Fitzgerald at the helm of a new Magic era
Press Release February 27, 2014
Accomplished coach Julie Fitzgerald will take a step into the unknown when Kia Magic open the 2014 ANZ Championship netball season against Mainland Tactix in Christchurch on Saturday.
After a stellar career which includes guiding the NSW Swifts to the inaugural trans-Tasman title in 2008, assistant coach of the Australian Diamonds in 2012-13 and head coach at the Australian Institute of Sport, the experienced Fitzgerald has taken on perhaps her biggest challenge of all with the Waikato/Bay of Plenty team.
For a start, she’s an Australian heading a New Zealand team, with it breaking new ground to create a situation which was deemed unlikely to ever happen not so long ago. Secondly, she has taken over New Zealand’s most successful team which in 2014 has undergone significant change.
With nine changes of personnel, Magic has sustained the biggest transformation of any team, a situation Fitzgerald is relishing.
``To be honest I didn’t think an Australian coaching a New Zealand team would happen, so I’m really honoured that I’ve been given this opportunity,’’ she said.
``Obviously, I’ve been coming over to New Zealand for a quite a few years with netball and I’ve just always loved it here. Since shifting here, the people have been wonderful, very welcoming and it’s been everything I hoped it would be.
``It would be silly to deny the fact that this really is a challenge. It’s something entirely different to have to move across here, meet a whole lot of new girls and a whole lot of new people. It’s entirely different but I’m enjoying the challenge.’’
With a host of new and young faces to blend into a competitive unit, Fitzgerald accepts Magic will be viewed as easy-beats by some and that they are way down the pecking order in terms of favouritism with the betting agencies on both sides of the Tasman. On the other hand, she is excited by the prospect of helping develop the rich but largely unheralded vein of talent that sits within her ranks.
``It’s up to us to prove that we can still be a threat,’’ she said. ``We are a very new team so we are unknown. It’s about having the courage to get out there and do it. That’s important for us and we’ll earn people’s respect by the way we play.’’
In captain Casey Kopua and Leana de Bruin, Magic has a potent defensive line, fringe Silver Ferns Ellen Halpeny, Grace Rasmussen and Courtney Tairi have plenty to play for this year in terms of Commonwealth Games selection while England shooter Jo Harten looms as a major threat under the hoop.
Fitzgerald has a few new tricks up her sleeve but has no intention of making radical changes to Magic’s style. She has a deep respect for the team’s legacy which was acknowledged when inviting the highly regarded Amigene Matcalfe, Magic’s inaugural captain, to address the team ahead of the season opener.
Following a disrupted pre-season, Fitzgerald is just looking for a solid start against Tactix.
``We’re still a new group which doesn’t know each other very well,’’ she said. ``We’ve really only been together for a month and Casey’s slowly been easing her way back into that group, so it really is, as much as the cliché says, about getting the basics right.
``We’re in no position to be fancy, we’re in no position to be trying too many new tricks, it’s about concentrating on our own game and making sure that we get things right.’’
With no Silver Ferns in their squad, Fitzgerald concedes Tactix have the advantage of a more extensive and intensive pre-season together.
She believes the key signing of 1.84m Malawi international shooter Mwai Kumwenda, who she has watched develop through the Australian state league competition and was last year’s MVP, will pay off handsomely for the southerners.
Jane Hunt
Kia Magic media liaison
Ph: 021-107-0287
