KEY POINTS:
With five first-string Silver Ferns in her Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic squad, the team pretty much coaches itself, doesn't it?
To believe in such sentiments would be seriously underestimating the value Noeline Taurua, a former Silver Fern herself, has brought to the Magic.
The riches at her disposal
have never been in question. But it is Taurua that has been able to mould that abundance of talent into a cohesive unit while still allowing for individual flair.
The 39-year-old mother of four _ soon to be five _ laughs when it is suggested she has a cushy job.
"We do have a lot of firepower," says Taurua, who is affectionately known as Noels by her players.
"I don't want to muck around and say `er'. I'm not one of those coaches who try and play it down. Instead, let's celebrate that.
"But the reality is the All Blacks had a lot of firepower _ and look what happened to them in the World Cup."
Enough said.
Determined to save her team from a similar fate, Taurua's main focus now is to ensure her team stay in control of their own destiny.
With a four-point lead on the rest of the competition, the Magic are in the box seat to claim the number one spot heading in to the play-offs. That side will be afforded the luxury of a home semifinal and an extra life should they lose the first play-off match.
An astute observer of the game, Taurua has been doing plenty of homework over the last few weeks to ensure her side are prepared for everything once the play-offs start.
"You've got to be able to make sure that you can change and you've thought about it before it happens."
It was this reasoning that led Taurua to take a massive gamble on starting youngster Halana Leith at wing-attack for last week's top-of-the-table clash against the Queensland Firebirds. It was the first time Leith, who plays predominantly at goal-attack, had started all season.
Taurua had previously stuck with the same run-on seven all season, so to start tinkering with her line-up against their toughest opposition to date was, in the words of Taurua herself, "a bit crazy".
But she's got the big picture in mind _ with four weeks to go she doesn't want to have to scramble for new options late in the competition.
And it proved a master stroke from Taurua, who yet again displayed an uncanny ability to pull something out of the hat and make it work.
Of course, Taurua would have drawn a lot of criticism if it had have backfired _ a thought that doesn't seem to faze the experienced coach.
Having been in the Magic coaching set-up for seven years _ five of those as head coach _ Taurua said she is enjoying the added intensity of the new transtasman league.
JUST DON'T MENTION THE BUBBLE
"You're not going to ask me about my bubble are you?" Noeline Taurua asked suspiciously when approached for an interview. She was of course referring to her baby bump, with the birth due around the time of the first weekend of the ANZ Championship play-offs.
Some find it incredible that Taurua still has the energy to coach in such a competitive league but she doesn't understand the fuss.
"For me, it's not an issue, I've always sort of done it," she said.
With the bulk of her team having been together for quite some time, Taurua said having a pregnant coach doesn't faze the players.
"A lot of these girls are used to it. It's not anything startling to them."
Increasingly, netballers here are choosing to play throughout the early stages of their pregnancy. Former Silver Fern Adine Wilson, who gave birth in April, played at the highest level while pregnant when she captained her side at last year's World Champs. More recently, Canterbury Tactix shooter Jodi Brown played the first part of the ANZ Championship season before withdrawing after revealing she was 11 weeks pregnant.
"There is a lot more pressure every week because it seems like the whole public awareness of the game has gone up and that definitely adds pressure as well," she said.
"I actually really enjoy it. For me, and it might just be my personality, the more pressurised it is, the more I thrive. Otherwise I sort of go to sleep. The tighter and harder it is, the more I enjoy it."
A member of the Silver Ferns for six years during the '90s, Taurua was renowned for her speed and play-making ability at goal-attack.
In her first outing against fierce rivals Australia, Taurua was called into the side as a late replacement for the injured Elisa Taringa in the 1994 home series. She proved to be one of the best players on court that night, though New Zealand lost the match 52-49.
But Taurua believes she did not fulfil her potential as a player.
"For me, I wish I had learnt the finer points in the game sooner. "
Taurua's first top-level coaching job was back in 2000 when she took over the reins of the Bay of Plenty side for the National Provincial Champs.
"It wasn't really my intention. It just happened at that time someone needed somebody, and I thought `oh, okay'."
She then served as assistant coach for the Magic before taking over the helm in 2003.
Over the years Taurua has built a solid core of top players. In that sense it is no surprise that Taurua is now steering a team who are likely to be New Zealand's sole chance of delivering success in the inaugural ANZ Championship season.
But that'll be easy peasy right?
