The Northern Stars have a new coach for the 2025 ANZ Premiership season with the naming of former Silver Fern Temepara Bailey.
Bailey is an exemplary netball mind and has been coaching the Gold Coast Titans in the Queensland netball competition for the past three years.
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Bailey had a longstanding playing career, representing the Silver Ferns in 89 tests and was a foundation member of the Stars squad in 2017.
She acted as an assistant coach and coached the Manukau Comets in the National Netball League, before heading to Australia.
Bailey was excited to be back home and in Stars colours.
“I grew up in South Auckland and it’s great to come back to my roots and be the head coach of the Stars. I’m really excited about the challenge. It’s not going to be easy, but there’s a lot of good people in amongst the franchise.” Bailey said.
Stars general manager Jane Bennett was thrilled to welcome Bailey back to the Stars family.
“She’s an icon of New Zealand Netball and already has strong links to our community, so I know she’ll bring tremendous value on and off the court.” Bennett said.
“I’m a personal fan of Temepara as a player, but also impressed with the work she has done in the high performance coaching space over the last few years. I know she will develop strong connections with our athletes and build on the Stars culture we are renowned for.”
While she enjoyed her time on the Gold Coast, Bailey admits the timing is right for her to step into a head coaching role in the ANZ Premiership and she was ready to embrace what was ahead.
“I started in the Titans programme pretty much from nothing and three years in I think we’ve got everything in place and the opportunity came at the right time and the Titans allowing me to do this has been awesome.” Bailey explained.
“The biggest thing is understanding the person before the player and getting that right from the beginning.
“It’s also important to create an environment where people can express themselves and bring their own flavour. It’s about nurturing that, but also moulding it to where we want to go as a team.”
While the Stars endured a trying campaign in 2024, Bailey believes she can see great promise in the foundations that have been built around the Stars on court play and their culture off it.
“It’s about building on that foundation that’s already there, but also bringing my own style as well.
“It will be challenging because next season is shortened. We’ve got to hit the ground running because we won’t be playing the opposition three times.
“It’s competitive and I’ve noticed with new coaches coming on board and their styles and the players they’re recruiting will make for an interesting year.”