Wake-up call for NNZ
Sometime it’s those on the outside looking in who can diagnose things the best.
England defender Ama Agbeze and South African shooter Lenize Potgieter were the star attractions as the ANZ Premiership was launched in Auckland yesterday, and both weighed in on New Zealand netball’s woes.
The second edition of the domestic competition may begin on Sunday with a triple-header in Palmerston North, but the Silver Ferns’ failure at the Commonwealth Games will cast a shadow over it for a while yet, at least until Netball New Zealand’s review is completed in early June.
Agbeze captained England to glory on the Gold Coast, where they upset Australia to win the gold medal, after easily accounting for the Silver Ferns in pool play – their fourth win in the last six matches between the two nations.
Ahead of her debut for the Northern Stars, who she has joined from the Adelaide Thunderbirds, Agbeze urged caution in rushing to pinpoint the causes of the Silver Ferns’ sudden drop-off.
‘‘I don’t know if it was a massive collapse in the last six months. You can’t have a team that’s really good and suddenly they’re woeful, I think it’s a combination of things,’’ she said.
‘‘People have said: ‘Is it because they split from the Australian league’? I don’t think you can categorically say it’s one thing. That might have contributed to it, but New Zealand played a certain style of netball, and when they joined up with Australia [to form the trans-Tasman league, in 2008], they moved away from that, so it might have been coming the whole time they were together, and it’s just capitulated now.
‘‘We can’t ever say, because you just don’t know. It will be a combination of things. Some people want to blame the coach, some people want to blame the players. You can’t just name one thing, but you have to deal with the situation you’re given. It’s more about how they manage situations.’’
Potgieter is returning for her second year in New Zealand with the WaikatoBay of Plenty Magic, and she had a similar assessment to Agbeze.
She said she was ‘‘confused,’’ watching a team her country has never beaten lose to the likes of Malawi – a result that prompted a big smile when mentioned, and one that will give South Africa hope when they play the Silver Ferns in the Quad Series later this year.
‘‘I was just very confused about decisions that were made during the games. Every team loses, every team wins, it’s not the end of the world. Maybe it’s a good wake-up call for Netball New Zealand, to start a new development plan.
‘‘I don’t think it’s sad for them that they’re fourth. Maybe it’s good, now they can start fighting again.’’
Agbeze and Potgieter are two of just three imports set to play in the ANZ Premiership this season, with Australian Kate Beveridge at the Mainland Tactix the other.