After the announcements earlier this month of the new blood entering their coaching ranks, MNNSW today released the remaining open age coaching line up that will oversee the 2021 campaign. The extended list of coaching talent that will cover the Open Mixed and Reserves sides is a familiar set of faces that President Clare McCabe says will be put to task to build a “NSW dynasty”.
“Our coaching recruitment strategy was built on two pillars – depth and diversity. By depth we mean having deep expertise through world-class accreditation standards, and coaches who possess a depth of understanding of high-performance programming and culture and what it takes off court to win on court. By diversity we mean coaches from different backgrounds, with different thinking patterns and coaching philosophies so the NSW style of play and ways of winning are constantly challenged and evolved. If we get this right, we truly believe we can do what we haven’t for some time and feature more consistently on grand final day across all divisions.” McCabe said.
The extended coaching list is bolstered by the return of Drew Mulvena as Head Coach, who will again oversee the Mixed Open team. Mulvena works in the high performance environment with already announced newcomer coaches Moira Gaha and Nerida Stewart, with the familiarity of this off court combination being a crucial element for success. “Drew is a stalwart of our state program, and this experience in the men’s and mixed game will blend well with our new appointments in opens and 23s. The fact all three of our top division coaches work together weekly in the women’s state league system in NSW is a real bonus for us, as cross-team connection and squad integration is one of our focuses.” McCabe said.
In a new twist for MNNSW, Drew Mulvena will be supported by Tom Portelli who as Co-Coach in 2020 will continue his relationship with the Mixed Open team and the work he has undertaken in the last 2 years. “Whilst new coaching talent was the flavor of our first announcements, we also love to see coaches choose to remain within the NSW Program to ensure continuity with the existing momentum in our high performance objectives and Tom certainly does that.” McCabe said.
The Men’s Reserves side will be under the watch of former state program coach Jenny Barsby who also returns to the fold. She returns with advanced accreditation under her belt and a swag of experience across multiple netball platforms.
Like with Mulvena, her connections in the women’s premier league will ensure the squad and state mentality is key to the growth and development of our players in readiness for Nationals.
For the Mixed Reserves team, we see the return of 2019 / 2020 Coach Nicole Deguara. Nicole has learnt first hand what it takes to get a team to the finals and her continued success with this team is something the Association is looking forward to seeing again in 2021.
“Our two reserves team plays one of the most important roles in our state program and we believe we need more focus on it. It bloods the youngsters not quite ready for the Open division, and mixes them with the vintage of experienced players who we want to keep playing until they can play no more. We feel Barsby and Deguara are the perfect coaches to build this link in our pathway and show the magic a team built of youth and experience can produce.” McCabe said.
