Meticulous but never mollycoddling, Silver Ferns manager Esther Molloy goes into her fourth Netball World Cup with a new set of 'what ifs' for the first tournament in South Africa.
Dame Noeline Taurua calls her ‘the mother of all mothers’.
And as the Silver Ferns manager, Esther Molloy, steers the team into a Netball World Cup facing some unprecedented challenges, the head coach has no doubts she has the best woman on the job.
This will be Molloy’s fourth World Cup looking after the Ferns, and, you could say, it's been her meatiest campaign yet. South Africa’s on-going water crisis, national power blackouts, security concerns and Covid are all new adversities on top of the myriad tests a team faces playing at netball’s pinnacle event.
And yet, Molloy’s relishing the challenge. “It’s made me think creatively on a lot of things. I’ve learned to be patient – not always a strength of mine – and understanding. I know how fortunate we are here, but it’s a daily reminder when you’re over there,” she says, in Auckland preparing to leave this week for the tournament starting July 28.
And working with Taurua on a daily basis is a big driver, she says, as together they go through a long list of ‘what ifs’ - things that could go wrong or might be overlooked. It’s a list that’s existed, and been added to, by every Silver Ferns campaign since they won the World Cup in Jamaica in 2003.
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“I’m very fortunate to work with Noeline, we have a great relationship. And I mean, who wouldn’t want to work with her?” Molloy says.
Taurua is equally appreciative. “We always acknowledge the players and coaches, but it’s the people behind the scenes who are so selfless. They work so hard to ensure when we come together, everything is ready to go,” she says.
“Esther is the mother of all mothers. She’s meticulous, her attention to detail is next level. And she has the right balance – I always think managers have to be quite strong and forceful, but they’re also working with other people and building relationships, so you can’t go too hard.
“With all her experience, for me when Esther says go, or you have to do something, you know you have to do it. The direction she provides behind the scenes is invaluable.”
As a mum to two young girls, Molloy is conscious not to mollycoddle the Silver Ferns.
“It’s really easy to do everything for them all the time – that’s the easy way to be a team manager,” she says. “What’s hard is stepping back and letting them have a go, but that’s where they grow as adults.
“So I’m a step-back manager now, most of the time, because I think it’s helping them to be better people. If I do everything for them off court, they’re not leading. And no-one is too precious to pick up a bag or help out.”
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Molloy never leaves things to chance; her mantra is “no surprises”. She operates on minimising risk wherever she can to “reduce the unexpected”.
This will be her third visit to Cape Town in the last 12 months. She did a four-day reconnaissance trip there last August to get preparations underway, and returned with the Silver Ferns in January when they played in the Quad Series – a useful dress rehearsal for the World Cup (the first ever played in South Africa).
“It’s much easier to deal with people on the ground and make relationships – sometimes things get lost in translation over emails,” Molloy says.
“It’s just a very different environment we’re going into. There are environmental challenges which don’t usually impact on us - like the water and power crises. Health and hygiene has always been massive for us, but we’ve ramped that up another level.”
The team will have police escorts to and from the International Convention Centre where they’ll play, even though their hotel is just a five-minute drive away. And they’ll occupy an entire floor of the same hotel where they stayed in January.
“Our philosophy is to be as efficient as possible. That’s been part of the Silver Ferns for a long time. Every day challenges will come our way, and we can handle them better if we’re not reliant on too many people," she says.
“We’ll make our own small exercise area on our hotel floor. We won’t have as much equipment as 2019 because we’ve changed our philosophy around what we do. But we have three reserve players to factor in now, who need to keep fit, so we will have bikes and weights.” Captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio will lead the daily stretching session.
The ‘what ifs’ list has grown longer since it began with the Silver Ferns 20 years ago: “It’s part and parcel of a World Cup campaign now. We’ve added to it, and taken some off as the game evolves," Molloy explains.
They’ve brought an old ‘what if’ back, too – the toss-up Grace Nweke faced for the first time in her career during the Silver Ferns clash with Australia in this year’s Quad Series final.
“It’s a driving force behind our planning," Molloy says. "Noeline and I spend a lot of time going through those documents, always asking ‘What more?’”
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These are some of the issues Molloy and the Silver Ferns face this time around:
POWER
The continuing South African energy crisis and load-shedding – with rolling blackouts up to 10 hours a day to stop the national grid collapsing – could affect the Ferns in small ways.
“Fortunately, our hotel has generators that kick in when the power’s out,” says Molloy. “The stadium is on the same block as the hospital, so the power won’t go out there.” Nevertheless, the Silver Ferns are always prepared for darkness - it’s happened before, including the 2003 World Cup semifinal between Australia and Jamaica.
“But it still has an impact on other things like our laundry service, that can’t run through the night. We will still support our lovely local laundry lady, who does an amazing service for us, and we’ve accepted it will just take longer.” It means they’re taking more kit with them for the eight games in 10 days.
The Silver Ferns will continue to handwash their game-day dresses in their rooms – a tradition passed on from Fern to Fern. They have two strips featuring the new Manawa Rau design – one black, one silver – and this time, they’re taking four dresses instead of two.
WATER
Not only is there a shortage of water in Cape Town, but the water quality has been questionable. To be safe, the Silver Ferns will be using bottled water.
"it’s a needs must, because a number of the team got unwell in January, and we don’t want to risk that happening again," Molloy says.
HEALTH
After some of the Ferns (and Australian Diamonds) fell ill with tummy bugs after the last Quad Series, the New Zealanders are taking more precautions – especially if Covid is still in the community.
“Illness and Covid are now dealt with in the same way – with masks and hand hygiene,” Molloy says. “If we need to, we will wear masks, because the bugs are really brutal and we don’t want anyone getting flattened by a cold or flu either.
“We’re living in a bubble, though. We don’t have a lot of time to do anything else outside the tournament. We have our own doctor [Dr Melinda Parnell] and a medical suite set up. We’ll try to minimise the risk by being as hygienic and careful as we can.”
SECURITY
The Silver Ferns work with a security company in South Africa, which specialises in professional sports teams. “They’ve looked after the All Blacks and Super Rugby teams, too,” Molloy says.
“We work with a lovely guy every time we go over. He’s a huge help to me – it’s like having another manager. He’s done a lot of the groundwork, picking up bits and pieces we need to buy and sourcing equipment."
The team must check in and out on an online portal “so we know where everyone is all the time”.
And World Netball has arranged for a bus with a police escort to take each team to the stadium and back. “It’s like being in a movie in South Africa with police escorts. They close all the streets for you, and there are bikes and cars with sirens on, it’s all very exciting for our five minute drive,” Molloy says.
“But it makes it so much easier, and less stressful for the manager, because you’re not worried about traffic and you’ll get from A to B safely.”
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Molloy is also in charge of creating a ‘home away from home’ atmosphere for the Ferns. She makes sure there are familiar foods – like Vegemite, Marmite, Pics Peanut Butter and Pineapple Lumps – in the team room. “Because they can’t just pop out to a dairy at night, we have all the comforts of home here,” she says.
She also takes on decorating the Ferns’ hotel floor so they feel at home. She can’t reveal what she has in store for this campaign, other than it gives new life to the “very beige walls and very yellow carpet” of the hotel rooms.
As manager, Molloy has a hand in how the Ferns will look on court, and she’s proud of the new Manawa Rau dress – designed by tā moko artists Maia Gibbs and Henare Brooking, with the help of the players.
“The black dress has always been part of the players’ space, and I’ve always consulted them to make sure it’s something they’re comfortable in and feel proud wearing,” Molloy says. “I’m a facilitator of getting it to where they want it to be.”
Work on this design started more than a year ago – over a phone call between Molloy and Ferns Sulu Fitzpatrick and Gina Crampton. “It’s been a really cool journey. We’ve already worn a bit of it inside the dress as our secret.” The five diamond-shaped pātiki running down the back of the dress – representing the five times the Silver Ferns have won the World Cup – have been on the lining of the dress, “worn across their heart”, since last year’s Commonwealth Games.
“To add a sixth pātiki is what we’re aiming for,” Molloy says.
When the players received their dresses on Sunday, they included messages from their families – around half of whom can’t be in South Africa.
Molloy, who’s worked for Netball NZ for two decades, often has to pinch herself that this is her job.
And it's not easy. Last year she spent 120 days working away from home, and naturally misses her husband, Stu, and their daughters Charlotte (10) and Summer (7).
During the 2019 campaign, Charlotte was “a very unwell little girl” – about to undergo a stem cell transplant for juvenile dermatomyositis, a rare and complex autoimmune disease where the body attacks the muscles and skin.
Although she’s now in a wheelchair, and is due to have surgery to lengthen her achilles tendons, “I know this time I’ve leaving a very well young girl,” Molloy says.
“The Silver Ferns have been a big part of my life, and my children’s life too. The whole management team have worked together for a long time and everyone gives so much, selflessly. It’s a privilege to be part of this team.”
