Interim Silver Ferns captain Karin Burger says any fractures among the playing group have been put aside as the team begins preparations for the upcoming Constellation Cup campaign against Australia.
Peers and team management voted for Burger to skipper the side, with Kelly Jackson to serve as vice-captain for the Constellation Cup and Northern Tour, while Grace Nweke, Kate Heffernan and Peta Toeava will round out a five-strong leadership cohort.
Burger, Jackson, Heffernan and Nweke were all given the chance to captain the side during the Taini Jamison Trophy sweep of South Africa. The series was overshadowed by Netball New Zealand’s decision to stand down coach Dame Noeline Taurua after a group of current and former players raised concerns with the NZ Netball Players Association about “feeling unsafe” in the environment.
That move saw Yvette McCausland-Durie come out of coaching retirement to take charge for the three-test series.
Despite a plea from Nweke to Netball NZ to reinstate Taurua, the national body confirmed on Saturday that the 2019 World Cup-winning coach would remain stood down for the rest of this year, with McCausland-Durie to lead the side in the Constellation Cup later this month and the ensuing Northern Tour.
During this week’s camp, the players held another open forum, which allowed them to share their feelings on the ongoing saga. Burger believes that process has enabled everyone to settle their differences and refocus before their Constellation Cup defence, which starts on October 17 in Melbourne.
“We’ve come to a conclusion this week that everybody is going to have different opinions,” Burger said. “Just because I have one opinion doesn’t mean I can put down someone else’s.
“We’ve had to work together to find a solution and compromise both ways to make sure we can move forward. I think we’ve reached a really good point this week. We’ve left what was said and done in the past.”
McCausland-Durie said the group discussion was vital to helping the players reset their focus.
“Just that ability to emotionally talk about, ‘Where am I at?’, ‘How do I feel?’
“It’s good to have that. We know it, we’ve heard it, and now, how do we take ourselves into that performance space? How do we make sure we’re present, make sure we’re really intense about what we’re doing?
“For us, it’s about knowing there’s difference. And we’re asking each other, ‘What’s my role? What do I need to deliver on? And how do I have that conversation to say I am, or I’m not?’
“Just being comfortable that, as a professional, that’s what this workplace needs to look like.”
Burger, the only remaining player from the Silver Ferns’ 2019 World Cup triumph, reaffirmed her strong relationship with Taurua and said the team was determined to make her proud in the upcoming series.
“For those of us who’ve been around a little bit longer, we have a really good relationship with her, and we know it’s a difficult and tough position she’s in at the moment.
“For us, it’s about carrying on her legacy by performing well and showing that everything she’s put in up until this point still connects us with her.
“If that means staying in touch with her personally, then great, but I can’t speak for everyone on whether they are or not. What’s important is knowing that we haven’t lost that connection or relationship.
“In life, you never really lose relationships with people you’ve built them with. For us, it’s about showing her that we’re still doing the work she’s been putting into us over the last few months.”
Burger said that, while the backroom staff might look different, the goal remained the same.
“We’ve tried to focus on what we built on from last year’s Constellation Cup, while making a few tweaks to allow the coaches in this current environment to be themselves as well.
“I think we just want to allow our players to play to their X-factor and be themselves. New Zealand has a very different style, and by playing to our flair, we can put a really good performance out there.
“We’re going into this series knowing we have the potential to take it, but we also know we have to be mentally and physically ready, and that’s what we’ll be prepping for over the next week and a half.”
Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.