The Jamaica Observer has been reliably told that former national player Sasher-Gaye Henry and Annette Daley are the two candidates shortlisted for the senior netball team head coach job.

Henry, 44, is no stranger to the national coaching set-up. As co-coach alongside Marvette Anderson she led the Sunshine Girls to a bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.

The tough-talking Henry, a former midcourt player, played a vital role in securing a bronze medal for the Sunshine Girls at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, during her playing career.

Daley is familiar with the national set-up, having been the assistant to former Head Coach Connie Francis when the Sunshine Girls won a bronze medal at the 2007 World Netball Championships in New Zealand. She also led the junior Sunshine Girls to a bronze medal at the World Youth Netball Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2013.

The Jamaica head coach position had been vacant since Francis and the association parted ways late last year after she guided the Sunshine Girls to a bronze medal at the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa.

When contacted by the Observer on Tuesday, Simone Forbes, the first vice-president of Netball Jamaica, neither confirmed nor denied that Henry and Daley have been shortlisted for the position. She stated that an announcement would be made once the selection process is completed by the end of next week.

“I can’t speak about the persons who were shortlisted, and I can’t speak about who they are, and I cannot provide any comments on the process until it has ended,” said Forbes.

“The most I can say is that two persons who are local coaches have been shortlisted for the position, and the process [of selection] starts this week and ends next week,” she said.

Forbes, a former Sunshine Girls captain, highlighted that both individuals are strong candidates.

“They are good quality coaches, and if Netball Jamaica has the money I am sure that Netball Jamaica would employ both coaches to work with the teams,” Forbes stated. “As you know, all the big teams have two or three coaches. In some instances there are specialist coaches alongside the head coach. So I am sure that if Netball Jamaica has the funding it will employ both persons.

“However, for now, it is only one, and hopefully, when we get some funding we might be able to add the second person with Assistant Coach Shawn Murdock,” Forbes pointed out.

She emphasised that Netball Jamaica will have a coaches’ retreat at the end of this month, at which all coaches in the national programmes will get together over two days to discuss various strategies for the national teams.

“We will be having a national coaches’ retreat on the 27th and 28th of January,” Forbes said.

“The national training officially starts on February 2, so coaches in the programme have major competitions coming up over the next four years. The coaches are going to have a planning session, looking at the different competitions to come. They will have leadership sessions and will hear from various speakers on different areas of the sport,” she said.