Why Netball NZ reinstated Dame Noeline Taurua as Silver Ferns coach

Sunday, 26 October 2025

Dame Noeline Taurua has retained her Silver Ferns coaching job.

Netball New Zealand chief executive officer Jennie Wyllie believes the organisation will be “stronger in the long run’’ after the Dame Noeline Taurua saga finally came to end on Saturday night.

Although Netball NZ has announced Taurua will immediately return as Silver Ferns head coach, it said the interim coaching appointments will remain in place until the conclusion of the northern tour games against Scotland and England to “minimise disruption’’.

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On Sunday afternoon Netball NZ chair Matt Whineray and Wyllie were available to media in Auckland.

Asked how Netball NZ had handled the issue of the saga, which involved Taurua being sidelined because of complaints from players, who reportedly felt “unsafe’’ in the environment during a camp in Sydney in January, Wyllie described it as a ”really challenging process in the public eye’’.

“There will be learnings, but I think what we’ve been able to work through as a process will make sport ultimately stronger in the long run,’’ Wyllie said.

Asked if it was a robust process, prior to determining Taurua should return to working for Netball NZ, Wyllie said: “Well, I think we had to cover many bases, and we had to ensure that our stakeholders were engaged in it.

“It was always going to be tricky.’’

Dealing with a high performance environment and getting the balance right between players, coaches and management had been difficult but Netball NZ was “pleased’’ to have reached a conclusion.

Wyllie said the players were notified on Friday night that Taurua would be reinstated.

Asked if she had concerns that players won’t make themselves available next year, Wyllie said Netball NZ was confident it has considered the wellbeing of the players, coaches and administrators so everyone can contribute to the best of their abilities.

“We’ve certainly heard the views of our fans, we’ve heard the views of players and management,’’ she stated.

Dame Noeline Taurua won’t coach the Silver Ferns on the northern tour.

“And the balancing act is to find the common ground in those views and make sure that we all learn and strengthen our system going forward.’’

When Whineray said Netball NZ had been working “tirelessly’’ to come to an agreement with Taurua.

“I understand from the outside it might seem like this has taken a long time, but it’s taken a long time because there are complex issues and multiple parties involved,’’ Whineray said.

“I suppose it didn't help that it was so intense interest from from the public.

“And you have to, there's a tension between that and how you manage manage a process which by its nature has to be confidential, but also really requires relationships to be to be maintained through that.

“So yes, it's been, that's been challenging.’’

Whineray said there would be “no personnel changes’’ in the organisation.

He reiterated the message from Wyllie that Netball NZ was focused on player and staff wellbeing.

“We’re we’re confident that we’ve we’ve reached an agreement that will that will create an environment and we’ve still got some more work to do on on what those well-being frameworks will be.

“But we have kept critical stakeholders informed and so we’re confident that we can work through that and other stakeholders will be involved in producing those frameworks as well.’’