Dame Noeline Taurua has named a 12-strong Silver Ferns squad for next month’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games, marking her first full team selection since she returned to the head coach role after roughly 18 months away from the national side.
The team blends a small core of seasoned campaigners with a wave of new faces, with nine of the 12 players set to make their Commonwealth Games debut in Scotland. Defender Karin Burger will captain the side, with midcourter Kate Heffernan named as her vice-captain.
Taurua has gone with Georgia Heffernan, Grace Nweke, Martina Salmon and Amelia Walmsley as her shooting options. The midcourt is made up of Madeline Gordon, Kate Heffernan, Kimiora Poi and Mila Reuelu-Buchanan, while the defensive end pairs captain Burger with Catherine Hall, Kelly Jackson and Carys Stythe. Parris Mason has been named as the travelling reserve.
Jackson carries the most Games experience into the campaign, returning for a third Commonwealth Games, while shooter Nweke and vice-captain Heffernan will each be attending their second. For everyone else, Glasgow will be a first taste of the Games environment, a sign of how much the Silver Ferns have turned over since the disappointment of recent pinnacle events.
Taurua said she was happy with the shape of the group she had landed on. “When you look at the make-up of the squad, we have a great balance of players who will be around for many more pinnacle events, as well as more mature players who are in the prime of their careers and delivering amazing performances,” she told RNZ. “This is an exciting team who showed what it is capable of last year. There is resilience, grit and genuine hunger within this group.”
The most eye-catching call from the selectors is the decision to back two injured players to be fit in time. Young defender Catherine Hall, 22, has been named despite being six weeks into a foot injury that still had her in a moonboot at the squad announcement. Her selection is subject to medical clearance, and she has not been given a firm return date. Midcourter Poi is also working back from a calf problem.
Taurua said the gamble was a calculated one rather than blind hope. “Both players are on a return to performance plan,” she said. “At the moment the intent is for them to be there and we’re excited by every day and the progression that’s made.” The coach is leaning heavily on the team’s conditioning and medical staff to get both players over the line before the netball competition begins.
For Hall, the vote of confidence has become its own kind of medicine. “Being selected puts that extra bit of fire in my belly to get my recovery done really well and be back ready,” she said. It is a reminder of how fine the margins are at this level, where a foot that will not quite heal can sit between a young player and a debut on one of the sport’s biggest stages.
The selection also closes a chapter that has hung over New Zealand netball for the past couple of years. Taurua, widely regarded as one of the most successful coaches the women’s game has produced, was stood down in 2025 following concerns raised by players about the team environment. Her reappointment and this squad naming represent the first time she has assembled the full group again, and she has spoken openly about how much she has enjoyed being back with the players.
There are some notable names missing. Former captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio is unavailable, while experienced defender Phoenix Karaka, a veteran of around 70 Tests, has not been selected. Te Paea Selby-Rickit, who has not featured since the 2023 World Cup, was listed as a non-travelling reserve. Those omissions underline just how much the team that takes the court in Glasgow will look like a new generation rather than a continuation of the recent past.
Much of the attention will fall on Nweke, the towering shooter who has become the focal point of the Silver Ferns attack and one of the most watched players in the world game. With a young supporting cast around her, how quickly the new combinations gel could decide whether New Zealand can challenge for gold or whether this is a campaign about building towards the next World Cup.
The Silver Ferns will gather for a training camp in New Zealand in early July before heading to a pre-Games camp in Manchester. Their Glasgow campaign opens against Scotland on 25 July, the kind of fixture that should let a young side find its feet before the heavyweight contests arrive. Australia, England and Jamaica loom as the usual obstacles between the Silver Ferns and a place on the podium.
For Taurua, the task now is simple to state and hard to deliver. Get a largely untested group ready, get her injured players fit, and turn a squad full of debutants into a team capable of standing toe to toe with the best in the Commonwealth inside a few short weeks.
What do you make of the Silver Ferns squad for Glasgow, and is naming two injured players a smart gamble or a risk too far? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job π
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