"I just spend a lot of time away from home, that's the key driver for this decision."
Monday 27 July 2020 13:50, UK
Yvette McCausland-Durie has announced that she will step down as head coach of the Central Pulse at the end of the current ANZ Premiership season.
This year marks McCausland-Durie's fourth with the franchise and her tenure to date, has been incredibly successful.
In her first year the Pulse made the play-offs for the first time in the club's history, they then hosted a Grand Final for the first time in 2018 before claiming their first-ever title in 2019.
This season they remain the only franchise to be unbeaten after seven rounds of action and will play their first home game of the season in Round Eight against the Northern Mystics at the Te Rauparaha Arena, Porirua.
McCausland-Durie's commitment to the Pulse is significant, she does a two-hour commute from Palmerston North to the Pulse's Wellington base multiple times a week.
"I just spend a lot of time away from home, that's the key driver for this decision,'' McCausland-Durie said.
"Also, there needs to be that opportunity to keep growing this [Pulse/Netball Central] and that often means a change is needed.
"Since I've been here, we've been really focused about what we wanted to achieve in four years, I feel really pleased to have been a part of that as well as that challenge of leaving something in a better place than you found it.
"There's still room to continue to develop, so from a timing perspective around the organisation and where the team's at, it is good," she added.
"We've got a good base, some really good systems in place and structures but there's always room for somebody else to keep advancing that."
McCausland-Durie's side is led by captain Katrina Rore and already this season, young Maddy Gordon has excelled and Tiana Metuarau has been a consistent game-changer.
"When you look at the player group, there's more to do in terms of how do we keep creating sustainability and genuine pathways for that next layer of players. I'm really, really pleased with where we've got to."
The Pulse's most-recent ANZ Premiership outings saw them surge past the Magic without a second glance. The 52-29 victory provided yet another reminder to their peers of just how impressive they can be when they put their foot on the gas.
The franchise then used the same acceleration to move away from the Northern Stars in the final 12 minutes of their second encounter of the weekend. After trailing by two at the final pause, they won the final quarter 16-4 and ended up with a 10-goal winning margin.
Elsewhere in the round, the Tactix were also victorious over the Stars. The Mystics fell to the Steel before Phoenix Karaka and her side regrouped to secure a 45-39 result against the Magic.
All teams will now head on the road and play matches in home venues for the first time this season. There are three more rounds to play before the Finals Series takes place at the ITL Stadium Southland, Invercargill on August 23.
Coverage of the ANZ Premiership continues live on Sky Sports on Thursday at 8am with the Tactix taking on the Northern Stars at the Horncastle Arena, Christchurch.
