{"id":642485,"date":"2026-10-27T05:20:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T05:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/642485\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T05:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T05:20:12","slug":"silver-ferns-gesture-to-boisterous-australian-crowd-i-just-had-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/642485\/","title":{"rendered":"Silver Fern’s gesture to boisterous Australian crowd – ‘I just had enough’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Silver Fern livewire Maddy Gordon says she’d had enough of the constant booing when she mocked the boisterous Australian crowd in the third Test in Sydney.<\/p>\n

The Silver Ferns won the Constellation Cup for just the fourth time after beating Australia 52-49 in Sydney on Sunday, and are now just a win away from the number one world ranking.<\/p>\n

The Diamonds dominated the first three quarters, putting New Zealand under real pressure for the first time in the series, but the Silver Ferns pulled out a massive fourth quarter effort.<\/p>\n

New Zealand can clean-sweep the series for the first time ever if they win in Melbourne on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

In the fourth quarter, Gordon was awarded possession when a Diamonds player ripped the ball away, despite the Silver Fern having two hands on it.<\/p>\n

The 11,000 strong home crowd clearly didn’t agree with the call, with a chorus of boos ringing out around the stadium. Gordon responded by turning towards the stands and mimicking a chattering mouth with her hand – a cheeky gesture which was caught on the broadcast.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know what came over me,” Gordon laughed, “Oh my goodness, I honestly didn’t think at the time anyone would see it, so this is quite hilarious.<\/p>\n

\"Jessie<\/p>\n

Silver Fern shooter Grace Nweke (right) also came under a barrage in Sydney.<\/p>\n

Robbie Stephenson<\/p>\n

“I was just a bit over the crowd booing blatant contact calls so that was just my reaction, a bit of an eye roll and a bit of a, you know.<\/p>\n

“I back it. You know I’m all for loud and passionate crowds, love them, but just the booing yeah, got me. In that moment I just had enough \u2026 it was funny that the camera was right on me.”<\/p>\n

Gordon, who brought up her 50th cap in Sydney, believes the physicality ramped up\u202fin the third Test, as the Diamonds were desparate to keep the series alive.<\/p>\n

“We all know that Aussie is a very physical team and that’s I guess one of their strengths because it can really rattle some teams.<\/p>\n

“I personally don’t mind it. It’s more the late stuff and taking out in the air and getting under bodies, which I find is a bit dangerous … hitting players, it’s got a bit much.”<\/p>\n

\"Specialist<\/p>\n

Silver Ferns assistant coach Briony Akle.<\/p>\n

Andrew Cornaga \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Three months ago the Silver Ferns won gold at the Commonwealth Games, they are now on an 11-game winning streak, and have beaten Australia in five straight games.<\/p>\n

New Zealand can deliver a huge psychological blow to their arch rivals ahead of next year’s World Cup, if they beat them again on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

A win will also see the Silver Ferns knock the Diamonds off their world number one ranking for the first time since 2013.<\/p>\n

But coach Dame Noeline Taurua will have to balance that goal with the need to get players out on court, who have seen very little time during the first three Tests.<\/p>\n

Assistant coach Briony Akle believes they can achieve both aims in the fourth test.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got the strength in our 12 and it’s probably the opportunity that presents for those players in the game, depending on what’s happening,” Akle said.<\/p>\n

\"Amelia<\/p>\n

Amelia Walmsley has seen very little court time so far.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Ward\/Photosport<\/p>\n

“We certainly want to grab that number one ranking but Noels [Noeline Taurua] and I do have that trust in the other players to come on and the combinations that they’ve been training really hard behind the scenes \u2026 we know they can do the job.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s just those moments that will present the opportunity in the next game.”<\/p>\n

The Ferns have leant heavily on goal shoot Grace Nweke, while the star shooter’s main back up Amelia Walmsley has spent no time in that position.<\/p>\n

“[Amelia’s] training against the best every week … if we can get her out there, we certainly will do that.”<\/p>\n

Gordon said there is so much to play for in their final Test of the year.<\/p>\n

“Just what netball has been through, especially in New Zealand, what happened last year and then just with the league this year. I think how cool would it be if we could be world number ones.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Silver Fern livewire Maddy Gordon says she’d had enough of the constant booing when she mocked the boisterous…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-642485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642485","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=642485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}