Netball NZ is doing what everyone’s doing these days.. conducting a review. 

No stone will be left unturned, it says. 

A review here is absolutely essential, and I don’t doubt anyone expects that as the bare minimum course of action. 

What went wrong is always the obvious place to start. I understand the desperation of hard out fans for answers, but is the relentless pile-on into the coach really necessary? 

At times like this, if we step back and take a breath, it’s good to remember that anyone involved in any aspect of performance, be it a business person, a sports person, a leader of any kind, knows when they’ve screwed up. They feel it more keenly than anyone else. 

Janine Southby will be her own worst critic. She will be losing sleep over what could have been, what went wrong, she will be carrying the weight of responsibility heavily. That’s what coaches do. They’re not in it for the shits and giggles.

But sport is arguably our religion in this country. We feel ownership of our flagship teams, and when it doesn’t go our way, we want heads to roll. They represent us on the world stage. We like success, not failure.

Janine Southby has been the subject of social media tirades, mainstream media criticism, and general dissing far and wide across the country. Yes, the buck stops with the coach, but she will already know that, no matter how many more times we tell her. Is the intense baying for blood really that necessary?

Southby’s feet have barely touched the ground since returning from the huge loss, but make no mistake, there’s an expectation that a resignation letter should’ve already been written.

Netball NZ has said, quite wisely, that responsibility doesn’t rest on just any one person, and that there’s usually a range of factors. That’s a measured response, a considered one. The rest of us tend to be a bit more knee jerk than that. We’re pretty much shouting “coach must go,” before the final whistle. Look at John Hart in ’99 after the All Blacks loss to France, look at any number of Warriors coaches.

Maria Folau posted on her Instagram that ‘although the last few weeks have been challenging in the black dress, (she) cannot fault the way the team has handled every situation, every game, every set back, every day.’ 

She said that “when you come out of situations like this, you’re not the same person who walked in. She said the “team will move and grow.”  Katrina Grant said the same thing. 

Netball NZ has a proud history, the challenge now is to rebuild and move forward. No one will have learnt the lesson harder than the team itself. Whether the move forward involves the current coach or not remains to be seen. Probably not, but she of all people will know that.

Hopefully in the meantime we can back off now and let them get on with the review, and more importantly, the rebuild.