\u2018Nowhere to hide\u2019: Inside the \u2018brutal\u2019 camp of stood-down coach that led NZ to World Cup glory<\/a><\/p>\nNweke wore a wristband bearing Taurua\u2019s initials in the final Test against South Africa and will again against the Diamonds, despite admitting it made her mindful of not putting other players offside.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have kind of thought about whether to or not and I don\u2019t want to turn into some sort of outspoken whistleblower or ostracise myself in the playing group or the sense of unity that we have but there\u2019s varying levels of relationship and connection to Noeline in our team,\u2019\u2019 Nweke said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow people choose to express that I feel is up to them and for me the relationship we built is one that I really value …I have a lot of respect for Noels and the work she\u2019s done with me as an individual player but also in the whole programme.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat wristband is a reminder of the fact that I haven\u2019t forgotten about her and I am grateful and acknowledge the work she\u2019s done for me to be able to perform in the black dress but also for every other player who takes the court. It\u2019s my way of showing my respect and support for her … with the hope that someday, somehow, she\u2019s able to return.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nweke said that Taurua\u2019s removal had been sprung on the players.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt all kind of happened in a bit of a blur, like 24 hours notice and you woke up one day and the coaching staff had changed and there was so much evolving in that moment for our group that it was really quite challenging,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was an array of emotion around the ins and outs of what had gone on and as more information was shared to us confidentially, it was hard to come to terms with what had led us here and having to accept how we got there.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I feel that with time I\u2019ve been able to come to terms with the changes and make my peace with what\u2019s gone on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach Dame Noeline Taurua.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Taurua remains stood down, with initial mediation efforts having failed. Interim coach Yvette McCausland-Durie will handle the team for the looming Constellation Cup series against Australia and a November tour of the UK.<\/p>\n
Nweke said it was hard to understand how a resolution had not been reached with Taurua, whose ruthless and uncompromising fitness demands are believed to be at the heart of complaints.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not lawyers, we\u2019re not politicians, we don\u2019t usually have to be involved or have a view to understand negotiations and board discussions and I think a lot of us in the leadership space have had to put that hat on and try and do a bit of lobbying and I guess just try and understand how that space works and understand how we are still at a stalemate, when ultimately Netball New Zealand is trying to get the best for us and so is Noeline.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo wherever the point of contention is, it definitely is complicated and I do think maybe we\u2019ve lost view of what\u2019s really important from time to time and I think ultimately it has come at a cost to the players and to Noeline and that\u2019s what\u2019s been quite challenging to accept.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nweke said the public nature of the dispute had become difficult. National selector Gail Parata revealed this week that she had quit over Taurua\u2019s standing down, while Silver Ferns icon Laura Langman called players who had complained anonymously \u201cgutless\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis thing has massively been blown out of proportion and taken new wings… it\u2019s really hurt players that it\u2019s come out this publicly and it\u2019s hard to see the way forward when the whole country gets to have an opinion,\u201d Nweke said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very unfortunate this has had to play out so publicly right in the midst of an international calendar and I feel that it\u2019s just been poorly managed and poorly led, and people and players have become the collateral and I do think Noel sits there too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Superstar goal shooter Grace Nweke has broken her silence on her emotional post-game address to stood-down Silver Ferns…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6074,64,63,689,132647,132646,19061,132653,132654,132649,132652,132658,132657,6086,132659,132655,1736,120190,677,1183,18780,85,132651,132656,132650,132648,120392],"class_list":["post-217084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-africa","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-board-discussions","tag-coach-dame","tag-coaching-staff","tag-communication-style","tag-constructive-criticism","tag-emotional-post-game-address","tag-fox-netball","tag-grace-nweke","tag-initial-mediation-efforts","tag-interim-coach","tag-laura-langman","tag-leadership-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-noeline-taurua","tag-oceania","tag-south-africa","tag-southern-africa","tag-sports","tag-star-stops-celebrations","tag-superstar-goal-shooter","tag-television-camera","tag-uncompromising-fitness-demands","tag-yvette-mccausland-durie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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