Veteran Silver Ferns shooter Maria Folau has hinted her retirement from netball is drawing near.
Folau looks set to wrap her career after this year's Netball World Cup after recent comments she made during an interview with former Australian netballer Cath Cox on Channel Nine.
"Let's just say I'm very close to the end," she said.
Folau debuted for the Silver Ferns in 2005 and has become a focal point of the team's shooting with her ability to shoot from any range inside the circle.
But July's tournament in Liverpool, England, seems like a perfect swansong for Folau, with the 32-year-old the third most-capped Silver Fern in history with 138 Tests currently to her name.
Folau made the decision this season to leave the ANZ Premiership and Northern Mystics to play in Australia with the Sunshine Coast Lightning so she could be closer to her under-fire husband, Israel.
Folau told Nine it's a move she would've made even if Netball NZ decided to bar her from representing the Silver Ferns.
"It's only been in the last couple of years where I've realised netball isn't everything," she said.
"Netball is a huge part of my life, but there's other things in my life that have come into place that really need to take forward stead. I still would have come."
Folau isn't the only veteran likely to hang up the bib after this year's world cup.
Defender Casey Kopua has already confirmed her retirement and others considered to be weighing up the option are Laura Langman and Katrina Rore.
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