Tactix defender Laura Balmer has earned her first Silver Ferns selection, and shooters Aliyah Dunn and Te Paea Selby-Rickit are back in the national squad after years away, in the 18-player group Netball New Zealand named on Monday for the 2026 and 2027 international seasons.
The squad is built around the side that won Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow last month, when the Silver Ferns went through the tournament unbeaten and beat Jamaica 56-48 in the final to end a 16-year wait for the title. RNZ reported that all 12 of the Glasgow gold medallists keep their places. The bigger target is the 2027 Netball World Cup, which runs in Sydney from 25 August to 5 September next year.
Head coach Dame Noeline Taurua said in the Netball New Zealand release that picking the squad had become harder. “Over the last couple of years, selecting the Silver Ferns squads has become incredibly difficult. There is genuine competition for places, and that is exactly what we want as we continue to build the depth within the Silver Ferns programme.”
She said the selectors were also looking past next year. “But it is also bigger than Sydney. We have a group of athletes who have the potential to represent the Silver Ferns across at least two World Cup cycles.”
Balmer is the only new face. The 22-year-old moved south to the Tactix this year and, in her first full season at elite level, became what Netball New Zealand called “one of the competition’s most disruptive in-circle defenders”. She was part of the New Zealand under-21 side that won silver at the 2025 Netball World Youth Cup in Gibraltar. “Laura had an outstanding season with the Tactix and has earned this opportunity. She brings real presence in the circle, has the ability to win ball and has a high work ethic,” Taurua said.
Balmer is also a fourth-year medical student at Otago, and RNZ reported she had to step out of the GP clinic where she is on placement to talk to reporters. She said the selection had not quite sunk in. “When I’m at netball I want to be fully present and focused at netball and when I’m at med school I want to be fully focused and present because it’s such a blessing to be able to do both that I want to be able to give both the attention they deserve.” She went to high school with fellow squad member Catherine Hall, who is also studying medicine, at Auckland.
Her call-up fills a gap. Defender Kate Burley has retired, and Hall ruptured the ACL in her right knee at the Commonwealth Games. Netball New Zealand lists Hall as recovering from injury and not available until 2027. Taurua told RNZ the selectors had planned for the possibility that Hall might not be ready for the World Cup, but that she was “tracking along really good” after surgery, and that Balmer’s ability to play two positions gave them more cover. Experienced defender Phoenix Karaka was not named.
Dunn’s four tests all came in 2018, and she has not played for the Silver Ferns since. The 26-year-old was the most prolific shooter in this year’s ANZ Premiership for the Southern Steel and was a non-travelling reserve for Glasgow. “She is a high-percentage shooter, a strong holding option and has a smart netball brain,” Taurua said. RNZ reported Taurua also liked Dunn’s combination with Silver Ferns goal attack Georgia Heffernan at the Steel.
Selby-Rickit, 34, brings 66 test caps. She had not made herself available for the Silver Ferns since the 2023 World Cup, but was a non-travelling reserve for Glasgow after a first season in Australia’s Suncorp Super Netball with the Queensland Firebirds. “She is a 66-Test veteran who understands the demands of international netball and had a strong latter part of the SSN season,” Taurua said.
The squad will be spread across two hemispheres next year. Checked against RNZ’s tracker of 2027 overseas signings, 12 of the 18 players now have contracts with clubs outside New Zealand. Eleven will play in Australia, including Grace Nweke at the Sydney Sirens, Kate Heffernan at the Adelaide Thunderbirds and captain Karin Burger at the Sunshine Coast Lightning. Dunn is heading to the Leeds Rhinos in the UK Netball Super League. The move offshore followed months in which Netball New Zealand could not guarantee a professional domestic league for 2027. Its decision to back a private franchise league run by Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams came too late for the country’s top players, RNZ reported.
Taurua’s own future is still to be settled. Her contract has been extended to the end of the Constellation Cup, and she told RNZ discussions with Netball New Zealand had been “very positive” and an announcement would come soon. She took the team to Glasgow gold after being stood down last year over issues in the high performance environment.
The first test of the new group comes next month. Selectors will name 14 players for the Constellation Cup against Australia, starting at Spark Arena in Auckland on Sunday 18 October, followed by Wolfbrook Arena in Christchurch on Wednesday 21 October, Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on Sunday 25 October and John Cain Arena in Melbourne on Wednesday 28 October. The Diamonds arrive as the world’s top-ranked side and holders of the Cup, but according to Netball New Zealand they have not won a test on New Zealand soil since 2021.
Australia took bronze in Glasgow, their worst finish at a Commonwealth Games, and the two sides did not meet there. “They’ll be hurting a wee bit and would probably be looking at what that squad’s going to be looking like heading into Netball World Cup as well so I can’t wait, it’s always a hard tussle,” Taurua told RNZ.
The full squad is shooters Aliyah Dunn, Georgia Heffernan, Grace Nweke, Martina Salmon, Te Paea Selby-Rickit and Amelia Walmsley, midcourters Tayla Earle, Maddy Gordon, Kate Heffernan, Kimiora Poi, Mila Reuelu-Buchanan and Peta Toeava, and defenders Laura Balmer, Karin Burger, Catherine Hall, Kelly Jackson, Parris Mason and Carys Stythe.
Who would you start in the shooting circle against the Diamonds in Auckland on 18 October? Tell us what you think 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 🙂
Leave a Reply