Call the plummer

She nags. She needles. She niggles. But is nemesis netball coach Norma Plummer really nasty? Australian sporting coaches don't win many popularity contests in this country and Plummer has always been near the top of that list.

We didn't like Wallaby coaches Bob Dwyer, nor Eddie Jones, while former Kangaroos coach Ricky Stuart particularly offended our sensitivities during his tenure. Plummer has been winding us up, deliberately or otherwise, since she took control of the Diamonds after the 2003 world championships.

The Independent newspaper in England once labelled her 'one of the nastiest' coaches in sport, alongside Sir Alex Ferguson, former Springbok mentor Rudolph Straeuli (the coach behind the infamous Kamp Staaldraad in 2003) and US college basketball coach Bobby Knight, who once threw a chair at a fan and has been accused of trying to choke a player in a fit of rage.

It all started, of course, with the infamous comment about the Ferns being a "bunch of scrubbers", a remark she insists was taken wildly (and sneakily) out of context by a Canberra journalist.

In an interview with the Herald on Sunday afterwards, her daughter maintained that Plummer had misunderstood the meaning of the word 'scrubber'.

There were constant digs about the imports in the Ferns, especially when three of the starting seven were not New Zealand-born. Plummer has regularly made reference to the huge advantage gained by the presence of Irene van Dyk and the unequal travel load of the respective countries in the ANZ Championship.

Most bizarrely, she even once accused New Zealand PhD students, who were studying at the Australian Institute of Sport, of passing on secrets about Australia's top players to the Ferns during a test series.

"We didn't hand that out to anyone," she told a Melbourne newspaper at the time, "somebody has hand-passed that on." But Plummer's willingness to shoot from the hip and give views on just about anything has also been great for the sport; helping to boost its profile.

The battle between Ruth Aitken and Plummer has become one of the great netball sideshows. Despite her image, Plummer, away from the media glare, is likeable and fascinating to talk to. What comes across is her complete and utter passion for the sport, which she could discuss for hours. "I love the game," she said, "and I guess it has basically been my life. Wherever I have gone, I've always wanted to leave it in a better place".

Plummer made the Australian team in 1972 and represented the Diamonds for the next decade, winning the 1975 world championships in New Zealand. Her coaching career started in 1967 with a club and she progressed through the ranks, coaching at state and AIS level before gaining the top job.

She had a rough start to her international coaching career, losing eight of her first 10 transtasman clashes, including the 2006 Commonwealth Games final on home soil. Since then, the Diamonds have often dominated the Ferns, though Delhi was a major setback.

In terms of her coaching philosophy, she remembers the wise words of Joyce Brown, who coached Australia to three world championships and inspired a generation of coaches and players.

"She would always say you are not there to be popular'," recalls Plummer. "And you probably won't be, especially if you are picking a team for the right reasons. But whatever the situation, I always encourage a feedback process. I may not agree but I will always listen."

Plummer certainly has a ruthless streak, never afraid to cast aside experienced players she feels are not performing. It was also shown before Singapore when Susan Pratley (a veteran of two Commonwealth Games and a key component of the 2007 triumph) was among several veterans who did not make the cut. "It was a surprise to see Pratley and [Rebecca] Bulley miss out," says former Ferns captain Adine Wilson, "but that is Norma's style." Silver Ferns defender Katrina Grant says: "With her, you can always expect the unexpected. I think she did it partly to get an edge over us. We knew the team they had at the Commonwealth Games and knew them well; now we have to go back and analyse a different set of players."

Plummer seems to enjoy keeping everyone on edge, including her own players. Before the 2010 Commonwealth Games campaign, she ran a brutal six-day selection camp, which Diamonds attacker Catherine Cox compared to Survivor. There was less time this year but the same theme. "I want to see my players under real, constant pressure," explains Plummer. "That is when you see their true colours and abilities; I can relate to them - I have never forgotten what it was like as a player, the fears, the nerves and the thrills."

There is a softer side to the stern taskmaster. She hates telling anyone bad selection news - especially the younger players. "You are dealing with people's lives and you have to be very careful."

She is hardly one of the girls, though one current Diamond commented that she was "quite fun and entertaining after a couple of red wines".

She enjoys an annual trip to Hong Kong for the rugby sevens and shopping, and writes an extremely detailed (and frank) weekly blog for the Netball Australia website.

Plummer, who lost her husband to cancer 27 years ago, has a daughter who lives at the family home in Melbourne; Plummer divides her time between Melbourne and Canberra.

She says her greatest thrill has been the opportunity to develop players and tells a story about current Firebirds coach Roselee Jencke who, as a 14-year-old, was sent by her mother across Melbourne to see Plummer on the outskirts of the city. "She knocked on my front door and asked if I could help her with her netball," recalls Plummer. "I was impressed she had bussed all the way; we were in pretty close contact after that."

Jencke went on to play 42 games for Australia, most famous for grabbing that intercept which won the 1999 world championship in Christchurch, and broke New Zealand hearts. Though she has lost key players Sharelle McMahon and Lauren Nourse, Plummer is typically bullish about their prospects this week. "With those two, we have lost a lot of speed but now we have a different blend that we can interchange in a different way. In Delhi, I didn't have the back end I wanted. Someone like Sharni Layton brings a lot of passion, while Julie Corletto is the kind of player who will cause Maria Tutaia a lot of problems." The next seven days will decide her place in history. Gold, and she will go down as one of the coaching greats, undefeated at world championship level. Silver, and that 2007 triumph will probably pale into insignificance alongside the setbacks of 2006 and 2010.

Asked for her own views in terms of a legacy, Plummer is unequivocal: "In 2003, I was left with an ageing team, half of them already on their way out the door," says Plummer. "I always said I would walk out with a great team and leaving a lot of young players tapping on the door. That is the most important thing of all."