Their failings in recent times are on the players as much as the staff – as evidenced by the fact that their results have been of concern since well before Klimková took charge of the Ferns for the first time in October 2021.
She succeeded Tom Sermanni after a three-year, 23-match run, where the team had three wins, a draw and 14 losses outside Oceania, as well as five easy wins over their Pacific rivals at the 2018 Nations Cup.
Since then, they have played 23 matches, all of them outside Oceania, and had three wins, four draws and 16 losses – a run of fixtures that can be broken down into three groups.
The first group is the write-offs – matches the Ferns were highly unlikely to get results from, even in the most fortuitous of circumstances.
Played eight, lost eight; three goals for, 27 against.
Only in the first match against the Matildas across the Tasman did the Ferns ever look like getting anything from any of these, and even then, they were holding out under the pump for the best part of 90 minutes, before conceding twice in stoppage time.
The second group are the matches they were capable of getting something from – and on a few occasions, did.
Played seven, won two, drawn one, lost four; five goals for, eight against.
Finally, there’s the third group – eight matches that were always winnable, but only produced two wins in reality.
Played eight, won two, drawn two, lost four; three goals for, 12 against.
