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'It is not going to be an easy fix' - Yvonne Willering weighs in on Netball NZ ‘s failed Comm Games campaign

April 17, 2018

The former Silver Ferns coach says the problem lies with selections and the structure of the domestic competition.

Former Silver Ferns coach Yvonne Willering says the decline in the national side's performance on the international stage is not going to be "an easy fix" and the issue lies within the structure of the organisation and the domestic competition.

The Silver Ferns had a disastrous Commonwealth Games campaign losing to Jamaica and Malawi and ultimately missed out on a medal in the Gold Coast last week.

Willering spoke to 1 NEWS and said Netball New Zealand has got to be honest with their evaluation processes.

"They (Silver Ferns) have probably had evaluations throughout the season but I don't believe they would have been totally honest because people would have been thinking about their own spots and the team," she said.

Willering said the issues isn't solely one person's fault but that the organisation faces a tough road ahead of them:

"It is not an easy fix, it's going to take time."

"This isn't just about the Silver Ferns it's about netball as a whole, so the process while the evaluation is going to be taken with the Silver Ferns, they have to keep the game of netball in mind as well.

"I think that it is also further down the coaching. We are talking about the ANZ Premiership, there is a lot of aspects to this not just the Silver Ferns."

Willering said Netball New Zealand's decision to pull out of the Australian competition was a bad move.

"The problem at the moment is the ANZ Premiership last year wasn't that strong and I felt that it is more like a development league rather than an elite competition," said Willering.

"Not having the Australians in there doesn't give us a gage of how strong we really are, but I don't think Australia are going to anytime soon come into the competition."

Willering said the development in New Zealand's own players is a key problem the organisation needs to look at.

"At the moment we have a look at some of our key import players who have gone across the Tasman, one of the criticisms was our import players were predominately goal shooters," she said.

"That was tricky because you know shooting percentages weren't up to it in the Comm Games, that's in part of it.

"The import players also provide a different sense to the whole competition."

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