at the door comes when four of the country's five franchises sit in the bottom half of the leaderboard.

The woeful Central Pulse have claimed just one win in three seasons, the Northern Mystics are clambering to live up to their much-hyped pre-tournament status, while the Steel enter round six after their first loss to an Australian team in Invercargill.

New Zealand's only shining light, the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic, were third heading into this weekend.

"If you're an elite coach and you're not producing the goods, then you really need to start looking at yourself," Foster said.

The role of observer isn't easy for Foster - her former team are near the foot of the ladder under the tutelage of her former assistant and successor, Helen Mahon-Stroud. The Tactix have just one win, and that over the dismal Pulse.

Foster believes she can do a better job than her successor.

"If an opportunity came up, and the Tactix job was advertised, I would certainly apply," she said. "I don't want to be one of those people who are all talk and no walk."

In 2008 and 2009, the Tactix finished eighth and sixth respectively. Last year, Mahon-Stroud had a 38 per cent winning record despite having Maree Bowden, Charlotte Knight, Sonia Mkoloma and current assistant coach Julie Seymour on the roster.

"I guess you can run but you can't hide. You get found out very early in this competition," Foster said.

Foster said the Tactix's "man-on-man style isn't really working", the team is "lacking substance in the shooting end" and needs better defensive strategies to combat lofty shooters.

Bowden, one of three Silver Ferns on the roster, has performed well to hold up the midcourt, explained Foster.

"I have coached Maree for several years and I think she's fantastic, but she can't do it alone."