Celebration time as the final whistle went in Brisbane. Photo: Barry Alsop / Eyes Wide Open Images
Samoa's national netball team head coach Natalie Mathews pointed to the team's bond, built over the few months of preparations, as the key to winning last week's PacificAus Sports Netball Series title in Brisbane.
Called in to coach the team in December, Mathews said team bonding was critical for the side when they started.
It proved to be the catalyst that kept the team going in Brisbane, especially under pressure.
"When we went into camp, we knew we had a strong team on paper," she told RNZ Pacific from Los Angeles, where she and her family are on vacation at the moment.
"It was really important building cohesion between the players, which fortunately worked really, really well."
"Through that bond, we were able to obtain success and through the final."
She said she believed in the players and trusted them to be the best they could be, even claiming the number one spot at the tournament media conference days before the series rolled off.
Mathews said she was over the moon and amazed with how the players responded to the challenges they faced and claiming their first series title.
"It feels amazing. I don't think I could have written a better story line for myself," she said.
"To be on debut and for the girls to pull together six back to back wins for my first campaign is pretty damn special.
"I am really grateful."
Natalie Mathews with her number one spot prediction days before the Brisbane event. Photo: Samoa Netball
Tifa Moana won all their matches at the event, including five round-robin matches and a double win over Scotland.
The side recorded wins against the Australian First Nations Black Swans, Fiji Pearls, Papua New Guinea Pepes, Tonga Tala, and Scottish Thistles.
They beat the Fiji Pearls 54-45, stopped the defending champions Tonga 55-52, and proved too strong for the Pepes, beating them 70-52.
Then in their clashes against the two invitational sides, Samoa defeated the First Nations Black Swans 54-42 and beat Scotland twice - 48-45 in their last pool match and 54-52 in the final.
Mathews said trust was something they had between each other, especially when they played Scotland in their last round-robin game last Friday, before meeting them again in the final the next day.
"I just felt there was a lot of trust," she said.
"We went into the first game having had a look at what we could do. We had a lot of confidence and they taught us what we needed to do in that first game.
"We came back in the final and we strung together 60 to 70 minutes of game time and that got us over the line."
Mathews paid tribute to her captain Kristiana Manu'a, who led the side from her goalkeeper's berth, using her experience to thwart so many opposition attacks throughout the tournament.
"Kristiana was key to what we did," Mathews said.
"She played with a lot of heart and this meant alot for her. She definitely led and her body was really tired, it was a long week and as she played a lot of minutes.
"With the heart she played with she it all she had and we are really grateful."
Samoa, winners of the 2025 PacificAus Sports Netball Series. Photo: Netball Australia
Samoa started the event at number 18 in the world, behind Scotland, who were at 10th, and Tonga who were ranked 8th.
The victories in Brisbane means that the Samoans will certainly be up the ranking in the latest standings, to be revealed in March.
That, Mathews said, is going to be the focus now: working on keeping netball developing in the right direction, winning sponsorships and funding, plus getting on-field experiences for the players - both in the under-21s and the senior national side.
"We are aware that we want to focus heavily on the development of our players in Samoa, but also being aware of what our other players are doing outside of Samoa," she said.
"So probably player monitoring moving forward because we would like to be able to establish possibly another tour in the next 12 months.
"We obviously have increased our ranking and we want to maintain that and it just means we need to get the girls on court and they need to be playing games."
A busy schedule is also already in line for Mathews, as she will also have some input into the Samoan under-21s, who will go through trials over the next few weeks and months, before the Netball World Youth Cup in Gibraltar from 19-28 September.
Samoa joins Tonga, the Cook Islands, and Fiji as Oceania qualifiers at the event.
Mathews said she will be in Auckland, Brisbane, and Samoa over the next few weeks assisting with the selection and clinics that Samoa Netball has put together.
As part of that development plan, the team in Brisbane also included two U21 players, who are eligible to play for Samoa at the World Youth Netball event.
