Last shot Pressure on Ferns

Can Dame Noeline Taurua pull a second rabbit out of her hat? Six months out from the Netball World Cup in 2019, she took the Silver Ferns to England for a Quad Series, where they lost heavily to their hosts, lost narrowly to Australia, and pipped South Africa.

But at the tournament in Liverpool in July that year, they beat England in the semifinals and Australia in the final to claim their first world title since 2003. Fast-forward three years. Six months out from the Commonwealth Games, to be held in Birmingham in England in July, the Silver Ferns have made another trip north for a Quad Series, where they’ve lost heavily to Australia and lost narrowly, 46-49, to their hosts.

Next come a pair of matches against South Africa – one tomorrow, and another on Thursday to decide who finishes third and fourth (the first centre pass for both is at 6.30am NZ time) – while Australia and England go head-to-head two nights in a row.

The parallels between where the Silver Ferns were three years ago and where they are now are clear.

But while that means there’s no need to panic about them losing to Australia and England over the past two days, it doesn’t necessarily mean history is repeating. The big difference is that there appear to be more questions now than there were then with regard to the make-up of Taurua’s starting seven.

At the time of the 2019 Quad Series, she had five of her eventual lineup for the World Cup in place. The team was built around the three ‘‘fossils’’ – some of world netball’s all-time greats: Casey Kopua in defence, Laura Langman in midcourt, and Maria Folau in the shooting circle.

They were joined by Jane Watson in defence and Ameliaranne Ekenasio in attack in all three matches that year.

The decisions to be made were in the middle, including whether Langman was best utilised at centre or wing defence.

Ultimately she lined up at centre, with Gina Crampton ahead of her, and Katrina Rore – not in the squad for the Quad Series – returning to the fold in an unfamiliar role behind her, one she excelled at as the Silver Ferns defied expectations to emerge triumphant.

Kopua, Langman and Folau have since retired, while Rore is still playing, but hasn’t pulled on the black dress since then.

Two of the remaining three starters – Watson and Ekenasio – aren’t on this tour and Watson won’t be returning for the Commonwealth Games, as she is expecting her first child.

Ekenasio is due to return to action with the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic in the ANZ Premiership after a year away from the game while having her second child.

You can probably put her name down in pen for the Commonwealth Games, and the same goes for fellow World Cup starter Crampton, but the only other player in the same boat right now would be goal shoot Maia Wilson, who has shown good accuracy in the two Quad Series losses so far after a shaky end to 2021.

Beyond those three, there appear to be four starting spots genuinely up for grabs.

A year ago, Kimiora Poi was a revelation at centre as the Ferns won the Constellation Cup off Australia for the first time in nine years.

Now, she’s not even in the squad, and it’s Claire Kersten and Sam Winders sharing playing time there, with Shannon Saunders waiting in the wings and Maddy Gordon waiting to push her case, absent injured for the moment.

Gordon, Kersten, and Winders could also be in the mix at wing defence, where Kersten, Karin Burger and Kayla Johnson have played during the last two matches.

Burger and Johnson have also spent time in the defensive circle, alongside Sulu Fitzpatrick, Kelly Jury, and Phoenix Karaka, another returning after a long absence. All have had their moments, but none have grabbed hold of a bib and put it out of the reach of their fellow contenders.

If she wants to keep playing international netball – a subject she’s been coy on – Rore will be in the mix here as well, when she pulls on a Magic dress for the first time in the ANZ Premiership.

The Silver Ferns now need to finish the Quad Series with a pair of wins against South Africa, who went down by 24 against England and 20 against Australia.

Taurua will be hoping things are as comfortable as that for her side, so she can have a good look at as many of her players as possible.

But when it comes to settling on a team that can beat Australia and England in July, Taurua’s going to have to judge her options on how they perform domestically.

Once she settles on her final 12, she’ll have time to whip them into shape between the end of the ANZ Premiership and the start of the Commonwealth Games, just as she did in 2019.

This time around, she has more work to do, but a gold medal is still well within the Ferns’ grasp.