McCausland-Durie replaces Dearns at Pulse

Tanya Dearns.

Hawke's Bay's Tanya Dearns has been replaced by Yvette McCausland-Durie as the Central Pulse coach for next year's revamped elite domestic netball competition.

McCausland-Durie recently guided a young Netball Central team to the runners-up spot in this year's inaugural Beko League, a development competition specifically introduced to provide a level of competition that sits immediately below the ANZ Championship. She was also appointed Silver Ferns assistant coach earlier this year.

"With New Zealand and Australia going their separate ways next year and the establishment of the New Zealand Elite Domestic League, we could not ignore the success Yvette had with the Central Beko team when selecting a coach for next year's inaugural season and believe she is the right person for the job," Netball Central CEO Carolyn Young said.

Netball Central will align the Pulse and Beko teams more closely. In a bid to strengthen the overall coaching programme, a director of performance will be appointed within the next fortnight to oversee both teams.

"We have just come through a very tough campaign. Tanya and the team had their fair share of bad luck, particularly with more than one career-ending injury. With the new competition having different challenges, the board felt the experience of Yvette in the head coach role was the best option to help set the platform for the team heading into a new and exciting era," Young added. Dearns was disappointed she wasn't reappointed for another year.

"I would have liked to coach the team for another year but I accept the board's decision that they want to take the team in a different direction and I wish them all the best for the next season," she said.

McCausland-Durie has more than 10 years high performance coaching experience as part of the Netball New Zealand High Performance Coach Pathway, is a graduate of the High Performance Sports New Zealand (HPSNZ) Coach Accelerator Programme, and guided the New Zealand U21 team to a silver medal at the Netball World Youth Cup 2009.

She also coached the Pulse in the ANZ Championship from 2009 to 2011.

The new domestic league, comprising six teams and a three-round format, will be launched in April, with an international component, of which the details are yet to be finalised, added at the end.