7 Dec 2015

Taurua appointed Steel head coach

9:38 am on 7 December 2015

The Southern Steel have picked up Noeline Taurua for 2016, the only coach to take a New Zealand team to the ANZ championship netball title.

Noeline Taurua coaching the Magic. ANZ Netball Championship, Northern Mystics v WBOP Magic. 2013.

Noeline Taurua in her days at the Magic. Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Taurua missed out on the Silver Ferns job and has effectively replaced the successful applicant, Janine Southby, who was recently appointed head coach of the national side.

Southby had four seasons with the Steel.

A former Silver Fern, Taurua guided the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic to the 2012 ANZ Championship title and to the semi-finals every year of her six-year tenure with the franchise.

She undertook a Masters of Science in Performance Coaching with the University of Stirling in Scotland.

After spending the past year as assistant coach to the Mystics, Taurua was excited to return to a head coaching role.

"It's really come out of the blue but opportunities like this don't come around too often," Taurua said.

"Honestly, for a long time I've always, even as a player, held the Southern Sting and Steel in high regard, not just for their performances out on court but the professionalism of the whole franchise. I've got a lot of history on the other side of the pendulum but it's a very fond history.

"That stadium was just a place where the opposition would never want to go. It's just that hum and vibrancy of such a passionate netball community that I'm excited to be part of now."

She rated the Steel's roster highly.

"The players are young and they are talented which is fantastic. There were a few games last season where we only just lost against some real powerhouses so the potential is definitely evident," she said.

"It's now seeing what we can do to take it up another level in terms of consistent performances out on court."

Southern Steel chief executive Lana Winders said Taurua's vast experience would have an invaluable impact on the franchise.

"We have an incredibly talented team of players at the Steel, the core of which have been together now for a number of campaigns, so it will be exciting to see what emerges with an injection of new ideas."