Diamonds name squad for Constellation Cup against New Zealand, including defensive bolter
The Diamonds will welcome back some familiar names, while a new player continues a sparkling run with selection in the squad for the Constellation Cup series in Australia and New Zealand.
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The rise and rise of Rudi Ellis continues unabated after she was named in the Diamonds’ Constellation Cup squad to face the Silver Ferns next month.
Ellis’s stellar season will continue in New Zealand in October after coach Stacey Marinkovich named a defender-heavy 15-woman squad to face the Ferns in the four-match series starting in Wellington.
Courtney Bruce and Jo Weston will return from injury after missing the England series, with Marinkovich naming six defenders, including Ellis, Sarah Klau, Sunday Aryang and Matilda Garrett.
The pinch-me moments keep coming for Ellis, who made her Australian debut in the opening Test against the Roses last week after initially missing selection in the Diamonds squad.
She was invited to join training as an invitee just last month before being named in the squad to face the Roses and then making a dream debut in the opening Test in Adelaide.
“I can’t believe it all, especially being able to debut with the team, it was just such a surreal, amazing moment,” Ellis said.
“And honestly, it just feels like a dream come true.”
Goalkeeper Ash Ervin and defensive midcourter Amy Parmenter are the two members of the squad that faced the Roses to make way for the return of Bruce and Weston.
South Australian product Georgie Horjus, who was in the 15-woman squad for the England series, retains her place in the squad, with Donnell Wallam the shooter in the wider Diamonds squad to have missed international duty this Test season.
Hannah Mundy, who was named in the wider squad in June, has also missed selection.
Ellis made her Super Netball debut with the Queensland Firebirds in 2020 but still only had 31 caps to her name heading into her fifth season as a full-time player this year.
A breakout year with the Melbourne Vixens and capitalising on every opportunity she’s been given to showcase her ability suddenly has her bracketed with some of the best defenders in the Diamonds history.
“It’s honestly so surreal and I still idolise the girls that I’m in the squad with now,” she said.
“I just can’t believe it. And I’m just really looking forward to taking every session and every opportunity with these girls that I can with two hands, because I think you just learned so much from being around experienced players like that.”
It seems Ellis is a quick learner.
Her efforts at the recent Diamonds camp clearly impressed Marinkovich and helped her leapfrog young gun Ervin in the current pecking order.
“She’s got great athleticism, she can get up in the air, and I think we just saw some things (in camp) that she’s been able to connect,” Marinkovich said last week after Ellis came on in the final minutes of the Diamonds’ win to make her debut.
“She’s green, and she’s still evolving, but she really took on the opportunity to have a presence.
“She’s been able to contribute in conversation and she’s learning every time she steps out.”
She may seem like an overnight success but Ellis’s push into the Diamonds’ set-up has been years in the making, with the 27-year-old toiling for years against some of the best shooters in the international game.
During her two-year stint at the Firebirds, she was up against the likes of Romelda Aiken-George, Gretel Bueta and Wallam every day, while at the West Coast Fever (2022-23), she had the task of attempting to stop Jamaican powerhouse Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard.
With Diamonds Bruce and Aryang also in the Fever squad, she learnt plenty but her time on court was scarce and she gambled on a move back to Victoria and the Melbourne Vixens, the club with whom she had been a training partner in 2018-19 to reignite her career.
“I think you really have to earn your opportunities and earn your moments out there,” Ellis said.
“I had zero expectation of court time going to Vixens, I knew I’d have to earn my stripes there as well.
“But I just think really working hard at training and putting yourself in the best position when you are given those opportunities out on court, is the best way to go about it.”
It will be her mantra again if she hits the court against world no.2 New Zealand and their outstanding shooter Grace Nweke, arguably the difference between the two teams in the Constellation Cup matches the Ferns won last year.
“I think it’s so exciting being able to come up against Grace,” she said.
“We got to play a practice match against her in New Zealand at the start of the year and she’s a phenomenal shooter and someone I definitely want to challenge myself against if I’m given the opportunity.
“I’m really looking forward to that challenge.”
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Originally published as Diamonds name squad for Constellation Cup against New Zealand, including defensive bolter
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