Opinion: New Zealand and Australia combine to create superpower coaching duo
- Apr 27
- 1 min read
There’s only one thing scarier for a netballer taking the court against Australia or New Zealand, and that's knowing their opponent is led by coaches from both.
Image credit: Michael Bradley
The international netball scene has been dominated by Australia and New Zealand, and while there are rumblings of a new world order with South Africa, Jamaica and England hoping to stage a takeover, any upsets to date have been occasional. The reality is that these two juggernauts won’t simply roll over since almost the entire Diamonds long squad and a majority of key Ferns players hone their craft in the Suncorp Super Netball (SSN).
New Zealand Netball permitted elite Kiwis to fly across the ditch, but what is also interesting is that they have snared NSW Swifts head coach Briony Akle as assistant coach to Dame Noelene Taurua. The appointment brings Akle back into the Silver Ferns environment, where she worked as a specialist coach over the past two years.
The high-tempo intensity of SSN is Australia’s competitive advantage, but this appointment alongside Noeline Taurua is not just about adding coaching depth ahead of the 2026 Commonwealth Games it creates a programme that understands the game through two elite lenses at once.
Closing the gap on the top two has always required choosing which benchmark to chase: Australia’s punchy and slick athleticism or New Zealand’s zonal tactics. This development suggests the Ferns may no longer be operating within that binary at all.