Back in 2019, rising Whangārei netball star Maddy Gordon told us the notion of her making the 2023 World Cup Silver Ferns squad would be a little far-fetched. Four years later, she catches up with
Jodi Bryant just hours before jetting off to South Africa to represent her country in the coveted black dress.

“It’s actually kind of crazy,” Maddy laughs when reminded of her previous interview. “Even if you’d asked me at the start of this year, I’d have said I wouldn’t be in it. It’s definitely a lot of hard work. I sacrificed a lot of things to be where I am, and I knew this was what I wanted to do.”

Her sacrifices saw a driven Maddy, 23, climb the rungs of the netball ladder from a young age to now be one of the youngest in the Silver Ferns’ squad of 15, including three reserves, who are currently playing in the World Cup in Cape Town.

With a dream of making New Zealand’s top team, the talented mid-courter has played netball for as long as she can remember, beginning at her primary school at Maungatapere, where she grew up on an avocado orchard. From there, her end goal took her places; she attended Huanui College for two years before shifting to Whangārei Girls’ High School. But, even with a more challenging netball competition there and in Northland representative teams, Maddy knew she needed to look further afield.

“At rep [tournaments], I would always watch the Auckland teams, and even the Wellington teams, and just think, ‘Wow, I want to be playing at that level’.”

This drove her decision to move to Auckland and complete her final two years of high school at Mt Albert Grammar School before taking up an opportunity in Wellington. While playing for the Central Manawa team in New Zealand’s regional netball competition, Maddy was offered a contract to play for the ANZ Premiership’s Te Wānanga o Raukawa Pulse.

It was then she was exposed to the fast-paced environment of New Zealand’s top netball competition, and was instrumental in both Central and the Pulse’s wins that year before being selected to represent her country with the New Zealand A-team.

Maddy followed the Ferns’ fortunes from afar at the 2019 Netball World Cup. She remembers getting up early to watch the games in Wellington with her friends. Witnessing the Ferns go from the turmoil of 18 months earlier, where they failed to medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, to world champions, inspired Maddy with regard to her own game.

After making her Silver Ferns debut in 2021, Maddy is described by NZ Netball as having made a stunning impact in her short career.

“Making the bold decision to move to Wellington from Auckland in her first year out of school paid dividends for the live-wire mid-courter. Gordon, who previously slipped comfortably between centre and wing defence, added wing attack to her repertoire in 2019 while coming along in leaps and bounds after getting her first taste of elite-level netball.

“Gordon became a regular starter for the Pulse in 2020, where she thrived after being thrust into the wing attack position for the first time in her career. Very quick, skilful, both on attack and defensively, and possessing a non-stop engine, Gordon is an exciting young talent who has grabbed her opportunities seamlessly, and jumped from the 2019-20 Silver Ferns development squad to the elite squad with ease.”

But she’s been in and out of the Silver Ferns since, including due to a frustrating lengthy injury last season which forced her to the sidelines. Having missed out on the squad for the Quad Series in January, Maddy, adept at all three mid-court roles, poured her efforts into focusing on playing just one position – centre – for Pulse. It paid off, for this is what she credits for her selection into the World Cup team after standing out in her 2023 Pulse season, dubbed by the coach as her most impressive to date.

Back in 2019, Maddy told us: “I just need to keep being consistent, keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully, that will be good enough.” So, looking back, would she say she’s followed that plan?

“Probably this year, consistency-wise. Obviously, I found it a bit hard, like, I’ve been in and out of the Silver Ferns since I made it, which has been tough, but I think it’s been good for me – like, obviously, it’s not going to be an easy run. And as people have seen, I’ve played all three positions; I’ve been in and out of wing attack, wing defence, centre, and this year was key for me in that consistency of just playing a really good full year of centre, which I think helped me get across the line.”

She was blown away to get the call saying she’d made the squad, and described it as an “emotional, amazing, surreal” time. Then it was straight into training mode.

In the lead-up to the World Cup, the Silver Ferns underwent three intense training camps in both New Zealand and Australia, beginning at 5.30am with up to three training sessions a day, followed by matches against local teams to ascertain their strengths and the gaps. By the third camp, the gelled team focused on fine-tuning their skills repetitively under pressure.

“We’re definitely on the right track. The team that [coach Dame Noeline Taurua] Noels has put together, I’m loving it. We all get along really well and everyone is there for the right reasons and the same reasons: to win, and it’s actually super-exciting.

“I’m definitely nervous. Obviously, I haven’t been to a pinnacle event with the Silver Ferns, so I kind of don’t know what to expect, but it’s cool that I’ve got a lot of girls around me who have been in that situation, as I’m sure they’ll help me out wherever I need it.”

While her dad and her partner are currently in South Africa, the rest of her family – Maddy’s mum, brother and sister, nanas and poppas and cousins – are all watching back home in Whangārei, where Maddy returns only once or twice a year these days.

“I go back every summer and sometimes during the off-season. I did enjoy the weather but, at the moment, it’s not too good,” she laughs. “But it’s always nice to go home and see everyone and catch up with friends, because obviously I don’t see them a lot.”

In the meantime, while her schedule was looking a little too tight for any sight-seeing in South Africa, she was hoping to resurrect her popular TikTok account, where she’s been known to corral the team to test their dance co-ordination between training sessions and treat her fans to some behind-the-scenes posts.

“I’ve actually been a bit silent on that, but I’m definitely going to pick it up over there. Maybe some ‘what we do in a day’ posts to see what we get up to.”

Upon her return, Maddy will continue playing for Pulse while hoping to don the black dress again and make the Silver Ferns 2023/2024 squad.

The Silver Ferns are currently defending the title they won in Liverpool in 2019. The World Cup series finishes on August 6.