Big test awaits Silver Ferns’ green shooting end

Twenty seven test caps is all the Silver Ferns’ shooters have between them heading into the Quad Series but coach Dame Noeline Taurua has a lot of confidence in the quartet.

The Quad series between England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand gets underway this Sunday morning in London.

The New Zealand shooting end will be one of its most inexperienced in a long time.

With 24 Test caps to her name Maia Wilson is by far the most experienced.

Grace Nweke and Tiana Metuarau have just 3 Test caps between them, while bolter Filda Vui is in line for her debut.

Grace Nweke of the Silver Ferns
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In their first series overseas in two years, the side is without the services of former captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio, who is coming back from having her second child.

Ferns veteran Bailey Mes took time off from international netball to get her body right for this year’s ANZ Premiership. And following an inconsistent 2021 Te Paea Selby-Rickit missed out on the Quad series.

Grace Nweke at just 19 is the youngest of the shooters and didn’t have the debut she would have liked when the Ferns lost to England during the Taini Jamison series in September.

Nweke should see a lot of court time in England as the Ferns build up to the Commonwealth Games, along with Metuarau who shone in her first two Tests last year.

Dame Noeline Taurua said while it was a green shooting end she had a lot of confidence in the four shooters she had picked.

“The highlight is they’ve actually been really good over this time. Their shooting percentages have been really consistently high over the whole unit.

“The going to the post, which is very good to be able to see that from a team perspective, but also acknowledging the work they’ve done since the December camp.”

The quartet had four specialist coaching sessions over the Christmas break and Dame Noeline believes that has helped them come into the tour better prepared.

“So, we’ll see how we go but it’s not actually an area of concern that I’m worried about at the moment. I’m quite confident in what they can do.”

Tiana Metuarau
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The Silver Ferns’ coach said there was no better test against the likes of Australia and England.

“When they are young they have no fear …unless that’s slapped out of them against these international opposition I think they’ll go in quite strongly and with confidence to burn.”

Expert help

Dame Noeline has brought New Zealand secondary schools’ coach Te Aroha Keenan into the coaching group for the series as a specialist shooting coach.

She said it helped that Keenan already had strong relationships with a number of players from her time as coach of Mount Albert Grammar School’s top side, when they dominated college netball.

Shooter Maia Wilson is one of the players Keenan coached at MAGS and Wilson caught up with her old mentor last year when she was having some shooting woes.

“Maia probably last year especially in her shot probably wasn’t as strong as she had been in the previous year so that was identified. I think having somebody like Te Aroha come back into the mix where she knows her very well and vice versa. At the moment Maia’s shot is quite settled,” said Dame Noeline.

“There’s probably at least five or six other players that Te Aroha has coached as well whether through the Maoris or through MAGS. Te Aroha could take some credit for her time with those players at secondary school level.”

Improved shooting accuracy became one of the features of the side when Dame Noeline took over as coach but has dropped off over the last couple of series.

Dame Noeline Taurua
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Dame Taurua said she was willing to concede a little bit of accuracy for the Quad series as long as the shooters didn’t hesitate in going to the post.

“I’ve got to be realistic, not only with those shooters but probably everybody of where we are currently in the season.

“We want to win, that’s always the case but I love that word around the fearlessness and the ruthlessness around how we perform. We’ve got to show some fight and some level of dominance position wise.

“What caught my eye with all these shooters at camp is their accuracy around the shot but they’re going to be put under the pump and that’s the only way that we can see what they can actually do under extreme pressure, so we’ll see how they fare.”

The Ferns meet Australia first up this Sunday morning.

The Diamonds last international series was against the Silver Ferns in March last year, when New Zealand finally wrested the Constellation Cup off their rivals.

Maia Wilson of the Silver Ferns
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She said Australia were a bit of an unknown quantity.

“There’s a bit of uncertainty as to who they are going to put out there, there are some changes from when we last played them last year.

“I think the uncertainty goes around the individuals so I’m quite excited to see how far or how close we are away from them.”

Dame Noeline said the return of Shooters Steph Wood and Gretel Bueta (nee Tippett) to the side would boost the Diamonds.

“Massively, they’re both playmakers and that was probably one of the areas, having that option at the goal attack position that they never had when we played them in Constellation Cup, so their inclusion is definitely going to make a difference for them.”

Shooter Cara Koenen impressed in her first series for the Diamonds last year and Dame Noeline said Wood and Bueta would complement her style of play.

Age on Fakahokotau’s side

Yesterday, Central Pulse recruit and former Silver Fern Temalisi Fakahokotau announced she would be taking a break from netball for the coming 2022 season.

The defender was at her peak in 2018, when she topped all the main defensive stats in the ANZ Premiership.

But the 27-year-old hasn’t been quite the same since rupturing her ACL at a Silver Ferns’ training camp later that year.

Temalisi Fakahokotau playing for the Magic in 2021.
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Dame Noeline said she rated the former Silver Fern, who wants to spend more time with family in Auckland.

“Actually, a world class goal keep. Not only from what she does on court but she’s quite an energiser bunny and quite a lovely person to have within the mix.

“I think the ACL and understanding what is required for her to come back at that level to be an elite athlete is going to take a bit of work. But I think it’s great that’s she’s actually made the call at this stage knowing that she may not be quite balanced as she needs to be.”

Dame Noeline said Fakahokotau still had age on her side.

“She’s still only young. She still has the ability to go two cycles which is at least another six years so hopefully if she makes this call now and has that year off that she still finds the love and the want to actually get out there and do what she needs to do physically.

“I hope she does because she’ll be awesome if she can get to the levels that she was before.”

Dame Noeline said although Fakahokotau hadn’t been in the Silver Ferns mix for a couple of years they had kept the communication open.

“We always acknowledge that just because somebody is not quite right at that moment in time we always want to make sure they can come back into the mix.

“We don’t have a lot of people in our supply chain so she’s an awesome player so hopefully she can have this rest or do what she needs to do so she can come back at a later date.”