Croft analysing bucket-list moment at Commonwealth Games

Hayden Croft is a busy man. The father of three has recently been appointed to a major new role at Otago Polytechnic, and the performance analyst is back on the road with the Silver Ferns as they prepare for their Commonwealth Games opener this weekend. Kayla Hodge reports. Hayden Croft picks apart the pieces most people miss. He spends hours trawling through footage, collecting data, crunching numbers, helping prepare strategies and relaying key information to help his teams get ahead. That workload is only growing in the next 11 days as the performance analyst for the Silver Ferns in Glasgow. But Croft relishes the challenge and the chance to tick off another bucket-list event at his first Commonwealth Games. Croft has been with the Silver Ferns since Noeline Taurua — whom Croft worked alongside at the Southern Steel in 2016 — took over as head coach in 2018. That tenure started with a “bang’’ by winning the Netball World Cup in 2019 and has taken him across the world. Croft works alongside Australian Ant Bedford, who is not in Glasgow, to support the Silver Ferns coaches to develop their game day strategies. They started building the foundation during the ANZ Premiership season, and leading up to the Games, Croft has been busy viewing training footage and helping build ways to adapt across the tournament. Come Saturday, when the Silver Ferns meet Scotland, Croft will be up in the bleachers with a small team, running live statistics to the bench and relaying feedback to the coaches on what he sees from above. But it does not stop there. After the game, he will continue reviewing and debriefing in preparation for the team video reviews the next morning. “It’s full on,’’ Croft said. “You’ve got to know how to work and do big nights, but it’s highly satisfying when you put a lot of work in and you get some good results. “Over the eight years … we’ve had some real amazing outcomes and results. 2019 was obviously just a big bang to start with, but then even since we’ve won a few Constellation Cups, and some of those things have been pretty amazing.’’ Croft’s work has evolved as new technology hits the market, including virtual reality headsets and AI cameras. “That sort of thing has been massive. Those things didn’t exist when we started. “As technology is shifting, it’s really changed the way that we analyse.’’ After a professional development stint in the United States several years ago, Taurua came across virtual reality headsets in sport — Croft previously published research in the area — and they decided to reintroduce them to their training approach. AI cameras helped with the processing and presenting areas and significantly reduced Croft’s workload from tasks that used to take three nights to just two hours. “Some of those tools have really shifted things more than anything else,” Croft said. OTAGO IMAGES/OTAGO DAILY TIMESHayden Croft helped the Silver Ferns when they won the Netball World Cup in 2019 and is now in Glasgow at the Commonwealth Games. Photo: Peter McIntosh Croft has spent time as a performance analyst for various sports from rugby to netball. Spending several seasons with the Steel gave him a deeper understanding of netball — having only ever played socially — and helped him make the step up to the Silver Ferns. “The great thing about netball, and not many jobs get to see this, you get to see the outcome of your work on a daily or weekly basis. You get to see whether things worked or not. “It’s highly satisfying when you execute a game plan, win a game, or a series, especially if … the opposition’s tough or we’ve had to bounce back from a loss and then we turn it around.’’ The Constellation Cup is a prime example, where the Silver Ferns and Australia have struggled to win tests away from home. The Silver Ferns hit a turning point in 2024 where they won the first two tests on home soil and demolished the Diamonds 61-43 in Perth to lift the trophy. “That was a huge sort of glass-ceiling breaker.’’ Croft considers himself fortunate to be able to bring his high performance knowledge to his day job as the Otago Polytechnic’s head of college (health). The associate professor blends the two roles together, exploring different ways to view leadership and help steer students on the right path. “What I bring into netball is the Otago Polytechnic education philosophy — the learning. “Then what netball allows me to bring back into the Otago Polytech is the performance aspect — the observing leadership in action. “They’re quite symbiotic in that they bring one thing from one area to the other. “I think that really recharged my batteries of going and experiencing really another high performing environment and then coming back in, I always feel really refreshed.’’ He also considers himself lucky to have the support of his home team: his wife, Laura, and their children, Emily, 14, Oliver 12, and Ben, 9. kayla.hodge@odt.co.nz

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