An emotional Waters told the players before Saturday night's match against Bendigo that he was standing aside for his assistant Dean Kinsman, but was staying on as his assistant coach for the remainder of the season.

Waters, who will trade places with Kinsman as head coach of the Australian women's Gems under-19 team for the world championships in 2011, said it was a difficult, but necessary decision.

"If I was completely walking away, I wouldn't be making a commitment to continue with the group as assistant.

''I made it clear that I wanted to stay involved, but with the time and the requirements of being head coach, I needed to step back and have the capacity to do that.

"This year, I left Shell in a full-time capacity to focus more on coaching full time, and between my work at Monash University [as its director of basketball], at Dandenong, my Australian gig and some ad hoc consulting work with Shell, there's only so many hours in a day.

"But I'm still passionate about the club and my coaching, still passionate about coaching the Australian junior team."

Waters said the Rangers' poor start to the season wasn't a factor in his decision and it would be a smooth transition.

* Tattoo-armed forward Caitlin Cunningham has become a casualty of the Rangers' poor season after she was cut from squad last Thursday night.

Cunningham struggled to hold down a permanent position after being recruited from the Canberra Capitals.