Taurua signing three years too late
Nearly three years after butchering their head coaching decision, the standout candidate is finally in charge of the Silver Ferns.
Noeline Taurua was unveiled as the 11th coach in Ferns’ history on Thursday, a position she should have held in 2015 after Wai Taumaunu finished up.
Hindsight is a beautiful thing and Netball New Zealand would love to have its time over again after that bungled decision, which had far-reaching ramifications.
Taurua was inexcusably not shortlisted for the final two by an interview panel, comprising former NNZ chief executive Hilary Poole, Steve Lancaster (then NNZ’s head of high performance), board member Suri Bartlett, and independents, former Ferns centurion and captain Lesley Rumball, and Mike McGovern from High Performance Sport New Zealand.
Janine Southby and Australian Julie Fitzgerald were the final two with former New Zealand under-21 and Southern Steel coach Southby winning out.
Taurua’s coaching CV read impressively, but her strong personality didn’t sit well with the key decision makers at the time, who are no longer around.
She was overlooked and NNZ can count its blessings the stars have aligned for Taurua to take over from Southby. The latter resigned in July after a damning independent review following their harrowing Commonwealth Games showing.
It would have been easy for Taurua to have sulked off into the sunset after the disappointment of 2015.
Instead, she set about improving herself as a coach and extended her skills and knowledge in Australia.
Over the past three years, she’s built a record any elite coach in world netball would envy.
In 2016, Taurua took over from Southby at the Steel in the final year of the trans-Tasman competition.
Where Southby was unable to get the best out of a talented Steel squad, which included star Jamaican shooting import Jhaniele Fowler, Taurua got instant results.
The Steel took out the minor premiership and went unbeaten in round play, winning 11 games with two draws. They failed to fire in the finals, but it was a season to cherish for the southerners.
Her deeds with the Sunshine Coast Lightning in Australia’s Super Netball are well documented. Two years in Australia, two titles.
It is a remarkable achievement, given the strength of the leading teams in Super Netball and closeness of the competition.
The Lightning qualified in the fourth and final playoff spot this season, but that was little barrier to success.
They won all three finals games on the road and roared back from seven goals down late in the first half to stun 13,722 mostly-West Coast Fever fans in Sunday’s grand final in Perth.
While the Lightning would go on to have a dream 2018, the Silver Ferns imploded in alarming fashion.
They were a dysfunctional mess at April’s Commonwealth Games, losing to Malawi in group play, having beaten them by 33 goals in a warm-up match a few weeks earlier.
Southby’s Ferns finished the Games with consecutive losses to England, Australia, and Jamaica in the bronze medal clash, completing a nightmare run, where they failed to medal for the first time, finishing fourth.
The writing was on the wall for Southby late last year in the 4-0 Constellation Cup defeat to Australia as the losing margins increased with each game.
Confidence in her coaching ability and unity within the Ferns’ camp worsened as the losses mounted.
The door effectively slammed shut on Southby’s reign after the embarrassing loss to Malawi. There was no coming back from that and the Ferns never recovered on court.
Taurua has a challenging job ahead of her to rebuild the Silver Ferns’ damaged credibility after the dire results of the past 10 months.
She has the respect, coaching smarts, and pedigree to turn the team around, but it is unlikely to be an instant fix.
Getting Silver Fern greats Casey Kopua and Laura Langman back in the fold after absences from the national team was a positive first step. They will be critical leading into the 2019 Netball World Cup next July.
Taurua had to be the person NNZ nabbed as Silver Ferns coach. Even if that meant seeing out the final year of her contract with the Lightning next year, while also coaching the Ferns.
NNZ couldn’t drop the ball second time around.
Doing so, would have been a hammer blow for the sport at the elite level in this country.