‘I understand my role’: NZ defender facing axe despite pivotal performance in extra-time win

Silver Ferns defender Elle Temu knew what she was giving up when she decided to make the move to Australia. But the shift was never about advancing her own career.

Silver Fern Elle Temu knew what she was giving up when she decided to make the move to Australia to live with her fiance.

But what the NSW Swifts training partner is gaining seems as valuable on her netball journey.

Rangy defender Temu, who made her Ferns debut against Jamaica in 2022, has become ineligible for New Zealand selection this season after linking with the Swifts as a training partner.

But Temu’s move was never about seeking to advance her own career.

After spending several years apart, Temu moved to Sydney late last year to live with fiance and Wests Tigers forward Isaiah Papali’i.

As a training partner at the Swifts, Temu can only play if a member of the full-time squad is ruled out with injury or illness, as has been the case for regular defender Teigan O’Shannassy, who is battling a hip problem but could return as soon as this week.

Should Elle Temu keep her spot? Picture: Getty Images

That’s given Temu - a defender whose 187cm height is matched by a wingspan that allows her to put enormous pressure on her opponent - a chance to make her Super Netball debut, with cameos against the Lightning and Mavericks before a significant role in the extra-time thriller against the Queensland Firebirds in Brisbane on Sunday.

Injected into the game just before halftime as coach Briony Akle juggled her defensive line-up, Temu added a height and reach that tested the Firebirds shooters, while being able to switch seamlessly between a zone defence that tested Diamonds star Donnell Wallam and one-on-one marking of goal attack Tippah Dwan.

“Game time is awesome but I do understand my role and I’m just taking it as it comes,” Temu said after spending 44 minutes on court in Sunday’s 77-73 Swifts win.

“That was definitely my longest stint in the red dress, so it was exciting.

Elle Temu said she enjoyed the extra court time at the weekend. Picture: Netball Australia

“Obviously I’ve come into the Swifts knowing that I was a training partner, so I was not sure what that opportunity would look like, and to come to round 1 and then still be playing for a few rounds has been awesome.

“The girls really trust me and they encouraged me to bring my own new New Zealand flair, which is awesome, and they’re teaching me lots of this one-on-one, hard, grinding style that the Aussies do.

“I’ve just got to keep going and training hard - and I love the girls and the environment’s awesome, so it’s not like I’m like (I’m worried about) what’s happening, I’m really enjoying it.”

Under Netball New Zealand’s rules, Temu cannot be considered for Ferns selection given she’s not playing in the domestic competition.

Leaving was a tough decision but with the next World Cup not until 2027 and question marks over whether the Commonwealth Games will be held at all in 2026 after Victoria relinquished hosting duties, it was a call worth making.

“Me and my partner had been apart for six seasons,” she said.

Elle Temu and her partner Isaiah Papali’i at the Dally M Awards.

“So we were like one more year, one more year - when is that year (we’re not apart) going to come?

“I think with the timing of the World Cup and the Comm Games, there was three or four years until that came around again, so I thought time is now.”

Expansion of the league and the possible admission of a pair of Kiwi teams could make that a moot point for Temu.

But she’s not worried about that for now.

“If that expansion happens, it might make it easier for us playing over here,” she said of fellow Kiwis such as Giants training partner Gina Crampton, who, like Temu, took a sabbatical from New Zealand’s ANZ Premiership to live with her partner in the US before his Major League Rugby franchise withdrew from the competition.

“But right now, I’m just learning, trying to add more to my netball, gaining more experience and what comes will come in the future and I’m looking forward to it.”