New coach, new roster, new direction as Kāhu look to turn the page in 2026
Head Coach: Jo Wood (1st year)
2025 Finish: 1-11, 5th
Key Returnee: Erin Bollmann
Key Signing: Talya Brugler
Player to Watch: Shanique Lucas
No team will look as different in Tauihi 2026 as the BNZ Kāhu.
After a difficult 2025 campaign that produced just one win from 12 games, the Kāhu have responded with a major overhaul. A new head coach arrives in Jo Wood, the majority of the rotation has changed over, and the roster has been rebuilt around a blend of experienced professionals, Tall Ferns, productive imports and some of New Zealand's most exciting young talent as they Kāhu look to get back to post-season basketball.
The stats from last season underline why change was required. The Kāhu averaged a league-low 71.4 points per game while conceding 86.8, also the highest mark in the competition. Their minus-15.3 scoring margin was comfortably the lowest in Tauihi, while they ranked fifth in field goal percentage, three-point percentage and rebounding margin.
This is not a minor renovation.
It is effectively a new team.
Azure Anderson, Erin Bollmann, Areta Kahura and Sienna Maurice return from the 2025 roster, while Megan Mullings comes back to Kāhu after previously playing for the club in 2024. But none of these players were given
Around them is a substantial collection of new talent. Talya Brugler and Shanique Lucas arrive after big NBL1 seasons, Tall Fern Tayla Dalton returns home to the North Shore, Ella Fotu brings further international experience, and guards Kayla Manuirirangi and Emily Monaghan add depth and basketball IQ.
At the other end of the age spectrum sit Imani Rasmussen, Katie Moors, Kahura and Maurice, all part of the emerging generation of New Zealand players Kāhu are looking to develop.
The challenge for Wood is obvious. The hope is that the team has significantly more talent on paper, but even with more talent there is very little continuity.
New arrivals from the 2025 Kāhu roster in bold.
Talya Brugler
Areta Kahura
Kayla Manuirirangi
Emily Monaghan
Olivia Williams
Imani Rasmussen
Shanique Lucas
Sienna Maurice
Katie Moors
Megan Mullings
Tayla Dalton
Azure Anderson
Erin Bollmann
Ella Fotu
It is difficult to overstate how significant the offseason turnover has been.
Kāhu's five leading scorers from 2025 are all absent from the new roster. Haliegh Reinoehl led the team at 14.9 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, Abigail Curtin averaged 12.5 points, Aliyah Matharu 12.3, Lauren Mansfield 11.7 and Tahlia Tupaea 11.0. Mansfield also produced 6.3 assists per game, the fourth-best mark in the league.
Of the players returning in 2026, Bollmann provided the biggest glimpse of senior production, but her 2025 season lasted only two games before she departed to play in Australia's WNBL. She averaged 10.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting 50 percent from the field in those appearances. Anderson played 11 games, averaging 3.5 points and 2.7 rebounds, while also playing a major role in Rapid League.
Anderson averaged 6.5 points and 3.1 rebounds across all 12 Rapid League games and earned a place in the Rapid League All-Star Five.
Maurice also got a taste of the senior level, making two Tauihi appearances and four Rapid League appearances in 2025.
The team numbers illustrate the scale of the rebuild.
| Team Stat | 2025 Kāhu | League Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Scoring offence | 71.4 ppg | 5th |
| Scoring defence | 86.8 ppg | 5th |
| Scoring margin | -15.33 | 5th |
| Field goal percentage | 39% | 5th |
| FG% defence | 45% | 5th |
| 3-point percentage | 28% | 5th |
| Free throw percentage | 72% | 4th |
| Rebounding margin | -10.50 | 5th |
Kāhu were outrebounded by more than 10 boards per game, averaging 37.8 compared with 48.3 for opponents, and shot just 39 percent from the field and 28 percent from three.
Those are not numbers that can be solved by changing one or two players.
The 2026 roster reflects that.
Jo Wood takes control of Kāhu with an extensive background in the Australian basketball system.
Wood currently serves as an assistant coach with the WNBL's Southside Flyers and the Australian U19 Gems, helping the Gems to a silver medal at the 2025 FIBA U19 Women's World Cup.
She also leads the Frankston Blues and has spent five seasons inside their NBL1 South women's programme.
Her coaching résumé includes championships at VJBL and Big V Youth level, as well as a gold medal coaching Victoria's Under-20 women at the Australian National Championships.
Wood arrives at an ideal moment to put her own stamp on the programme. Rather than inheriting an established rotation, she gets an almost completely new group to shape from the beginning.
This Kāhu roster looks built to play with significantly more offensive aggression than the team managed a season ago.
There are multiple players capable of creating their own shot.
Lucas arrives after leading Rockhampton with 21.5 points per game in NBL1 North and brings an extensive scoring résumé that includes 1,941 collegiate points at Union University.
Brugler provides a different type of threat. The 185cm forward averaged 18.2 points and 8.8 rebounds for Northern Suburbs Bears after beginning her professional career in Greece. She also scored 1,736 points during four NCAA Division I seasons at Saint Joseph's.
Then there is Bollmann, a proven all-round contributor who can score, facilitate and rebound, plus Mullings, whose athleticism offers another weapon in the frontcourt.
The ball-handling picture is equally interesting.
Dalton gives Kāhu a floor organiser and a player accustomed to leading at international level. She captained the Tall Ferns during the 2026 international campaign and arrives after winning the 2025 Tauihi championship with Whai.
Manuirirangi provides another ball handling option after a collegiate career that included 119 NCAA Division I games for Tulane, while Monaghan brings 125 games of American college experience and four seasons with Frankston in NBL1.
Maurice adds another creative option behind that senior group. The 16-year-old led New Zealand with 4.3 assists per game at the 2026 FIBA U17 World Cup, while also averaging 14.0 points for North Harbour at the U20 National Championships.
That should allow Wood to play with multiple creators rather than rely on one player to initiate everything.
The other obvious point of emphasis is the glass.
Kāhu's minus-10.5 rebound margin was their biggest statistical weakness last season. Brugler's 8.8 rebounds per game in NBL1 should help immediately, while Rasmussen and Moors give Kāhu intriguing young size.
Rasmussen is already part of the New Zealand senior pathway, while Moors was a member of the New Zealand team that achieved a historic fifth-place finish at the 2026 FIBA U17 World Cup, averaging 6.6 rebounds per game.
The challenge will be finding the right blend between experience and youth.
The list is a substantial one
Reinoehl, Curtin, Matharu, Mansfield and Tupaea accounted for Kāhu's five highest individual scoring averages in 2025, and none return.
Mansfield was also the team's dominant creator with 6.3 assists per game, while Reinoehl led the team on the glass at 7.6 rebounds.
Krystal Leger-Walker has moved to Tokomanawa Queens, while Keija Miringaorangi joins Whai. Mary Morton-Jones, Emma-Kaye Schroeder, Keeley Tini, Vitolia Tuilave and others from last season's rotation are also outside the announced 2026 roster.
Normally that level of turnover would be concerning.
After a 1-11 campaign, it instead feels like a neccessary reset.
Kāhu have not been shy.
Brugler immediately addresses scoring and rebounding. Lucas brings another high-volume offensive option. Dalton provides leadership and point guard control. Fotu adds Tall Ferns and 3x3 experience, while Olivia Williams begins her professional career after 101 NCAA Division I games.
Monaghan and Manuirirangi provide additional guard depth, while Mullings returns after previously representing Kāhu in 2024.
Then there is the young group.
Rasmussen, Moors and Kahura have all been through New Zealand age-group pathways, with Moors and Kahura part of the New Zealand team that achieved a historic fifth-place finish at the 2026 FIBA U17 World Cup. Kahura shot 36.8 percent from three at the tournament.
Maurice was another key member of that same team and led New Zealand in assists at 4.3 per game.
If all goes to plan, there could be considerably more depth and variety than Kāhu possessed a year ago.
Azure Anderson gives Kāhu something almost nobody else on this roster can offer: continuity.
She has been part of the organisation throughout the Tauihi era and enters her fifth season with the club. Her role has often been larger in Rapid League, where she averaged 6.5 points and 3.1 rebounds in 2025, but her knowledge of the programme should be especially valuable around such a heavily rebuilt group.
Bollmann is also technically a returner, although 2026 should feel more like a fresh start after her 2025 Kāhu campaign lasted only two games.
Kahura and Maurice round out the returning group. Both received limited senior minutes last year, but both now come back with significant international age-group experience gained during 2026.
Kāhu saw only a glimpse of Bollmann in 2025.
What she produced in those two games was encouraging, with 10.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game on 50 percent shooting.
A full season changes the equation considerably.
Bollmann can score, rebound and create, and alongside Brugler and Lucas she does not necessarily need to carry the offence every night. That could make her even more difficult to deal with.
Dalton's raw 2025 numbers with Whai were modest, but her importance is unlikely to be measured purely through scoring.
She provides control, decision-making and leadership in a roster where relationships will need to form quickly.
With so many attacking options around her, Dalton's ability to get Kāhu organised and put teammates into the right spots could prove as valuable as anything in the box score.
Lucas is the potential wildcard.
A player coming directly from a 21.5-point NBL1 season demands attention, and Kāhu did not possess enough consistent shot creation last season.
If that scoring transfers quickly to Tauihi, it could radically change the shape of their offence.
Kāhu have one of the competition's most interesting youth groups.
Sienna Maurice gives the club a highly regarded young guard already familiar with the senior environment. She made her Tauihi debut in 2025 before playing a key role for New Zealand at the 2026 FIBA U17 World Cup, where she averaged 4.0 points and a team-high 4.3 assists per game. Maurice also averaged 14.0 points for North Harbour at the 2026 U20 National Championships.
Rasmussen offers size and upside in the frontcourt, while Moors was another member of that history-making U17 side and brings a strong defensive pedigree. She was named Defensive Player of the Tournament at the 2025 Secondary Schools National Championships, producing eight points, 18 rebounds, five assists and five blocks in Westlake's Grand Final victory.
Kahura also returns after playing at the U17 World Cup and averaging 14.6 points for Tauranga at the 2026 U20 National Championships.
They may not all command major Tauihi minutes immediately, but they give Kāhu a development base for 2026 and beyond.
Talent should not be the issue.
The new Kāhu have scoring, ball-handling, athleticism, international experience and some outstanding young prospects.
But almost none of it has previously existed together.
Wood has a new coaching group, new imports, new guards and new frontcourt pieces, while only Anderson, Bollmann, Kahura and Maurice return from the 2025 roster.
That creates excitement, but also uncertainty.
Can the guards find the right balance between creating and scoring? Can the new frontcourt solve the rebounding problems that plagued Kāhu last year? Can the defence make a significant jump after opponents shot 45 percent and scored 86.8 points per game in 2025?
The answers may determine how far this rebuild can move in year one.
For Kāhu, success in 2026 first and foremost looks like being genuinely competitive every night.
Last year's numbers leave plenty of room for improvement. A team that finished fifth in scoring, scoring defence, field goal percentage, three-point percentage and rebounding margin needs progress across almost every area.
The roster has been assembled with enough quality that simply being better should not be the ceiling.
If Brugler and Lucas translate their NBL1 production, Bollmann stays on court, Dalton provides the expected leadership and some of the younger players can contribute, Kāhu have the pieces to make a substantial climb from 2025.
The most important indicator may simply be whether they are playing meaningful basketball at the business end of the season.
The 2026 BNZ Kāhu bear very little resemblance to the team that finished 1-11 last season.
That is the point.
A new coach arrives with a strong Australian pathway background. Proven scorers have been recruited. Tall Ferns leadership has been added. The rebounding issue has been attacked with more size and athleticism. And alongside the experienced names sits a group of teenagers, including Maurice, Kahura, Rasmussen and Moors, who could become important pieces of New Zealand basketball for years to come.
There is risk in this much change, particularly in a short competition where teams do not have months to build chemistry.
But after 2025, standing still was never really an option.
They have changed almost everything, but will they pull together quickly to look like a well oiled machine from the season tip or will the pieces need a bit more smoothing over to fit in place?
With the Tauihi season tip around the corner, we don't have long to wait to find out.
