The pick of the bunch
The Silver Ferns’ team for this year’s Commonwealth Games is shaping up as one of the hardest to predict ever and could mark a new era for the national side.
That’s because when a team is named for the 2023 World Cup 12 months later, it could look quite different again.
We might be saying goodbye to the days when a core group of players dominated their positions year after year and were noticeably better than their peers.
It was something that Silver Ferns’ coach Dame Noeline Taurua noted with some degree of frustration during last year’s Taini Jamison series against England.
“If someone can tell me what my strongest line is I’ll be really happy about that because I feel like I’ve got quite a few.”
Dame Noeline made similar comments after the Silver Ferns’ narrow win over South Africa at the end of January’s disappointing Quad Series.
“I’m not too sure if I have a number one lineup
. . . I think at the moment we’re not at the stage of having a strong seven where they can hold the game throughout.”
Naturally selectors want to try out different players and give them opportunities to make a mark, and also leave the door open for a bolter or two.
But the downside of not identifying a starting lineup early in campaigns for pinnacle events is that combinations have less time to gel.
At the 2019 Netball World Cup veterans Casey Kopua, Laura Langman, Maria Folau and Katrina Rore had played with each other for a number of years and each had more than 100 test caps. In the final against Australia, all seven starters played out the full 60 minutes and the deep connections that the players had on court put them in good stead when the Diamonds tried to run them down.
Since Langman retired in 2020 Dame Noeline has tried six different players in the centre bib. The difficult thing for the selectors is that none of those players has consistently stood out above the pack — or had time to.
Young midcourters like Maddy Gordon or Mila Reuelu-Buchanan might be ready in another 12 months, but have barely spent any time there at Silver Ferns level.
Of the current Silver Ferns’ squad, Shannon Saunders is by far the most experienced member with 85 test caps to her name after debuting in 2013.
But she’s been used as more of an impact player over the past three years for captain Gina Crampton, so of those 85 tests, she’s started in 58.
The netball playing country that boasts the greatest depth at elite levels is Australia. The most capped player in the recently named Diamonds squad is Liz Watson with 51 tests.
At the other end of the scale, the England Roses have huge experience with several players in the side sitting close to or over 100 tests.
It will be interesting to see how that experience or lack of serves the top three sides in Birmingham in July.
For now, the New Zealand selectors might put more weight than they have in the past on how a player matches up on the style of the opposition.
Defensively, having lost the services of veterans Jane Watson and Katrina Rore due to pregnancy, the stocks are looking good again. Incumbents Karin Burger, Sulu Fitzpatrick, and the in-form Kelly Jury were joined by returnees Kayla Johnson and Phoenix Karaka in January’s Quad Series.
Add to the mix Michaela Sokolich-Beatson, who’s returned well from injury and you’ve got some tough calls to make on who you will leave out.
Sokolich-Beatson might find the Ferns a harder side to crack now than she did when she made her debut in 2018.
Goal shoot Grace Nweke remains a major strike weapon . Now that she’s banked a little bit of court time in the black dress, she can’t be too far off from hitting her straps at the international level. Pregnancies, injuries, and Covid disruptions have all added to the complex jigsaw puzzle of pulling the right team together for the Commonwealth Games.
But if anyone can mesh a team together in a short space of time, Dame Noeline can — and will relish the challenge.