“It’s definitely sweet, very cool,” Dame Noeline told Breakfast this morning. <\/p>\n
“One, to be in contention for the pinnacle games, but also to win gold at the end. It’s something that we don’t take lightly.<\/p>\n
“The last time was 16 years ago, so it’s a long time in between dreams. I’m absolutely rapt.” <\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/dame-noeline-taurua-GR6TSY3VK5FZFP5KO736X2FOS4.jpg\")
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Dame Noeline Taurua. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n
The victory marked a remarkable turnaround for New Zealand netball following a tumultuous 12 months, which saw Dame Noeline controversially stood down<\/a> as head coach amid a player-led employment investigation. She was later reinstated.<\/a><\/p>\n Rather than dwelling on the outside noise, Dame Noeline said the group had stayed focused on its own goals. <\/p>\n “This is the time when you’ve got to give credit to the team. I don’t want to say all these clich\u00e9s, but you know the team, the players, our support staff, the management \u2014 everybody wrapped around and did an awesome campaign plan,” she said. <\/p>\n “When we came in on game one, the attention was outstanding and really focused on Commonwealth Games and binding the group.<\/p>\n The final match was a tight contest until the third quarter, where the Silver Ferns managed to break away from Jamaica, allowing the team to savour the closing stages of the match. <\/p>\n “To pull away from Jamaica, which were a formidable force in that last quarter, and really stamp out our domination there was awesome,” Dame Noeline said. <\/p>\n The Silver Ferns stand for the medal ceremony after securing their first Commonwealth Games gold since 2010. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n “We could relax in the last five minutes and really enjoy the moment. Those times don’t happen often.” <\/p>\n Despite the celebrations, Dame Noeline acknowledged the uncertainty still surrounding<\/a> the future of Netball NZ, following ongoing concerns over the domestic competition<\/a>. <\/p>\n She hoped the Silver Ferns’ success would provide a boost for the sport in New Zealand and help “find a plan for us moving forward”. <\/p>\n Asked whether she would return as Silver Ferns coach beyond the Commonwealth Games, Dame Noeline did not provide an answer and said her focus had only been on the tournament.<\/p>\n “We go into a review process at the moment, which is our normal sort of routine. We’ll see what happens after the end, but I’ve just really enjoyed my moment,” she said. <\/p>\n The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including another earthquake wakes thousands, a Kiwi runner sets an ultramarathon record, and the lucky escape for a New York scooter rider. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Silvers Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua says ending New Zealand’s 16-year Commonwealth Games netball gold medal drought is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[166477,111,43,139,69,17771],"class_list":["post-556722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-commonwealth-games","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-silver-ferns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/the-silver-ferns-stand-for-the-medal-ceremony-after-securing-TIBWCMIOWJCWVGKH2SXL23XAL4.png\")
<\/p>\n