Commonwealth Games 100-day countdown: Why expectations are so high for the Diamonds
For most Australian sporting teams, making the finals is seen as a pass mark. Not the Diamonds though. Expectations are sky high in the gold dress.
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Don’t mention the “R” word.
The Diamonds head into the Commonwealth Games as undeniable favourites to win netball gold in Birmingham.
With the world number one ranking and a recent Quad Series win against the sport’s powers New Zealand, England and South Africa in their grasp, the Diamonds will head to Birmingham with confidence high and their gaze firmly on the job ahead.
Regardless of their form coming in though, it’s the Diamonds performances in the past two major netball championships that will be referenced.
One goal losses at the last World Cup in 2019 – to New Zealand’s Silver Ferns – and a massive upset at the 2018 Commonwealth Games to England’s Roses.
To all on the outside, that “R” word – redemption – must be the Diamonds’ driving force.
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For most Australian sporting teams, making the finals, being involved in such thrilling contests and still holding the world’s top ranking would be seen as a pass mark.
Not the Diamonds though.
Just ask former coach Lisa Alexander, whose contract was not renewed after she failed – after almost a decade in charge and having delivered World Cup and Commonwealth Games wins – to snare both titles again.
Expectation arrives with the gold dress.
Ask the current team and the coach their thoughts on the last Commonwealth Games though and it’s a different story.
They acknowledge the hurt of the loss and the expectation that always surrounds a team as successful as the Diamonds.
But coach Stacey Marinkovich and her side are determined to write their own chapter.
“The Diamonds of the past have left great legacy that we want to strive to be part of,” Marinkovich said.
“We have a responsibility to reach that standard of play and to be able to contribute to that success.
“Our focus is on what we can do to contribute and if you do that right, you get those gold medals and get that world number one ranking.
“I think this team is very connected to the legacy of the Diamonds in terms of that sustained success.
“The thing is, this is a new group and we’ve got to find the way to contribute to that legacy.
“We’ve had to find the game plan that suits this group of players and also build a culture that makes us feel like that we belong where we are – and it’s something that we’ve certainly worked on off the court.”
Certainly, their Quad Series win in London in January bolstered confidence.
A 53-39 drubbing of world number two New Zealand in the opening match, and a 58-46 victory over defending Commonwealth Games champions England in the final was just the tonic the Diamonds needed after a lacklustre performance in the 2021 Constellation Cup – their only previous tournament under Marinkovich’s leadership and last internationals after a Covid-interrupted two years.
“There’s still a lot of things that we need to improve on,” Marinkovich said.
“Every game counts and if you drop one at a key moment, then (it’s costly).
“We’re doing everything to make sure that we’re (prepared) as a group.”
Marinkovich will name her 2022-23 squad on April 21, bringing the Commonwealth Games a step closer for the cream of the crop.
“A big thing about this group of players is that the entire squad knows that they’re pushing and contributing to the way the final team will end up looking,” Marinkovich said of a group that will eventually be reduced to a 12-player squad for Birmingham.
“They know how to set a standard and they certainly have a big role to play in making sure it keeps driving that within the (Super Netball) competition.
“The way in which the girls are building and working together, it’s now a shared ownership of our game plan, our leadership and our culture.
“And when you when you see that, it’s exciting what this group can be capable of.”
WHO MAKES THE CUT FOR THE DIAMONDS’ COMM GAMES?
Australia’s top netballers will be out to impress this weekend, with national coach Stacey Marinkovich to name her preliminary Diamonds squad on Thursday.
Marinkovich, who led the Diamonds to a win in the Quad Series against New Zealand, will name a squad of up to 22 players from which the Commonwealth Games team will be picked.
But selectors will also have an eye on the future, with the 2022-23 squad to include potential Diamonds for internationals later this year and early next year ahead of the 2023 World Cup in South Africa.
Covid chaos has come early for many of the country’s top netballers though, with many Diamonds aspirants prevented from playing at least some of Super Netball’s early rounds due to the virus.
And with potential Commonwealth Games spots on the line, many will be nervous about their chances and waiting anxiously for Thursday’s squad announcement.
Former West Coast Fever coach Marinkovich now sits in the national coaching role full-time, free of club duties.
And she has been an engaged onlooker at games throughout the season – at Nissan Arena in her now home state of Queensland – and on the road with selector and former Diamonds captain Anne Sargeant in the early stages of the season to ensure she sees as many players as possible live in action.
“We pick the squad after Round 5 (shown live on Fox Sports this weekend) and then we keep watching the competition as the rounds go on,” Marinkovich said of the process of honing the squad down to the 12 who will wear the gold dress at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Following the Super Netball final in the first weekend in July, the Diamonds will head into camp in Australia and then in England before the Games start at the end of the month.
“It’s a very short time (we’ll have together) but we’ve got to make it purposeful and make sure we’re ready to go,” she said.
“The maximum amount we can have is 22 within the squad and then we’ve just got to work out what we want to see when the Commonwealth Games team needs to be announced.
“But we’ve also got potentially some internationals later (in the year).
“We want to have some flexibility to keep adding to our squad as well.”
The Diamonds took 15 players to England for the Quad Series and while those players have a foot in the door for selection for Birmingham, Marinkovich said she was also looking forward to other Tests this year and even to next year’s World Cup.
“That’s the luxury now being just the Diamonds coach, I can look forward at the right time,” she said.
The Diamonds are the world number one but there remains plenty of pressure from within for spots in the team – not the least from some of Super Netball’s emerging stars.
Players like Ruby Bakewell-Doran, Rahni Samason and Donnell Wallam are making their mark in their first full seasons in the world’s best league and Marinkovich said the young guns were in contention.
“Absolutely. (Selection) definitely isn’t defined by age and you want to see the girls taking on those opportunities and I think we’ve seen them stepping out there,” she said.
“It’s about what (their performances) look like in a couple of weeks’ time when coaches have had a chance to really scout them and then they get challenged in a different way.”
If Marinkovich does name a full squad of 22 – most likely with seven each of goalers, defenders and midcourters and another, most likely in the immensely talented midcourt group, the trio could be a chance.
Giants goaler Sophie Dwyer and Fever defender Sunday Aryang forced their way into the Diamonds squad for the Quad Series following outstanding showings in their first full seasons as full-time contracted players in 2021 and have shown age is no barrier to success.
The only certainty is that the coach and selectors face a mammoth task after this weekend whittling down an immensely talented group into a final squad.
The Diamonds squad will be named on Fox Sports’ Centre Circle show on Thursday.
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Originally published as Commonwealth Games 100-day countdown: Why expectations are so high for the Diamonds
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