The resignation of Janine Southby as Silver Ferns netball coach yesterday follows on from the departure of Mike Hesson as the Black Caps cricket coach in early June. Southby resigned yesterday after a damning report into the performance of the Silver Ferns at the Commonwealth Games.
To be fair, Southby was on borrowed time when the Silver Ferns did not get a medal on the Gold Coast in April. But she waited until the report into the review of the team was released yesterday before standing down.
She said it was sad it had reached this point and believed she had entered the job when the team was in transition.
But she accepted not enough progress had been made quickly enough and she had to front up to the results.
The report criticised her coaching style with the team, saying the side needed a more hands-on coach and once it lost to Malawi at the Games, the team and coaching group completely fractured. Netball New Zealand was also criticised for failing to give the coaches and players enough support and the whole sport lacked a high-performance culture.
Southby, a former Otago netballer and Steel coach, had been in the job since November 2015 and started off well but the team slowly fell off the pace and Australia pulled away.
Netball New Zealand will start looking for a new coach straight away and plans to name a Silver Ferns squad on August 14.
With the World Cup coming up in Liverpool in July next year, Netball New Zealand is well behind the eight ball in terms of planning in order to have any hope of winning the tournament.
