Liana Leota landed in Invercargill and jumped in her new car.
The Netball South vehicle looked oddly familiar to the new Southern Steel assistant coach, but she thought nothing of it.
As she drove down the road, and the sun began to beam through the windscreen, she flipped down the visor and was in for a shock.
Scribbled across the visor was a message from her younger self — "this Kia rocks, Liana Barrett-Chase".
Ironically, it was the last car Leota had during her final years playing for the Steel and autographed it when they parted ways.
"I’m very mindful of meaningful coincidences," Leota said.
"I’m obviously where I’m meant to be.
"Things happen for a reason — good or bad — and I’m where I’m supposed to be."
It emphasised to Leota that her decision to return to the franchise where she carved out her path to elite netball — which led to her spending the past nine years in the United Kingdom, including a stint as coach for the England Roses — was the right one.
Returning to Invercargill has felt like coming home for Leota, who was a midcourt maestro for the Steel and their predecessor, the Southern Sting, from 2007 2011.
"For me, Invercargill is my netball home.
"I feel like this is where you got the best of me, the best netball I ever played. Being back here as a coach, I just feel the same."
Linking up with former team-mate Wendy Frew, now head coach of the Steel, in the management team had been a dream come true.
The pair, who co-captained the Steel together, have long been great mates.
Being able to embark on a new dawn for the franchise together had been seamless.
"I think that’s what makes it even better," Leota said.
"I can be myself. We can have those tough conversations with each other.
"We’ve had years of time together and I think no matter what, we’re always trying to look at ... building a really good culture."
Known for her attacking flair and ability to read the game like no other, Leota is hoping to impart that style on her Steel attackers.
Things have changed from when she first pulled on the dress as an elite netballer, but so has Leota as she grew in her role as player-turned-coach and brought something different to the attack end.
"The hardest thing for me is I’ve brought in a new style, very different structures, so they’re learning on the run.
"I feel like you probably won’t see the best of our attack end until ... those structures become natural.
"You can see the progression each week, but I think I’m just so demanding. I want more and I know how good they can be."
As a player, there was nothing that stood in Leota’s way.
After four seasons with the Steel, she signed with the Central Pulse in 2012, following former Sting and Steel coach Robyn Broughton — a pillar in Leota’s life and career — who took over at the Wellington franchise.
The wing attack earned 41 caps for the Silver Ferns, including Commonwealth Games gold in 2010, before heading overseas to the United Kingdom.
Leota, who has five children with her husband, former Highlander Johnny Leota, inked a deal with the Manchester Thunder, where she remained for most of her tenure.
When she arrived in England in 2016, the Super League was a decade behind netball in the southern hemisphere, she said.
Through the years, she watched the sport evolve and a recent 10-year tender allowed teams to sign players on multi-year contracts.
In her final years, Leota was a player-coach for the Thunder — later joining the Severn Stars — and said teams sometimes had to train late into the night due to a lack of courts.
Having had the luxury of being part of the ANZ Championship, when New Zealand and Australia joined domestically, she knew first-hand the growth that came when money was poured into the sport.
"England’s doing that right now.
"You wait another couple of years and you’ll see the fruits of that labour.
In 2022, Leota was appointed as director of the Leeds Rhinos, who she coached for two seasons before returning to New Zealand.
"They’re very similar to New Zealand.
"Family first, all about the community, giving back ... for me, it felt like, again, home but while I was in England."
All those experiences have blended Leota into the person she is today.
But how would she describe herself as a coach?
"If I talk about coming back to New Zealand, between Wendy and I — I’m definitely bad cop, she’s good cop," Leota laughed.
"If you talk about England, it’s hard.
"I think my understanding of the game structures and breaking them down is probably my super strength.
"The international game is where I flourished the most."
Leota, 40, spent nearly four years as a technical coach with the England Roses, including reaching their first Netball World Cup final in 2023 where they won silver.
She also helped them to their first series win in New Zealand in 2021 and stepped in as head coach for Jess Thirlby during England’s tour of New Zealand in 2023.
Joining the international arena, Leota was nervous coming in as a player-coach but soon found her feet.
"I feel like I’ve been through a netball degree. I’ve learnt so much and I loved it.
"For me, they focused on my strengths.
"Even though I may not have coached for so long, my knowledge of the game and my ability to play the attacking end ... [they said] ‘no, own it, we’ll follow you, we’ll back you’."
Being able to work with world-class players, including Helen Housby, Eleanor Cardwell, Nat Metcalf and Jade Clarke, made her a better coach and kept her on her toes.
They demanded the best, and wanted the best, for their careers.
"You’re always thinking outside of the box, thinking of new ways, but also you’re playing international countries that play so differently," Leota said.
"For me, that’s what’s helped me the most. There’s different shapes, sizes, ranges and that’s been the beauty.
"I’ve had to think about things so much more and being a bit more creative that now makes me see the game so much easier.
"Coming home now it’s like, how can I share my knowledge, how can I give back to all of those that have helped me?"
Giving back has always been second nature for Leota.
Her family encouraged it, as did the late Broughton, who told Leota she had too much knowledge to "just sit there and do nothing".
It led to Leota wanting to follow in her footsteps and become a coach, and it was always a natural progression for the netball-mad child inside her.
"Without netball, I don’t know who I would be," Leota said.
"I was a 4, 5-year-old wanting to be a Silver Fern. I actually wanted to be the goal attack that shot the last goal in the Commonwealth Games final.
"To be able to live that and be part of some amazing teams, amazing successes and now come out the other end ..."
Broughton, who died in 2023, had been an encyclopedia of netball knowledge — "Robbie’s coaching tree is going to touch the world" — and it was all about doing the basics right before looking at the bigger picture.
That was something Leota — and Frew — were passionate about storing into the current generation of Steel players.
"She’s always been part of my journey," Leota said of Broughton.
"Sadly to have her pass ... I feel like I can still hear her saying things to me. It’s just the key things I know she’d be wanting me to do.
"But she definitely lives within me, and Wendy, and our values and our principles.
"How we play the game, and how we see the game, is very much Robbie."
