Netball: Silver Ferns get a rebound

By JULIE ASH

She's loud and not afraid to express her opinions, but if you had to pick a dream team of netball, Donna Loffhagen would be right up there.

The 26-year-old is one of the best goal attacks New Zealand has produced.

She's the complete package - accurate under the hoop and a great reader of the game with an uncanny ability to find space where none seems to exist.

But the Southlander is equally as talented on the basketball court, and her focus was on that sport in the two years before the Olympics.

The Tall Ferns finished a creditable eighth at the Games, performing far better than many of their critics thought possible.

"We had a lot of people that were knocking us but you get that in sport," Loffhagen says.

"But we had a good team and eight of us had been to Sydney so we knew what it was like."


Loffhagen was the best rebounder at the Olympics - an impressive achievement, considering she was up against professional players from the US and Australia.

"That was pretty good for just being over 6ft. They told me in the last game I had to get 13 rebounds because I was sitting about second or third but I got 15 so it was all right."

But while she was rebounding away on planet basketball, the Silver Ferns were in the midst of what could just about be described as a crisis.

Regular goal attack Belinda Colling had announced she was moving to Scotland, leaving a gaping hole in the goal attack position.

That left New Zealand netball wondering if Loffhagen would consider a return, and her answer from Palmerston North this week was yes.


She had initially opted out of competing in the national provincial tournament but responded to an SOS from Southland who were struggling after midcourter Adine Harper suffered a blow to the head.

Loffhagen met Silver Ferns coach Ruth Aitken on Tuesday and told her she was available for the national squad but due to study commitments and the need for a bit of a break, was not available for the return three-test series against Australia in November.

With Colling also making herself available, peace in the New Zealand netball world was restored.

Loffhagen has the reputation of being difficult to coach in that she is not afraid to speak her mind.

But Aitken is not fazed.

"That is what makes a team interesting, the dynamics interesting," Aitken says.

"She has had a fantastic year, there is no doubt about it and she deserves all the success she had at Athens, it has broadened her as a player."

Loffhagen last played for the Silver Ferns at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

She says she always intended returning to the fray, but in her own time.

In other words, the pleas from Silver Ferns fans begging her to come back had fallen on deaf ears.

"I have always done everything for other people and it is about time I did something for myself and I have different priorities now. Netball is not the be-all and end-all for me.

"I love representing my country, who wouldn't? I am not going to be pressured by what everyone wants that's for sure."

If fact it's hard to get the staunch Loffhagen to admit that it must be kind of nice to have so many people wanting to see her back. "Is it only because we haven't got any shooters?" she asks.

Actually Donna, it is possibly because you were by far the most outstanding goal attack in the National Bank Cup.

"It is quite funny you say that, because my shooting stats were the same as they were the year before."

Obviously there is no winning with her.

The next big event for both the Silver Ferns and the Tall Ferns is the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

So where does that leave Loffhagen? Will she have to decide between basketball and netball?

"I have never decided. I am not going to let anyone put pressure on me to decide what I want to do sort of thing.

"I have always said that since I was at school, when I used to have people try and make me choose and I am like, 'why'?

"Normally my coaches have been very understanding, especially this year. [Tall Ferns coach] Tom Maher let me go and play a netball final [the National Bank Cup]. I never expected that, but because they were so understanding they let me do both which was pretty cool."

Loffhagen, who lives with her partner on a farm, 75 minutes out of Invercargill, has received interest from overseas basketball teams but has another year of her sport and recreation degree to complete which is a priority.

Chances are she'll be back in the Sting's blue uniform next season, although she probably would have quit had the team lost the final.


It is hard to imagine her relaxing with her feet up 10 years down the track. But Loffhagen can ... well, sort-of. A bit of time out would be nice.

Then she adds: "I'd definitely get too bored. I'd have to do something."



Julie Ash's tournament team

GS: Irene van Dyk (Waikato, right)

GA: Donna Loffhagen (Southland)

WA: Amigene Metcalfe (Waikato)

C: Temepara Clark (North)

WD: Laura Langman (Waikato)

GD: Anna Scarlett (Otago)

GK: Vilimaina Davu (Canterbury)

Subs: Catherine Latu (North), Jodi Te Huna (Cant), Joline Henry (Waikato), Casey Williams (Waikato), Anna Galvan (Cant)/Teresa Tairi (North)

Possible Silver Ferns team

GS: van Dyk

GA: Belinda Colling (in Scotland, right)

WA: Adine Harper (Southland)

C: Clark

WD: Lesley Nicol (Southland)

GD: Sheryl Scanlan (North)

GK: Davu

Subs: Anna Scarlett (Otago), Henry, Langman, Te Huna, Victoria Edward (Auckland Waitakere)