Former Silver Ferns coach Yvonne Willering says spreading international players more evenly across the New Zealand teams won’t necessarily solve the imbalance in the trans-Tasman netball competition.
While all five Australian teams in the ANZ Championship have shown they’re highly competitive, New Zealand have problems.
Three of their five teams – the Tactix, Mystics and Pulse – are propping up the ladder.
And the last-placed Pulse haven’t won a single game since the competition began in 2008, lending weight to suggestions one of the New Zealand teams should be cut from the competition.
Most of New Zealand’s top talent is stacked into two teams – the second-placed Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic, with seven current New Zealand internationals, and the mid-table Southern Steel, with six current Silver Ferns and two former international stars in Adine Wilson and Donna Wilkins.
But Willering, sacked as Mystics coach last year, said a more even spread of Silver Ferns through the New Zealand teams could actually jeopardise their competitiveness against their Australian counterparts.
“A lot of the Australian teams have a scattering of current Australian squad members, but even with that spread, they are still very competitive in the league,” Willering said.
“If we started spreading our players around that much, I just don’t know whether we’d still be competitive against the Australian teams.
“Most of our New Zealand players are within the Magic and Steel. If you dilute that, I think certainly we’d have a closer competition among ourselves but I don’t know how we’d match our skills against the Australians.”
Earlier this month, former Australian netballer Kath Harby-Williams called for one of the New Zealand teams in the 10-team competition to be culled.
Having four teams, with the talent spread evenly, would improve the standing of the New Zealand sides, she said.
However, competition general manager Anthony Everard said in response that there was “no chance” a New Zealand team would be cut.
Willering suggested Australia’s greater playing depth would be reflected when the two respective national teams were selected later in the year.
“We’re looking for people in some positions at the moment,” she said.
“For instance, there are players that have had children and come back, and there’s still a spot for them in the Silver Ferns.
“That shows competition for positions probably isn’t as great as we’d like it to be.”
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