Don’t expect to see many bolters when the Silver Ferns’ 2020-21 national squad is unveiled on August 25.
Sixteen to 18 players will be announced two days after the ANZ Premiership final with a Silver Ferns development squad, which is expected to include around 10 players, also being named.
Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua has indicated the development squad will work alongside the main squad and players could be called up if they impress or there are injuries.
Taurua, assistant coach Debbie Fuller, and fellow selectors Jo Morrison and Adrianne Hayes, have closely scrutinised the talent during the premiership. They will be eager to see how players perform under pressure over the final three rounds with competition for spots fierce in the midcourt and defensive end.
Form over the final stage of the premiership and strength and conditioning numbers will prove pivotal in deciding close positional battles.
From the 2019 World Cup winning squad, captain Laura Langman, Ameliaranne Ekenasio, Te Paea Selby-Rickit, Gina Crampton, Shannon Saunders, Katrina Rore, Jane Watson, Phoenix Karaka, and Karin Burger are certainties to be selected.
Another World Cup winner Bailey Mes (patella cartilage), and goal defence-wing defence Michaela Sokolich-Beatson (ruptured Achilles tendon) could be included, despite neither being able to take the court later this year through injury. If the selectors opt to name Mes and Sokolich-Beatson in the development squad because of their injuries, it would open up places in the main squad for several players on the fringes.
Pulse wing attack Maddy Gordon looms as a name to watch and is no doubt on the radar of the selectors. The uncapped 20-year-old is in her first full season at wing attack, previously playing centre and wing defence, but has been a revelation for the unbeaten Pulse.
