Fiji Pearls challenged to find their ‘new best’

Crest Fiji Pearls head coach Michelle Parsons has challenged her players to keep raising their standards and find their “new best” as they chase a spot at the 2027 Netball World Cup.

Fiji begins its Netball World Cup Oceania Regional Qualifiers campaign against the Cook Islands in Tonga on September 15, with one of two qualification spots for the World Cup in Sydney, Australia, at stake.

They will then face Samoa on September 16, Tonga on September 17 and Papua New Guinea on September 18.

Asked about her message to the team heading into the qualifiers, Parsons said: “Keep finding your new best.

“That’s all that’s going to be acceptable from us, our best. That’s the only expectation. It’s literally best in everything.”

The Pearls face a demanding schedule, playing the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Papua New Guinea on four consecutive days.

Parsons said every match would matter, leaving no opportunity for Fiji to use a game simply to experiment with combinations.

“That there is no game that you could ever go, here’s a chance for us to try something.

“There’s literally not one of those games. When you go to a big world cup and sometimes where there’s a nation that’s further developing, you can try some combinations to literally confirm what your thoughts are or what’s working. There is no opportunity to do that this week.

“There isn’t. It’s literally, we either make it work or I have to make a change to make it work. We will literally be learning as we go and making changes that are best for the team as we go.”

Building connections

Fiji enters the qualifiers with limited time together as a team.

Parsons said the players had trained together only three times, but she expected their combinations to improve as the competition progressed.

“I expect it will get better as the tournament goes on because this is literally our first lot of training together.

“The girls have only trained three times now as a team. So, we will get better and better connected and we are expecting that the performance pressure will mean that those who thrive in it will really shine and those who are learning will get that experience to help them.

“So my expectations are that they’ll go out there and they’ll literally bleed blue.”

Parsons said the combination of experienced players and newcomers was an important part of the squad.

“We’re also really lucky that we’ve got a mix of girls that have got high performance experience and know how to bring that professionalism into the environment and you know what, they’re all so connected. I could not ever complain about the attitude and the character of these girls.

“They’ve been amazing.”

Respect for Cook Islands

Fiji opens its campaign against the Cook Islands before facing Samoa, Tonga and PNG.

Parsons said the Pearls had studied their opponents and would conduct further analysis before each match.

“So, we’ve done our homework on each of the teams.

“So, we did that last week where we were looking at each team, what we know about them and what their strengths are. Then we’ll do a pre-brief analysis before each game. So tomorrow we’ll be doing the Cook Islands in depth.

“We’ll start with our unit focus tonight. But yeah, we’ll pre-brief every game where the girls literally look in each of their units what they’ll be doing for each team, we know the Cook Islands team quite well. A lot of the girls you would have seen us mixing and I’ve coached a few of them. So, we have a very healthy respect for what they bring.”

The Pearls attended a church service at Centenary Church in Nuku’alofa today ahead of the qualifiers.