Briony Akle to focus on Super Netball success with the NSW Swifts after deciding not to apply for New Zealand role

The NSW Swifts coach has revealed her priorities for the next few years after deciding against a tilt at one of the most prestigious positions in world netball.

NSW Swifts mentor Briony Akle will not be the next head coach of New Zealand netball, confirming she did not apply for the vacant Silver Ferns role.

Akle, who has guided the Swifts to two Super Netball championships, as well as last year’s grand final, is regarded as one of the savviest coaches in the game and a rising star in Australia.

Appointed as an assistant to Dame Noeline Taurua for the recent Netball Nations Cup in England, plenty believed Akle was a genuine chance of winning the Ferns role when Netball New Zealand announced last month it would advertise the head coach’s role.

Taurua is tipped to be reappointed. Picture: Getty Images

But Akle, the mum of four boys, including an eight-year-old, said the time was not right for her to take on a national head coaching position.

“It’s not my time for that,” Akle said.

Contracted to the Swifts until the end of 2026, Akle, who led her side to the Team Girls Cup pre-season title at the weekend, is also keen to push for more success in the world’s toughest league after losing a thrilling grand final in extra time last year.

“I’ve just signed a team knowing that I’ll be here,” she said.

Applications have closed and Taurua is favoured to be reappointed, having applied for a role she was keen to have thrown open for reasons of integrity and accountability after the Silver Ferns missed the podium at last year’s World Cup in South Africa.

“Just making sure that we did what’s right for the sport moving forward and for the brand of the Silver Ferns as well,” Taurua told Silver Ferns TV of the process.

“We always talk about accountability - well I do with the players - and we all have skin in the game and we all expect everybody to do their job, so we’ve got to be able to walk the talk and for our sport, we’ve got to do what’s right, hence the process we’ve come up with in regards to opening up to the market.”

Among New Zealand’s ANZ Premiership coaches, Yvette McCausland-Durie seems the favourite, while former Swifts and Collingwood mentor, Rob Wright has raised his interested in working with the Silver Ferns.

With world championship and Commonwealth Games-winning Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich having been reappointed for four years by Netball Australia last year, Akle’s opportunities to advance to the highest level, in Australia at least, are not available and it would be natural for her to look elsewhere.

Akle was an assistant for Tonga at last year’s world championships and was a sponge learning from Taurua while adding plenty during the Netball Nations Cup - but only after checking in with her own players given she would be coaching against them.

The Swifts have high expectations after winning the Team Girls Cup. Picture: Getty Images

Akle called both Diamonds midcourter Paige Hadley and defender Sarah Klau before joining the Ferns to gauge their reactions.

“She said to me: ‘I won’t go if it puts you in a bad situation’,” Hadley said of Akle coaching against her while with New Zealand.

“There’s not many jobs at the top, there’s only two (coaches) that go for the Diamonds and two that go for the Ferns … and as a player, I want her to be the best coach that she can be.

“She wants that for me (as a player), so I want her to be able to get all the experiences she can. I want her to be able to get out there and coach the best and coach against the best - I think it only helps us as players as well.”

Hadley said seeing Akle eager to learn and push herself outside of her comfort zone was motivating, as well.

“To be able to manage being a mum, being a wife, being a mum to all of us, being a coach, then putting on a cap to go over and represent a different country - inspirational,” she said.

“Someone like Briony is always wanting to better. There’s no resting on your laurels.

Akle’s and the Swifts’ first premiership win in 2019. Picture: AAP

“I’ve come in, I’ve won two premierships, no, I want more. I want to be better. I want my team to be better.

“I think it’s really inspirational as a player, knowing that your coach is doing exactly what you’re trying to do as a player in her role as well.”

In other Super Netball news, the Melbourne Mavericks are still waiting for the results of scans on Lauren Moore but bracing for the worst after the defender suffered what could be an ACL injury at the pre-season Team Girls Cup in Sydney on Sunday.

Moore was sent for scans after her leg collapsed under her during a match against the Giants on Sunday. The results were still unknown on Monday afternoon but the Mavericks could be forced into a second search for a replacement before the whistle has even been blown on their inaugural Super Netball season.

Already without international goaler Sasha Glasgow after she badly broke her leg in a pre-season match, the Mavericks may be forced to draft a second temporary replacement player into their squad if Moore is out for an extended period.

Originally published as Briony Akle to focus on Super Netball success with the NSW Swifts after deciding not to apply for New Zealand role