Latest news with #CaseyKopua
RNZ News
a day ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Netball relies on retirees to fill the player void
Former Silver Ferns Casey Kopua and Katrina Rore were lured out of retirement in recent years. Photo: Photosport Analysis - When injury strikes professional netball teams regularly turn to retired players to take a bib in a comeback more common in netball than any other sport. Whether it is smaller squad sizes, a shorter season or trusting experience over the untested it seems some netball coaches still have their former charges on speed dial when they have a crisis. Former Silver Ferns defender Casey Kopua is latest to wind back the clock. Six years after she last played elite netball she was called up by the Giants in Australia's domestic competition on Sunday to help a team hit hard by injuries this season. Kopua is experienced, she played 112 tests for New Zealand, won two Commonwealth Games gold medals and was a world champion. But she had never played in the Australian competition before. Giants coach Julie Fitzgerald coached Kopua at the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic in the former trans-Tasman competition, so knew what she was getting even if the 39-year-old mum of three had only played some club and indoor netball in recent years. Fitzgerald justified calling (well texting) Kopua rather than a training partner or reserves player by pointing out that the Giants were the youngest team in Super Netball. "I think the best thing I can give those young pathways athletes is to put someone out there with a bit of experience and guidance who can lead them around the court a bit," Fitzgerald told Fox Sports. The Giants are struggling. The team is at the bottom of the ladder with one win in eight games. Kopua's involvement did not change the result. While Kopua's comeback after such a long time away was notable, she joins a list of women who have answered an SOS. For years coaches of New Zealand's domestic teams have opted to find injury replacements from the sidelines rather than the squad. Northern Stars midcourter Temepara Bailey is making waves in the 2019 ANZ Premiership season Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2019 Former Silver Ferns midcourt player Temepara Bailey answered the call to return to the court more than once. Now head coach of the Stars, who have had their own injury crisis to start the current ANZ Premiership season, Bailey came out of retirement in 2014 to help the Mystics. Bailey had retired from the international game in 2011 and left the Mystics in 2012. She had remained connected to the Mystics occasionally training with the team when a knee injury for Erikana Pedersen meant then-coach Deb Fuller turned to Bailey as a replacement. By 2019 Bailey had been across town with Auckland's other ANZ Premiership side the Stars for a couple of years as an assistant coach. But when the team's captain Grace Kara withdrew due to pregnancy, Bailey, then 43 years old, went from coach to player/coach . At the time, team management said they had looked at younger players associated with the Stars, but due to significant injuries head coach Kiri Wills decided that Bailey was the best person for the role and she was given a contract for the season. Photo: PHOTOSPORT The Stars, and Wills, have a track record of getting players out of retirement to fill-in. In 2021 defender Anna Harrison came back after two years out of the game to join the Stars. The former Silver Fern had retired in 2018 after a domestic career that had begun as a teenager in 2002. In switching from the Mystics to the Stars Harrison's return lasted two seasons. At the time, a 37-year-old Harrison said she was inspired by Bailey's comeback. In 2022, Harrison's unavailability for a game due to Covid opened the door for Storm Purvis to reach a milestone. Purvis had retired in 2020 after a career hampered by knee injuries and after more than a decade as a professional had signed off with 99 national league games to her name. Alongside her role working in the media, Purvis was part of a pool of replacement players available to ANZ Premiership sides during the season played during the pandemic. Filling in for Harrison Purvis played her 100th domestic game and managed to do it for the same franchise she had retired from. Storm Purvis (L) and Leana De Bruin (R) formed a defensive combination for the Stars in 2019. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2019 In that same season Harrison was also replaced by Leana de Bruin for a game. de Bruin had played already a game as a replacement player earlier in the season for the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic marking her turn to the elite level in New Zealand for the first time since 2019 as a 44-year-old. de Bruin began her domestic career in New Zealand in 2001 and had played for the Silver Ferns between 2002 and 2016 after starting her international career in South Africa. Former Silver Ferns' captain and defender Katrina Rore spent a decade playing for the Central Pulse, after starting her career in the South Island, but had also played for the New South Wales Swifts in 2019 as an injury replacement. After retiring from international netball in late 2022, Rore had only been away from netball for a few months before her services were needed again. In 2023 Rore was first called up in for the Stars as a one-off replacement for an ill Elle Temu - a game that happened to be against the Pulse. A few weeks later she was back with her former side as a short-term cover for an injured midcourter Ainsleyana Puleiata who had her season cut short just four weeks in. Liana Leota of the Steel warms up during the ANZ Premiership Netball match, Tactix Vs Steel, at the Wolfbrook Arena, Christchurch, New Zealand, 11th May 2025. Copyright photo: John Davidson / Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2025 The 2025 ANZ Premiership season is shorter than before - two rounds rather than three - and a serious injury in the first few games could end a player's season. In the first weekend of competition several players went down and the Steel were forced to get their assistant coach Liana Leota to do double duty. Leota joined the coaching staff this season and the 40-year-old was named to come off the bench in the Steel's opening game against the Tactix. The former Silver Fern's last season playing domestic netball was in 2022 in the England league. She spent 10 minutes on court at wing attack for her old club, when she was injected in the third quarter in Christchurch. Leota was in some ways a last resort. The Steel had already brought in a Stars training partner as cover in the defensive end before Silver Fern Kate Heffernan picked up a knee in training. Running out of fit bodies, in Leota the Steel were able to quickly find someone across the game plan to step up. Since 2017 ANZ Premiership sides have had 10 contracted players, under the old trans-Tasman competition each team had 12 contracted players. With fewer players available squad depths have shrunk and coaches are relying on women who have kept fit, if not match fit, in a way that different codes would never consider doing. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
1News
2 days ago
- Sport
- 1News
'Like riding a bike': Casey Kopua makes return to elite-level netball
Former Silver Ferns captain Casey Kopua said she "absolutely loved every minute" of her first appearance six years on from retiring from elite-level netball. The 39-year-old netball legend was signed as injury cover for the Greater Western Sydney Giants who play in the Australian Super Netball league. Kopua filled in for Jodi-Ann Ward, who tore her ACL in a recent loss to the West Coast Fever. Kopua had initially retired from the Silver Ferns in 2017 following several knee injuries and the birth of her first child, but the star returned to the black dress in 2019. She finished her career as a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist and as a Netball World Cup champion in 2019. ADVERTISEMENT The team lost 71-61 to the Melbourne Vixen but Kopua said she "absolutely loved every minute". "I feel like my lungs at patches were heaving. But it's just like riding a bike, if you put a ball in front of me, I'll go and go and go. "It's definitely a lot faster [in Australia] but I feel like you can get away with a bit more in the circle. "I definitely think for me it's my mind and being able to concentrate and focus those channels again, but I can only go up from here hopefully." Kopua was signed on for three weeks with an extension possible.
ABC News
3 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Super Netball Round-Up: Giants sign 40-year-old 'fossil' as injury replacement and is the Diamonds shooting circle in trouble?
Round eight is complete and we're over the halfway hump of the Super Netball season. The Sunshine Coast Lightning held on against the Melbourne Mavericks, 67-60, to move up a spot and claim third place. The undefeated NSW Swifts were challenged by defending premiers the Adelaide Thunderbirds in a see-sawing affair, 66-64. The lead changed six times and Romelda Aiken-George hit a 9,000-career goal milestone before the Swifts claimed their eighth straight victory. That run equals the club's best winning streak of the Super Netball era. The Giants put up an entertaining fight against the Melbourne Vixens after a big week of headlines. But a shock signing that attracted worldwide attention couldn't help them shift off the bottom of the ladder and they faded in the final quarter, 71-61. Lastly, the West Coast Fever handed the Queensland Firebirds a sixth straight defeat, 82-65. The 17-goal blowout took place in front of the Fever's second-biggest crowd in club history (11,427). If you missed it, don't worry — we'll get you up to speed with our Super Netball Round-Up. On Tuesday, the sad news broke that Jamaican defender Jodi Ann Ward had been ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Ward had surgery and will now need to nail her rehab if she has any chance of representing her country at next year's Commonwealth Games. Then came the temporary replacement signing of Casey Kopua on Friday that sent the netball world into a frenzy. It would be her first elite netball game in six years, during which she has been keeping fit by teaching F45 classes and playing socially. Kopua was affectionately dubbed by New Zealand as one of 'the fossils' that won the Netball World Cup in 2019, alongside veterans Laura Langman and Maria Folau. The Silver Ferns had flown under the radar throughout that major tournament until the finals, where new head coach Noeline Taurua's mastermind tactics and fitness standards guided them to upsets against England and Australia. Kopua had previously retired from international netball in 2017 but came back to have one more crack at the trophy that had alluded her three times before. She was named as the MVP of the gold medal match before retiring once again — this time from all forms of netball. To say this Super Netball signing was left field would be a massive understatement and speaks to her relationship with Julie Fitzgerald, who previously coached Kopua at the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic before moving home to Australia to become the inaugural Giants coach. Kopua answered the SOS call from Fitzgerald on Tuesday, left her three kids behind to jump on a plane on Wednesday, and joined the Giants for her first training session on Thursday. By Sunday she was making her Super Netball debut, 18 days shy of her 40th birthday. Although it came out of the blew, Kopua was keen. "This certainly was not on my bingo card for 2025, I loved every minute," she said. "The first text from Julie was, 'Want to make a comeback?' and I was like, 'Huh, are you serious, how would that work?' "There were about six or seven texts from me in a row before she answered." Kopua was initially brought over as a one-off, but discussions are now underway to sign her on a longer contract as the Giants try to avoid finishing with a consecutive wooden spoon. There was so much hype generated for this appearance that the Giants recorded their second-best crowd attendance at Ken Rosewall Arena so far this season (3,076) behind the NSW derby. So how did she do on court? For starters, Kopua played a full match at goal keeper. That's impressive. She got a reasonable amount of hand to ball (three deflections, one rebound) and the presence of a legend was enough to put off the Vixens shooters — who only found out they would be facing Kopua after they'd finished their weekly prep. Is she going to be the difference between winning games and losing them? That's debatable. But the Giants have made it clear that the stalwart is more so here to bring her leadership qualities and play a supporting role to 21-year-old Erin O'Brien than anything else. In that goal, Kopua succeeded. Offering advice and structure to the Giants at the back in defence while O'Brien picked off a game-high seven gains. Now that we've entered the back half of the season, it's time to do a temperature check on how our Diamonds players are tracking as they vie for national contracts. England announced its 2025/26 list last week, but Australia has delayed theirs in order to allow players more time to prove themselves in a year where there is no major tournament. It seems they need it, because running our eyes over last year's national squad brings up concerns for the shooting circle. For one, there are less Australian shooters occupying starting positions in our domestic competition, giving the selectors a smaller pool of talent to pick from. Only the Lightning, Vixens and Giants operate moving circles that hinge on homegrown talent. The rest of the five teams centre their game plans around a tall holding import under the post. It's no coincidence that each of these targets are the league's top five leading goal scorers. Three of these five teams also have an import signed as their main goal attack. Secondly, there has been some dicey form on show. It's most obvious at the Vixens, where Diamonds duo Sophie Garbin and Kiera Austin have struggled to connect in the same fashion they did to reach the 2024 Super Netball grand final. Garbin missed eight attempts at goal on Sunday and the majority of those were under the post (43/51). She was also pulled up five times for offensive contact and both players are in the top five for turnovers this season. To be fair to Austin, most of the ball she has lost has been whilst trying to feed Garbin. Sophie Dwyer is another that has a really high turnover count and her confidence has taken a hit the past two seasons as the Giants trail the competition. Georgie Horjus made her international debut last year as a genuine wing attack and goal attack swing, but has spent less time in goals this season for the Thunderbirds; instead focusing on the midcourt. Cara Koenen started the season slow and was under an injury cloud ahead of round six when she was spotted at the airport in a moon boot. She watched the entire game from the sideline, then in round seven came off the bench to play for 30 minutes. In round eight, Koenen took back her starting spot in the Lightning's line-up and managed 56 minutes. Maybe that injury cloud has now lifted? Then there's Donnell Wallam, who left to play in the New Zealand Premiership and is still eligible for selection. However, she hurt her wrist two weeks ago and missed round four. The Northern Mystics are yet to provide an update. Lastly, Diamonds invitee Lucy Austin has been demoted to the Super Netball Reserves. So, do the selectors stick with these players and hope to rebuild their confidence in camp? Or do they look to reward form and blood some new faces like 23-year-old impact player Reilley Batcheldor, a consistent force in the super shot period for the Lightning? A couple of weeks ago we mentioned the Australian set-up was hopeful Gretel Bueta might return to the game after having her third child. If she was to come back would that sort out the uncertainty for the Diamonds shooting circle? More will become clear in the final six rounds of the regular season.
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Former Silver Ferns captain Casey Kopua completes shock comeback for Giants in Australia's Super Netball
Former Silver Ferns captain Casey Kopua 'absolutely loved every minute' of court time six years after retiring from professional netball. The 39-year-old made a shock return on Sunday for the injury-depleted Giants in the Suncorp Super Netball competition, answering an SOS call from coach Julie Fitzgerald.
News.com.au
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Super Netball round 8: Melbourne Vixens 71 d. Giants 61
The Kiera Austin-led Melbourne Vixens defied the unlikely return of a netball great and the hot shot of Matisse Letherbarrow to stage a strong fightback against the Giants and propel themselves to the edge of the top four with back-to-back wins. After regaining their mojo last week against the Queensland Firebirds, the Vixens recovered from a shaky start and a six-goal deficit in the second quarter to score a critical 71-61 win at Ken Rosewall Arena. With the spotlight on the shock comeback of 40-year-old former Silver Ferns captain Casey Kopua as an injury replacement for the Giants, the Vixens were led by an MVP performance from goal attack Austin, who finished with 22 goals from 28 attempts, including six from nine from two-point range, alongside her 33 feeds. The Vixens claimed consecutive wins for the first time this season to keep themselves within striking distance of a top four assault and have now drawn level with the fourth-placed Adelaide Thunderbirds on points, but remain just outside of the top four on percentage. The Vixens didn't take the lead in the match until early in the third quarter and managed to find momentum from there as they started to capitalise on turnover ball and stave off the sharpshooting threat of Letherbarrow, who had been on fire in the goal circle for the Giants. 'We probably started a little bit slower than what we would have wanted, but we were able to come out after halftime and hit it hard, which we should have been doing from the get-go,' Austin said. 'They are a really good super-shot threat, so I'm really proud of the defenders, I thought they stayed switched on the whole time. 'I think we probably could have rewarded them a little bit more in the first half, but we're building and it's good things to take from it and lots to look forward to for next week.' Sophie Garbin (43/51) topscored, while captain Kate Moloney and wing attack Hannah Mundy also starred in the midcourt for the Vixens, who face the Mavericks in the Melbourne derby next round. CASEY COMEBACK All eyes were on the comeback of former Silver Ferns captain Casey Kopua after the Giants pulled the biggest selection shock of the season this week. Called on to replace the injured Jodi-Ann Ward, Kopua has been retired since 2019, but was thrust straight into the action at goal keeper on Diamonds' goal shooter Sophie Garbin. Kopua showed she had lost none of her goal-circle smarts, causing trouble for the Vixens' gaolers with her long reach and ability to read the play. Kopua, whose instruction for the Giants' young defenders Erin O'Brien and Amy Sligar out the front was also invaluable, played the full 60 minutes at goal keeper. Pre-game, Giants' coach Julie Fitzgerald defended the decision to bring Kopua in as an injury replacement instead of a pathway player. 'If you look at it we are by far the youngest team in the league,' Fitzgerald said. 'I think the best thing I can do for those young pathway athletes is to put someone out there with a bit of experience and guidance who can lead them around the court a bit.' But Fitzgerald was unable to shed any light on how long the Kopua comeback would last. 'How long she will be here for is a little bit debatable at the moment,' Fitzgerald said. 'But we will see. I asked her on Tuesday, she was on a plane Wednesday and at training on Thursday, which I think is pretty incredible for a mother of three.' While the spotlight was on Kopua, it was Letherbarrow who lit up the goal circle at the other end with her long-range shooting. Letherbarrow, starting at goal shooter, was on fire during the power play period and equalled her own best of nine supershots. The 23-year-old finished with 40 from 50 for the match alongside goal attack Sophie Dwyer (10 from 12).
