Silver Ferns interim vice-captain Kelly Jackson says the last few weeks have been mentally and emotionally difficult, but the team are trying to put off-court drama to one side.
Over the weekend, Netball New Zealand announced coach Dame Noeline Taurua was suspended for the rest of 2025, less than two weeks before the Constellation Cup series against world champions Australia.
The national body said, "despite considerable and genuine effort" from the two parties, a resolution regarding the Silver Ferns "high performance programme and environment" had not yet been reached.
Taurua was controversially stood down 11 days out from the Taini Jamison series against South Africa last month and her future as coach of the national side looks bleak.
With 75 test caps to her name, Jackson is now the most experienced Silver Ferns player and was voted by her peers to take on the vice-captaincy for the next two series.
Fellow defender Karin Burger was voted interim captain, as the side prepare to take on the Diamonds, before heading to Scotland and England for their northern tour.
Jackson said it had been a testing time for everyone.
"These last couple of months have weighed on us heavily, mentally and emotionally, but it's up to us as leaders... to kind of redirect the energy back onto the netball court, and make sure everyone's okay as well and feel supported off the court," she said.
"For us, it's been a real test, but we're looking forward and looking forward to coming up against Australia."
"First and foremost, it's sorting myself out first," she said. "You know, I've had to bear a lot of weight in this.
"It affects everyone differently, but very heavily, so off-court, making sure I'm spending time with my family and friends, and finding support people to lean on. They've been crucial for me in this process, so that I can come in here feeling cool, calm, and collected, and knowing that I can come in and support my teammates."
Since Netball New Zealand dropped the bombshell news, the level of scrutiny around the team has been unprecedented.
The issues trace back to a training camp in January. Afterwards, two players approached the NZ Netball Players Association on behalf of a larger group of up to seven players, raising concerns about Taurua's leadership and communication style.
An independent review later highlighted "significant issues" within the Silver Ferns environment.
Considerable social media anger has been directed at the playing group, who are perceived as the root cause for the coach's downfall.
"Some things that have been said to certain players, said about our team, said about everyone in this situation have been pretty hurtful, but for myself to get through, it's about blocking out as much unhelpful noise as possible," Jackson said.
"I'm doing my best to block all media, social media pages, not looking at media, not watching TV, that kind of thing, because all that noise is just unhelpful and doesn't help what's in front of us."
Former Silver Fern Maia Wilson recently told the Mandate podcast that she had been the subject of online abuse.
Jackson said that was disappointing.
"Think about what you're saying to these people, because we are people," she said. "We are there on the TV screens, but behind that, we are people, and we do have feelings and we're hurting as much as everyone."
Burger said they were trying to stay away from the media.
"There's a lot of opinions and rightly so," she said. "We're representing our country, so there's going to be input from outside noise.
"We can't control that, and the information that's put out there obviously will shape those opinions and we can't control that either. What we can control is what we do here and, if we don't perform, that's creating way more scrutiny on us than what we have already, so we need to perform out there."
Burger and Jackson have been locked in for the Constellation Cup and next month's northern tour in the UK to provide some consistency.
Interim Silver Ferns coach Yvette McCausland-Durie said the full squad voted on the captaincy roles.
"Karin is a natural leader who sets the tone through her work ethic, competitiveness, and unwavering commitment to the team. She brings real connection to the group and has a great ability to support and challenge in equal measure," McCausland-Durie said.
"Kelly has continued to impress with her maturity and presence on and off the court. Together, they'll provide strong and balanced leadership for this campaign."
South Africa-born Burger, who moved to New Zealand when she was 18, said she never would have believed in her wildest dreams that she would one day captain the Silver Ferns.
"Never. I think coming from South Africa as an 18-year-old, it was a dream to even be in the black dress itself.
"To be able to stand here today and be called an interim captain is amazing. Lots of privilege to be able to stand here, knowing that people are putting their trust in you to lead that area.
"I just need to keep being myself, but acknowledging the workload that's involved with that [captaincy] as well."
The Silver Ferns are focused on becoming back-to-back Constellation Cup winners for the first time.
A last-gasp goal in the final test saw New Zealand secure a 3-0 clean sweep over South Africa last month, but the world champion Australians will be a far tougher assignment.
The first test is scheduled for October 17.
