Skipper Karin Burger has unveiled how the Silver Ferns overcame three months of off-court chaos to produce a highly respectable run of international results.
New Zealand’s 2-1 series win over England on their Northern Tour caps off an unprecedented year of drama.
The Ferns have dealt with the sensational standing down of coach Dame Noeline Taurua days out from the Taini Jamison series, meaning an interim coaching setup of Yvette McCausland-Durie and Liana Leota, plus the rotation of interim captains.
The players have been under intense scrutiny from the public, as fans grappled to hold someone accountable for the banishment of their beloved coach.
But the Taurua saga is simply the latest of off-court pressures.
Athletes have stomached uncertainty around the future of the ANZ Premiership – and therefore their livelihoods – with a broadcast deal for 2026 not confirmed until late-July.
The Silver Ferns eligibility criteria has also changed, leading many senior players to opt for offshore contracts from next year.
Not to mention, the decision of former captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio to make herself unavailable for the test team, leaving a hole in leadership and the goal attack bib.
Despite all this, the Silver Ferns delivered a 3-0 whitewash of South Africa, took Australia to extra time in the Constellation Cup, swept Scotland 2-0 and got revenge for last year’s home series loss to England.
It puts their 2025 season record at nine wins and three losses from 12 games.
Veteran defender Burger was appointed interim captain ahead of the Constellation Cup.
She said their results show the strength and tenacity in the group.
“Obviously, that’s a massive encouragement that we can do better and what we can potentially be capable of if everything is resolved, and hopefully we’ve got our full strength team together.
“But obviously, whatever’s happened has happened, and we’ll learn from that and hopefully just be better for it.”
Burger admits the off-court disruptions meant the international season was not the Commonwealth Games preparation they had hoped for.
“There is a slight disappointment in the sense that there was a really good plan set in place, and how we wanted to manage these three months to make sure that we do our prep really well for the Comm Games next year.
“Not being able to execute that plan to the best of our ability, with all the disruptions, obviously, but utilising these as opportunities as well.
“Not necessarily physically our best performances consistently, but there’s been massive growth emotionally and mentally in this group and lots of learnings that we’ve been able to take out of this.”
Burger said they want to take as many positives as they can out of the last three months and use them to build towards the Commonwealth Games.
She said in terms of leadership, managing the turbulence has been about focusing on what they can control.
“Asking the questions and getting answers when we could, when there were things to clarify. But once we had a job to do, the background noise, regardless of what we felt and what we wanted to know, wasn’t going to make a difference.
“So, it was transitioning our thinking to what we can control, and that was our performance. If we didn’t put any good performances out there, we would have put ourselves in a very big, deep hole.
“And so that was just the mind switch that we needed to control our own performances regardless of what was going on in the background. [We didn’t] necessarily do it as consistently as we would have wanted to, but we really did try our best, and being able to finish on a high has been massive for the group.”
The Ferns will enjoy some time off over the summer, with the ANZ Premiership teams convening for the first time on January 26.
The Super Netball teams have their own schedules, with Burger’s Sunshine Coast Lightning getting together on January 5.
The 32-year-old is excited for a new start.
“We only get to do these kinds of things potentially once in our career, and so grabbing onto that opportunity was massive for me.
“It’s something new and exciting and different for me. So, really looking forward to that challenge.”
Nathan Limm has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.