Netball review will bring change
The man tasked with leading the review into the Silver Ferns’ demise is promising a comprehensive enquiry, examining all facets, even down to team tactics and game preparation.
Prominent Auckland lawyer Don Mackinnon will chair a three-person independent panel, featuring Team New Zealand chief operations officer and America’s Cup yachtsman Kevin Shoebridge and former Silver Ferns defender Linda Vagana. The trio were appointed by Netball New Zealand’s (NNZ) board and hope to present their paper to them by mid-June.
Vagana, a Pasifika community leader and general manager of Duffy Books in Homes since 2004, played 64 tests from 1993-2002.
Mackinnon, who was director of NNZ between 1999-2007, the last three as chair, has been involved in several national sport investigations.
In 2015, he was appointed by the Government to conduct a full review of the Sports Tribunal. He was also a member of the Government-appointed ‘‘Anderson report’’ review into the state of New Zealand rugby league in 2009.
The review comes on the back of a harrowing past six months for the Silver Ferns.
They failed to win a medal for the first time at the Commonwealth Games, finishing fourth. It was a disastrous campaign for the once mighty Ferns, who lost four games, including an embarrassing 57-53 defeat to Malawi, the first loss in their history to the African nation.
The review trio have already carried out preparatory work and will start conducting interviews later this week.
A ‘‘long list’’ of people will be canvassed, ranging from players, coaches and support staff to high performance personnel and other key figures in the sport.
Mackinnon vowed the report would be all-encompassing and no stone left unturned. It would consist of two phases, the first focusing on the failed Commonwealth Games campaign, and the second targeting the two-year buildup to the tournament, starting from January 1, 2016.
‘‘Inevitably there are wider aspects than just the team itself and its preparation,’’ Mackinnon said.
‘‘I think netball has been incredibly brave to say to an independent panel look at our pathway and look at our high performance structure and in phase two dive into it and we can get better.’’
It seems difficult to image how Ferns’ coach Janine Southby, who has guided the side to just 20 wins from 39 matches since taking over the job in November 2015, will survive the review.
Recommendations will be made to the NNZ board containing both strengths and weaknesses of the Games campaign. It would then be up to NNZ to determine how many they accept and what they wish to implement.
NNZ chief executive Jennie Wyllie confirmed Southby was still coach and they would not be pre-empting the findings.
Southby is contracted through to the end of the 2019 World Cup next July.