Netball: Transtasman, then world

Noeline Taurua. Photo / Sarah Ivey

She leads the country's top franchise to their second ANZ Championship grand final in three years this afternoon - and Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic coach Noeline Taurua now wants the Silver Ferns job.

There's no questioning her netball pedigree. She was in the 1998 Silver Ferns team which claimed silver at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

After swapping her netball bib for a coaching whistle, Taurua was assistant to Magic coach Ruth Aitken and was elevated to head coach after Aitken's promotion to the Silver Ferns in 2001.

Since then, Taurua's enjoyed unparalleled success among the Kiwi franchises in the transtasman competition.

The Magic finished second and third in 2008 and 2009. Today Taurua is gunning for her first championship title when the Magic square off with the Thunderbirds in Adelaide.

However, Taurua told the Herald on Sunday she's yet to secure her future with the franchise past today's final, her yearly contract due for renewal next month.

"To be honest, [the Magic hierarchy and I] have not spoken about what's going to happen. It's mainly through me, because I wanted to get this year's competition out of the way," Taurua said. She was "unsure" about next season.

Asked if she wanted the Silver Ferns' role, Taurua was unequivocal: "Definitely. You still want to be in the top job. It's always a great feeling leading a New Zealand team against Australia but Ruth has the job sewn up until the end of 2012."

This season, Taurua has proven that she can take the hard knocks.

When the Magic found themselves in a three-game losing streak, the knives were out for the Rotorua-based coach who dismissed immediate calls for an outside player to be ushered in after the season-ending knee injury to Peta Scholz.

Taurua believes that criticism was unreasonable.

"I do think that a lot of criticism came from people who didn't have any idea what was happening inside the camp.

"There was certainly a lot of external pressure.

"At that particular time, we had Peta getting injured and that changed the chemistry both on and off the court.

"We just had to keep the faith and ride through the storm," she said.

Never short of Silver Ferns in her team, Taurua has been a frequent target for critics.

"Our success has been measured against people who have been involved with Magic in the past.

"We don't have the Marias [Tutaia], the Jolines [Henry] and the Leanas [de Bruin] but we've still performed well. As a team, we just had to focus on us, despite all the crap around us."