THE TASKMASTER
Noeline Taurua took on the highest profile job in women’s sport in New Zealand less than four months ago, bringing an uncompromising approach and an intriguing mix of highperformance knowledge and gut intuition to the hard ask of turning round the national netball team’s horror run in time for next year’s world championships.
On the team bench, the Silver Ferns coach displays her emotion. A steely gaze alternates with the odd eye roll or delighted clap. In person, there’s that same direct look, mixed with wry chuckles and a level of self-belief won from years of top-level coaching. Out of her black sports gear, the lithe 50-year-old is a vibrant presence. Like the nippy former international player she was, she seems coiled for the next move. Players won’t die wondering what “Noels” thinks of them. But if they do the work and buy into a culture of excellence and tenaciousness, she’s convinced the talent is there and the rewards can come. The Ferns must push on, put the past in context and gain resilience from it.
After all, it’s what she did herself. Taurua, daughter of the late Ngāpuhi leader Kingi Taurua, has the fighting spirit. She also has a deep love of netball and remembers her mother and her grandmother playing the game, as do her children now. “It’s irrelevant what level you play to. Like all sports, it strengthens communities, it helps to build character and personalities of individuals and it provides identity as well.”
When she was snubbed from even the shortlist for the Silver Ferns role three years ago, Taurua rebounded spectacularly. Back-to-back Australian titles with the start-up Sunshine Coast Lightning team made her case to lead the Ferns undeniable. She came armed with a Masters degree in sports performance, inside knowledge of how the formidable Aussies tick, and the charisma to recruit back star players while developing new ones to ensure internal competition.
Sporting-wise this was deservedly the Black Ferns’ year, but with women’s rugby having a fraction of the player base of netball, it is the Silver Ferns — like the All Blacks — who are never short of armchair critics. Taurua has been heartened by the support she has enjoyed within the netball community and wider public, but she knows that as an elite coach she needs to deliver. “There’s expectation and so there should be.” Contesting international finals is what she will ultimately be judged on. She’s excited by the challenge that the worlds champs will bring in July 2019, but knows this will come around all too quickly.
After that family priorities will decide her next move. Her four youngest of five children are at school in Queensland, where she has a contract for a third year at the Lightning, juggling that role in the months ahead with steering the Ferns. She hasn’t made any commitments beyond 2019. The game and her reputation are always on the line. For the players, however, she says it is the journey and attitude that will ultimately define them. “I don’t want any ‘what ifs’. I don’t want to be saying the same things that everybody knew from the start. I really want to show in some degree that we’ve moved or improved. The result, that will speak for itself… we’ve got to take ownership of it.”