After the "Football Ferns" lost to Japan in June 2018, there was calls for Heraf to resign following his comments in the post match press conference, including that the team would never have the quality to compete with other teams and the size of New Zealand meant they could not compete. He later stated he was misunderstood and that he would not resign. On 19 June, a letter of complaint signed by at least ten players was sent to New Zealand Football, collated by the New Zealand Professional Footballers' Association. Later that day, it was also announced that New Zealand Football were deliberately flouting a FIFA directive that Heraf should not be in charge of both roles at the same organisation.