Grace Nweke seizes the ball during the Silver Ferns' dramatic Constellation Cup decider against Australia. Photo / Photosport
Suzanne McFadden for LockerRoom
Yet another week of highs and lows in New Zealand netball has left a hollow feeling.
The Silver Ferns’ late surge to push the Constellation Cup to a thrilling 14-minute decider on Wednesday night – then falling just one goal short of the world champion Australian Diamonds – was a welcome revelation of their emerging talent and resilience.
But Dame Noeline Taurua’s reinstatement as Silver Ferns head coach last weekend brought relief, not elation. It should have promised stability but instead cast a shadow of questions over the national team’s future.
Why isn’t Taurua joining the Silver Ferns on their United Kingdom tour next week? As it stands, the next time she’ll coach the team won’t be until the opening game of the Commonwealth Games in late July – hardly the preparation she needs for such a pinnacle event.
Who will make up her coaching team? It seems unlikely her long-time assistant, Deb Fuller, will return, as it’s understood Taurua has agreed to make some personnel changes following the drawn-out negotiations.
Liana Leota will surely put her hand up after assisting caretaker head coach Yvette McCausland-Durie through the recent series.
Should Taurua have been stood down for two months at all – after Netball New Zealand said nothing was found that “called her integrity into question” – or should this regrettable saga have been resolved while she remained in the role? It’s unlikely we’ll ever know the nature of the concerns raised by some of her players back in June.
And now some Netball NZ staff – past and present – have voiced their concerns to the NZ Herald about the workplace culture, calling for a leadership change.
What about the wider netball community? Has this catalogue of missteps tarnished the sport’s status – and Taurua’s reputation – in their eyes? After asking a range of netball supporters to weigh in on the ugliest debacle the sport has faced, their answers reveal a mix of frustration, disbelief, and cautious optimism that good things could still emerge from this. Current players can’t or won’t talk on this, so …
Marianne Delaney-Hoshek, the Tactix coach for seven seasons, is pleased the impasse between Taurua and Netball NZ has been resolved.
“But there’s still so much grey area around what we don’t know, and wondering how we got to this point,” she says.
“As coaches we get reviewed all the time, and there are things that you’ll agree to work on. But is that where the misunderstanding has come from?
“Was there something to work on and they couldn’t agree, that crossed values? Could this have been resolved while Noels was still in the job?”
Delaney-Hoshek has worked with Taurua on the Silver Ferns bench and believes the head coach should be at the five tests against Scotland and England. And changes to the high performance environment that must be implemented – ‘enhancements to support wellbeing and performance, including strengthening the player voice’ – could be worked out on tour.
“As a coach, we have to evolve,” she says.
“But there are certain things that are authentic to you as a coach as well. That’s where you stand your ground, on things that are core to you.
“Mental skills is a difficult space because you’re constantly trying to push to get things out of people, and every individual is different. Most coaches, including myself, have made a player cry, or vomit, at some stage. So it’s a fine line.”
Delaney-Hoshek doubts the repercussions from this situation will filter down to grassroots coaching.
“I think it’s definitely more about high performance, although sometimes you’re down at the courts and the way some young athletes are spoken to isn’t right. But there will be things we can learn from,” she says.
With so many other sports demanding attention, Delaney-Hoshek hopes fans will stick with netball.
“But on the positive side, I think the netball community has really banded together over this,” she says.
“Most top-level coaches get roasted on social media. So although the situation was horrible, it was great to hear so much support with people getting right behind Noels.”
And those who threatened to turn their backs on netball would’ve been drawn back by the Silver Ferns’ massive turnaround to win two tests at home over the Diamonds.
“The response the girls made out on court was really cool – they dispelled the public assumptions around their fitness and working hard. It told a story of mindset under the pressure of all the stuff going on. And suddenly, everyone was a fan again.”
Delaney-Hoshek hopes from the turmoil will rise success – as it did when the Ferns won the 2019 Netball World Cup.
“I’m a big believer that sometimes when things like this happen, massive growth comes out of it. It’s been a bad period, but I think it will hold us in better stead for next year’s Commonwealth Games,” she says.
At the grassroots of netball, people are concerned, says Pam Smith, a school coach in Christchurch. “And I don’t think people are going to be quiet now, and nor should they. I just wish there was more we could do,” she says.
“Noels has taken netball to another level in New Zealand, and it feels like she’s been treated poorly.
“Netball has been under so much pressure this year, with the loss of their [Sky] broadcast deal, we’re seeing a domino effect at the top of the organisation.”
As a businesswoman looking in, Smith believes the entire process has been handled poorly.
“There’s been a total erosion of trust – with the public, with coaches and with players,” she says.
“The information that’s come out has been relayed poorly – bringing the keyboard warriors out to play.
“The public aren’t happy. Netball NZ might have thought reinstating Noels would clean it all up, but I don’t think it will. People don’t think it’s transparent, they don’t trust the process, and it feels like a bit of a patch-up job. There needs to be some accountability.”
Smith doubts the teenagers she coaches will be impacted by the saga.
“It’s not something they’re talking about. But my workmates and coaches, we talk about it daily.”
She worries this could hamper players raising legitimate issues in the future.
“How would a player feel comfortable raising a concern now, if it goes from zero to 100 – with all the speculation that’s gone on, and the backlash players have had, even when they aren’t involved.”
She’s impressed by how Taurua has stuck to her guns. “Most people wouldn’t show the integrity and the fight she has,” Smith says.
“I think she’s always been of growth mindset where she wants to fix things. She’s always been player-centred, which is part of the reason the public doesn’t understand what’s happened.”
Smith hopes this won’t stop young people pursuing coaching, but it will make coaches “sit up and take notice”.
“I think coaches everywhere – especially high performance coaches and not just in netball –would have to be thinking, ‘Is this what I’m putting myself up for if I go to coach at a high level?’” she says.
“We have reviews and discussions with players at the end of the season, but even at our level of netball, there’s a high level of trust, it’s confidential and there are actionables that come from it.
“You’d certainly need to know within any organisation that you’ve got their support and guidance if they want you to change things, and the privacy that you can work that out between you, without everybody knowing about it.
“If the [Netball NZ] board have netball’s best interests at heart, they need to take a deeper look at how they’ve handled things.”
Debbie Rennie is a former player who coached her daughters’ netball teams and is now more invested in the game as a fan.
“I think where netball is going is phenomenally exciting – as long as our governing body can sit down and reflect on this and ask themselves some really hard questions about the role they played in it,” she says.
“If they don’t do that, they have nobbled our international netball.”
As someone who’s worked as a staffer in nursing, and management and education, Rennie says Netball NZ needs “a good kick in the behind”.
“If I was their manager, I’d be very disappointed in the way they’ve handled their HR processes,” she says.
“When organisations go through acute periods of chaos and unrest, if the resolution is managed efficiently and effectively, you often come out with some good stuff to move forward with.
“Netball NZ’s management could have put it into a very different frame at the get-go when this issue first came about. Instead, they announced it in the public arena, without giving any details about what had gone on. Then the blame game starts.
“And if things weren’t right in January, why did it take six months [to be raised]? How come Noeline was blindsided? My heart goes out to her – she didn’t deserve this. But she’s the one person who will take this and make something really successful from it.”
Players have every right to raise their concerns, Rennie believes, and they shouldn’t be critiqued for that.
“But their speciality isn’t managing process and form around HR, so why hasn’t that been wrapped into the players’ package of care? That’s where both the Netball Players’ Association, the mentors of young women in elite sport and the governing body have to step up now, because they can’t let this happen again.
“If Netball NZ can’t provide a better system to handle these ups and downs more efficiently, players could vote with their feet and go to Australia. No player or coach wants to work for an incompetent employer.”
Does Rennie see any shockwaves shuddering down to grassroots and the fan base? “Not immediately. What gets lost in this is people at the grassroots will still support their team,” she says. “The third test in Hamilton was electric – all these beautiful young ones there with their families who still view the Silver Ferns as goddesses.”
Jane has an 11-year-old daughter playing club netball in the Waikato.
“She’s a handy little netballer and she loves playing the game. But she’s more interested in watching NRL, tennis or rugby than the Silver Ferns,” she says.
“Our kids are obsessed with the NRL, even though there’s no rugby league club where we live.
“Seeing our netballers as heroes – I don’t think we’ve cracked that yet. Our household needs to get to know these players more.”
The Silver Ferns coaching saga has been “prime dinner table chat” for the last few weeks, but only among the adults in the room.
“I don’t think young girls are talking about it – it just doesn’t feature in their thoughts,” Jane says.
“But I think the media coverage around Noeline has been super damaging. Netball New Zealand haven’t front-footed this, and the general public see the players [who made complaints] as whiny, overprivileged girls.
“I hope this news will all be fish and chip wrappers soon.”
Finding coaches for junior teams, and keeping kids in the game, remains a problem, Jane says.
“I coached for three years but I wasn’t a stellar netballer, so once my daughter was beyond 10 years old, I didn’t have a lot more to offer.
“The volunteers in our sport are wonderful, but I don’t think there’s a lot of investment at grassroots level to keep kids playing. It’s a real shame kids are dropping out. My daughter is the only one in her friend group still playing – I find that astonishing.
“A lot of young girls are more worried about their eyelash extensions, rather than being out there playing sport.”
This story was originally published at Newsroom.co.nz and is republished with permission.