Leadership team aids Ferns

Laura Langman may be the Silver Ferns captain, but she believes the leadership shown by the rest of the team is helping fuel their recent success.

On Sunday, the Ferns won back-to-back tests against the Australian Diamonds for the first time since 2015, prevailing by a single goal, just as they did in the World Cup final in July.

Now they have the chance to make it three wins in a row over their closest rivals – something they haven’t managed since 2006 – when they take the court in Auckland tonight in the second Constellation Cup test.

Langman returned to the Ferns’ fold last September as Noeline Taurua was installed as coach and she said she loved the shift in the environment that had taken place over the past year.

‘‘Everyone is stepping up and taking responsibility and I really like that. It proves that you’ve got buy-in and it makes people get committed to the programme, and that’s what we want.

‘‘Often in the past we’ve talked about not having passengers, but we’ve still actually had them.

‘‘Since September last year, the number of voices in team meetings, the number of voices that are initiating what the team should do, it’s massive and it’s great to be in an environment like that.’’

Langman said while there tended to be good buy-in in most high-performance environments, that little bit extra can make a big difference. ‘‘Everyone communicates differently. Some are outspoken and others are quiet and work around the fringes. What I’ve enjoyed is the proactiveness and the way people communicate.’’

In the wake of Sunday’s win, Langman said it was pleasing to see the Ferns performing at a similar level to where they were at the World Cup.

‘‘I felt like we had made inroads in terms of the style of netball we wanted to play and Sunday was a really solid effort in terms of ensuring that our foundation was still solid, but also introducing a bit of new stuff.

‘‘It was exciting to see everyone so open and so willing to give it a go, but also ensuring that we didn’t drop below what is now our new standard.’’

Langman chose to extend her playing career into 2020 just prior to the Constellation Cup, when she signed on for a fourth season with the Sunshine Coast Lightning, who she won Super Netball with in 2017 and 2018.

But despite tasting defeat in this year’s final, she said it wasn’t a case of unfinished business.

‘‘For me it’s not unfinished business, it’s just another opportunity. When you get to my age, sometimes it’s not a choice and to be asked to play another year was pretty special.’’

Tonight’s test could be Langman’s last on home soil, with her Silver Ferns future past January’s Nations Cup yet to be decided, but she said she wasn’t treating it like a special occasion.

‘‘I’m not a massive forward planner. I’m in the Constellation Cup and I know I’ve got Lightning next year, and then we’ll just see where the pieces fall.’’