New Zealand under-21 netball coach Georgina Salter will challenge Yvonne Willering for the Silver Ferns' coaching job in what is shaping as a two-horse race.
Willering's two-year contract finished after the shattering one-goal loss to Australia in the world championship final in Christchurch last month.
She has yet to reveal her hand,
but a recent acknowledgement that she does not like finishing on a losing note suggested that she will reapply for the position.
The Silver Ferns' capitulation in the final quarter of the world championship final when in a position of dominance gifted the trophy to Australia.
The world championship collapse provided the first major blot on Willering's international coaching career. However, if available, she would be favoured to retain the job despite some misgivings about her style and fragility under pressure.
Salter, co-coach with Leigh Gibbs of the 1992 New Zealand under-21 team who won the World Youth Cup in Fiji, has also enjoyed considerable success with Otago teams in the national league and at provincial level in recent seasons.
The only complicating factor is her role with the under-21 team she has helped to mould over the last couple of years with a view to overseeing them through to next year's World Youth Cup in Wales.
"I would probably try to work out a solution so that I don't leave my 21s completely," she said. "I think there are ways of solving that."
Willering is unwilling to discuss her future until the world championship debriefing process is completed.
Successful Southern Sting coach Robyn Broughton, also a New Zealand selector, and sentimental favourite Wai Taumaunu, now working for the All England Netball Association, have ruled themselves out of contention.
Netball New Zealand hopes to have the coach in place late this month or early December.
- NZPA
