Taurua extends Silver Ferns coach contract

Noeline Taurua has added a year to her contract as New Zealand netball coach and is vowing to drive the world champions to greater heights.

The highly-regarded Taurua extended her deal to February 2021 and will be able to give the job more focus than the first two years in charge.

She has previously had to balance her international duties with the head coaching role at Sunshine Coast Lightning, where she enjoyed a successful three-season stint in which the team reached three grand finals and won two of them.

Now returned to New Zealand, she wants to build on the success of the Silver Ferns who pipped Australia by a single goal in the World Cup final in Liverpool in July.

She stressed the importance of building each year rather than trying to peak for pinnacle events.

"I want the emphasis to be on continuing momentum. It is a shift in thinking but it's that challenge that I'm really excited about," she said.

"I've been looking forward to coming home and helping to develop the next steps for the Silver Ferns."

One of her first tasks is finding a shooter to replace accomplished veteran Maria Folau, who retired last week with 150 caps to her name.

Taurua will also want to prolong the career of captain and star midcourter Laura Langman, the talisman in what will be a relatively inexperienced team next year.

New Zealand will contest next month's four-team Nations Cup tournament in England, an event Australia have skipped to give their leading players an off-season break.