Constellation Cup 2022 final: Diamonds captain Liz Watson addresses sponsorship drama
After Diamonds players were pilloried in some quarters for their stance, captain Liz Watson has spoken out after the shock $15 million sponsorship withdrawal.
Netball
Don't miss out on the headlines from Netball. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Diamonds captain Liz Watson says she is disappointed the Hancock Prospecting sponsorship is off the table but does not regret the stance the team took to support teammate Donnell Wallam.
Hancock announced on Saturday it was pulling its proposed $15 million partnership with Netball Australia, in a move that surprised the sport given Wallam and teammates had agreed to wear the sponsor’s logo on their dresses during the three-Test series against England starting this week.
The players have been pilloried in some quarters, with many commentators saying they brought the move on themselves.
But Watson, who lifted the Constellation Cup on the Gold Coast on Sunday night after a second-half fightback from her team helped win the series 2-2 on goal aggregate, said creating a team atmosphere in which people were not afraid to speak up had been important, even if the sponsorship saga had taught the team valuable lessons.
“Obviously we’re disappointed that the sponsorship is off the table,” Watson said of the deal with Gina Rinehart’s company which would have lasted until the end of 2025.
“We were very excited and wanted to support it. But also, we’re supporting Donnell, we’re supporting the growth of this program as well and I think we’ve showed different learning points along the way from an organisation and players as well.
“We speak about creating an environment that everyone feels comfortable in and everyone can perform at their best — and that’s what I really take out of this … we want to be the best versions of ourselves on and off the court.”
As a leader, Watson said she wanted to foster an environment in which players felt secure enough to be themselves and also speak their minds.
“No matter who comes into this group, no matter what their concern, or whatever it is — speak it, share it.
“I absolutely love this group. I’m so proud of them, every single one of them. It’s not just Donnell, it’s everyone, so I think it’s a nice thing to know that we are creating something very special in this group along with Stace (Marinkovich) and Netball Australia.”
Marinkovich did not answer directly when asked if she was proud of the players’ stance.
But she was proud of having helped create an environment in which concerns were raised.
“(The players) were able to provide an environment where someone felt safe enough to raise a concern,” she said.
“And it’s how you work through that is where we grow as a group.
“It’s one (thing) to have an environment where you can have such open communication and transparency, I think that’s a huge reflection on the type of people that we’ve got.
“So I am proud of being able to create an environment where people can be authentic to themselves.”
New Zealand coach Noeline Taurua said while there might be things happening behind the scenes with the Diamonds, they would perform “no matter what”.
“Their ability to execute and deliver is always consistent,” Taurua said.
“That’s why they’re so good in our sport. Even though I sort of feel that probably at the beginning (of the game), they were still trying to find their way, they’re strong as a unit and also the depth is very strong.
“Sometimes you can push things to the side, and you can get on with the job, which they did very well.”
TENSION BUBBLES OVER WITH DIAMONDS’ SPARKING RESULT
They may have just lost one of the richest sponsorship deals in their history but the Diamonds have turned around a week of misery to sparkle on court and regain the Constellation Cup with a 57-53 win against New Zealand in a gutsy fightback on the Gold Coast.
After going down 2-0 in the series in New Zealand, the Diamonds had to win the final two games and erase the 12-goal deficit to regain the Constellation Cup.
They did that with an incredible 19-8 third quarter — the only term of the game they won — before hanging on to win the trophy they relinquished in Christchurch early last year in coach Stacey Marinkovich’s first series at the helm.
The pressure on all was plain to see after the match, with cameras catching Marinkovich with tears in her eyes after an unprecedented week of off-court tension.
Players also huddled together in the centre of the court for some time after the match.
The turnaround by a team that had been under fire all week was incredible.
Trailing on the scoreboard until halfway through the third quarter, the Diamonds clawed their way back into the match in the third term that turned the match as captain courageous Liz Watson again came to the fire.
Watson, under fire all week as the Diamonds wore undeserved blame in some quarters for the demise of the $15 million four-year deal with Hancock Prospecting, was outstanding in the second half, providing spark to her misfiring team.
While she fell short of the 55 feeds she had in Melbourne on Wednesday night, Watson finished with three gains and two intercepts, in addition to her 20 goal assists and 31 feeds.
Those gains were match-turning and allowed her to get the ball to Steph Wood and Sophie Garbin in the circle.
Wood, who finished with 21 goals, 17 assists and 22 feeds, was named player of the match and her growing combination with Collingwood Magpies shooters was outstanding.
Wood said Marinkovich had given her players a serve at halftime.
“It was about our intent in attack … Stacey definitely gave us a little bit of a rev in the sheds about our Diamonds behaviours, that we weren’t living up to them.”
And Wood said it was great for the team to have fought their way back from a series deficit.
“It’s probably a position we haven’t been in before but we had to dig deep and look at ourselves and know that we weren’t at the standard we wanted to be.”
“To be back in front of our home crowd (for the first time in) more than 1000 days is incredible.”
Watson said the Diamonds needed to be at their best against the Ferns.
“To this amazing squad, we’ve had a very big year of netball and every one of you have stepped up.
“I’m so proud to be the captain of this team, you girls inspire me every day and I hope you’ve enjoyed this time together.”
THREE-QUARTER TIME: Switch flicked by home side
What a quarter.
After looking disjointed for much of the first quarter, the Diamonds have put themselves in the box seat to regain the Constellation Cup with a stunning 11-goal turnaround in the third quarter.
Down five goals at the long break, the Diamonds won the third term 19-8 to head to the final break with a six-goal buffer.
After struggling to get the ball into the circle early in the game, the Diamonds are now finding shooter Sophie Garbin with greater ease, popping the high pass to the 184cm goaler, who is holding her position with ease.
Garbin’s performance is a great fillip for coach Marinkovich, who has lost Gretel Bueta for this series and the three Tests against England, and most likely, next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
Winning more ball in the midcourt, the Diamonds tied things up midway through the term and then hit the front for the first time in the match, 33-32 when Steph Wood converted.
It was a massive turnaround for the Diamonds, as the Ferns suddenly start to struggle.
Where Maddy Gordon had been outstanding in the first half, she suddenly stopped presenting for the ball, forcing Noeline Taurua to make a change, bringing Kimiora Poi on at wing attack.
But it didn’t stop the Diamonds flow though, with Australia pushing their lead beyond five.
HALFTIME: sluggish Aussies struggle to bridge gap
The Diamonds remain five goals down at halftime, unable to bridge the 30-25 gap to the Silver Ferns despite making several mini runs at the Kiwis.
Coach Stacey Marinkovich injected Amy Parmenter at wing defence late in the term, switching Jamie-Lee Price into centre to try and break the Ferns’ dominance and will start with the same combination in the third quarter.
After a quiet game in Test 3, Ferns shooter Grace Nweke is having an outstanding match, with Ameliaranne Ekenasio creating plenty for her shooting partner.
A former Firebirds player, the Ferns captain will be determined to have a big game on her return to Queensland.
And she has plenty of fans on hand with the Gold Coast Convention Centre crowd almost evenly split.
QUARTER-TIME: Diamonds crawl out of the blocks
The Diamonds have plenty of work in front of them if they are to reclaim the Constellation Cup, heading to the first break on the Gold Coast trailing by three goals 16-13.
Down seven at one stage late in the first term though, the Diamonds dragged themselves back into the match, scoring six of the last eight goals of the quarter to get back in the game.
Both Sophie Garbin and Steph Wood shot at 100 per cent but the Diamonds are struggling to break through the Ferns’ zone defence and get consistent clean ball into the circle.
After an intensely physical match in Melbourne on Wednesday night, the umpires set the tone early, with plenty of whistle.
The Diamonds turned the ball over five times in the period though, giving away too much ball early, a situation they corrected late in the term to begin their fightback.
PRE-GAME: Diamonds stick with unchanged line-up
The Diamonds have named an unchanged starting line-up from the one that claimed game three in a series-turning win.
Holding shooter Sophie Garbin will start at goalshooter alongside Steph Wood at goal attack, while captain Liz Watson, Kate Moloney and Jamie-Lee Price will form the midcourt.
Jo Weston, who was brought into the squad for game three after Sunday Aryang was injured, will start at goal defence, with Courtney Bruce at goal keeper.
Game four shapes as a winner takes all match, with the victor also walking away with the Constellation Cup after the Diamonds erased the goal difference between the two sides in their game three win.
The Silver Ferns claimed the opening two matches of the series in New Zealand.
Aussie stars benched amid netball fiasco
Maddy Proud and Sophie Dwyer will sit out the final match of the Constellation Cup as the Diamonds attempt to regain the trophy against their fiercest rivals on the Gold Coast on Sunday.
The Diamonds announced their 12-woman squad, with the starting line-up to be finalised about an hour before the game.
After a day of intense scrutiny of the sport off the court following the decision of Hancock Prospecting to withdraw their multimillion-dollar sponsorship offer, coach Stacey Marinkovich and her players will attempt to put the focus back on the game.
Wednesday night’s 62-47 victory in Melbourne allowed the Diamonds to erase completely the 12-goal deficit they faced after the Silver Ferns won the opening two games of the series in New Zealand, meaning the four-Test series will be claimed by tonight’s match winner regardless of the score.
Marinkovich and senior player Kate Moloney denied controversy around the sponsorship had not caused any division in the team and the players remained united and focused on the job at hand.
“There’s outside noise (but) I think nobody can underestimate, nor understand the connection that is within our high performance group,” Marinkovich said.
“We are very proud to represent Netball Australia. We are very proud to be in the uniform and we’re very good at having good collaborative conversations to shape the direction that we want to continue to take the sport and how we play the game.
“Whilst everyone else has got a lot of noise outside, the unity that’s within, you can’t go out there and play the way we did (on Wednesday) night (if that wasn’t there).
“When you spend 1000 days (playing) out of the country, you’ve had to learn to rely on each other. And I think that has just given us greater strength.”
Moloney said performance had been the focus this week.
“I think we’ve shown that we have some great strength off the court and we wanted to show how strong we were on the court and I think the girls did a really good job of putting performance at the forefront of our minds (on Wednesday),” Moloney said.
“There is a lot of outside noise but I think as a playing group, as a Diamonds collective with our support staff, we’ve been really strong together inside and we’ll continue to do that.”
More Coverage
Originally published as Constellation Cup 2022 final: Diamonds captain Liz Watson addresses sponsorship drama
Mavs make Uneeq signing as part of stacked training roster
A roster that underlines the depth of Super Netball and the difficulty of snaring a full-time contract, or a nervy move by a club unprepared to back new talent? The verdict on the Mavericks’ stacked training roster.
NRL and AFL stars’ secret code switch pleas for LA Olympics
With eyes set on a rare chance at Olympic gold, stars from AFL, NRL, Super Rugby and Super Netball have been making secret queries over the prospect of surprise code switches.