An Australian has become the first to openly indicate their potential interest in coaching the Silver Ferns.
Mystics assistant Rob Wright has hinted he could throw his name in the mix for the role, after Netball New Zealand (NNZ) launched an open recruitment process to determine the Silver Ferns’ coach for the next World Cup cycle.
Incumbent coach Dame Noeline Taurua will reapply.
When asked by the Herald, Wright didn’t deny his interest.
“You’ll just have to wait and see on that one. Yeah, ‘wait and see’ is what I’m going to go with.”
Wright is well-credentialled. With the Mystics he has overseen two ANZ Premiership titles and helped Jamaica beat New Zealand twice at last year’s World Cup in Cape Town. In 2014, he became the first male coach in the old transtasman ANZ Championship when he took over the New South Wales Swifts, who he led until 2017. During that span, the side had two runner-up finishes.
On NNZ’s stance on Taurua having to reapply for the role, Wright admitted he was confused by it.
“They’ve said all along that the job is Dame Noeline’s if she wants it. So, I’m not sure what’s happened there. I thought it was hers but now they’re advertising.
“It’s going to be very hard to dislodge her.”
The decision comes on the back of some struggles for the Silver Ferns. After finishing fourth at the World Cup, the Ferns have lost on home soil to an understrength England, missed out on the Constellation Cup and failed to make the final of the Nations Cup.
In addressing what he believes is behind their struggles, Wright said they aren’t evolving.
“I feel like we’re seeing a lot of the same. Over the last couple of years, I don’t think we’re seeing a lot of difference and they’ve got the results.”
While Wright gave a “wait and see” answer, Mystics coach Tia Winikerei has ruled herself out of the race.
Taurua told Newstalk ZB she’d be “disturbed” if the other ANZ Premiership coaches didn’t put their names forward. But Winikerei said she would want to get Fast5, Under-21s or New Zealand A experience first.
“My place is at the Mystics right now. I’m a developing high-performance coach. I’ve been in the role for a year, I’ve got no international experience, so I wouldn’t see my skillset as fitting that role.”
In a twist, Wright endorsed fellow Australian Briony Akle as one of the favourites for the job.
The New South Wales coach worked with New Zealand during the Nations Cup in January and has led the Swifts to two Super Netball titles and three grand finals. Akle also succeeded Wright as head coach at the Swifts when he stepped down in 2017.
Wright said Akle had a strong impact on the Mystics players who were in the Silver Ferns’ Nations Cup squad.
“We had four of them over there and they loved her. So I was thinking, as soon as that came out – if I was Briony – I would’ve been having my CV in before the ink dried on the press release.
“She’s too good of a coach not to be coaching internationally as well. She’s done a phenomenal job with the Swifts. They love her. The Silver Ferns girls obviously love her. She would be one of the big picks for me.”
Former Pulse coach Yvette McCausland-Durie earlier ruled herself out of a return to netball to mentor the Silver Ferns.
The ANZ Premiership’s most successful gaffer finished last year but attended the World Cup as a specialist coach with Fiji. McCausland-Durie is now running a Māori boys boarding school – Tipene-St Stephen’s, on the Bombay Hills – with her husband.