Netball World Cup 2023: Why Liz Watson stood her ground over CPA dispute

The Diamonds head into camp only 18 days before the opening centre pass of the World Cup. To some, it’s a riskily short preparation. So will they be ready?

If Netball Australia is handing out awards, it might do well to find the primary school friend of Liz Watson who convinced the Year 5 student to join her local netball club.

Watson was never the kid who grew up dreaming of playing for the Diamonds - and certainly not of captaining Australia.

In fact she was playing basketball as a youngster but switched courts to represent her primary school at netball in Year 5, with a friend suggesting she join her weekend team at the Parkville association.

Watson certainly didn’t expect signing on for the Park Panthers Netball Club would be the first step to leading her country into a Commonwealth Games, and, later this month, a World Cup in South Africa.

“I never was that kid who you know dreamed to go to the Olympics or play for my country because I just thought it was it’s so far away and they’re all so big and muscley and strong and I could not picture myself in that position,” Watson said.

“But I just kept loving it. Even when I became a Vixen and started playing there, it was still just so exciting and so new for me that I still didn’t even think: ‘okay, I want to be a Diamond now.’

Liz Watson of the Australian Diamonds during the Constellation Cup netball

“I think that just kept me in the moment. I never really looked too far ahead because I just thought it was so out of reach. “

Having been a late addition to a stacked 2014 Melbourne Vixens side that included Bianca Chatfield, Cath Cox, Madi Browne and Geva Mentor, Watson was more concerned about matching the level of her teammates than entertaining thoughts about becoming an international.

The Vixens won a premiership that year and Watson made the Diamonds squad, with her first camp the final selection for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Again, she was just happy to be there.

“I had no expectation or even thought of making that team but I think that gave me the taste of okay, now how can I get into my first team and taste that environment,” she said.

“And then once you are in the team or the squad … then you’re like okay, now I want to get on the court.

“But it never crossed my mind that I wanted to be the captain, it was just about playing well.”

OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN

Watch any Super Netball game and it’s hard not to be inspired.

A Maddy Proud rallying her Swifts for a final push in the weekend’s preliminary final, reminding them of the joy of the pressure moments; a Geva Mentor guiding the now-defunct Magpies; her fellow former England international Jo Harten inspiring the Giants; or Watson’s own Vixens co-captain Kate Moloney pumping up her teammates in a time-out.

Watson may not be the natural orator.

Knuckling down and working on her own game has made Watson the best wing attack in world netball.

She may lead more by her actions than her words - but when she speaks, people listen.

“I think for me, it was my teammates who really gave me that confidence and belief that they want me in that leadership position and can see me as a leader,” she said.

“And that really just gives me confidence because when people that you’re doing things with put so much faith and trust in you, you very seriously want to do it.”

Liz Watson of the Australian Diamonds moves the ball during the Constellation Cup

Watson had three games in charge during the Constellation Cup in 2021 in coach Stacey Marinkovich’s first campaign in charge in a squad initially led by incumbent Caitlin Bassett, who played what turned out to be her final Tests with knee issues that curtailed her career.

Watson took on the role formally later that year following a formal interview process, having been nominated by her teammates.

“To just even get that interview and to hear from them that lots of the squad want you in this position and have put your name forward, that just gave me so much confidence,” Watson said.

“I’d always be out there and just lead by my actions and try and do everything I could for the team but to know that they saw that as a leadership quality and actually wanted me to go with it was really nice and I guess really humbling.

“But it also gave me so much confidence and belief.”

CALM IN A STORM

Watson has had to use all of her qualities over the past two years during an incredibly successful but at times, tumultuous time for the Diamonds.

Through winning series, sponsorship controversies, industrial upheaval and her own battle with a foot injury that took her off the court for almost a year at the start of her tenure, Watson has been like a calm port in a storm.

And it hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Becoming just the second Diamonds player - after Madi Browne - to win Australian netball’s top honour, the Liz Ellis Diamond, for the second time, Watson was lauded by the award’s namesake for the integrity of her leadership as much as her on-court performance.

Marinkovich too, is effusive about her captain’s efforts on and off the court.

Watson’s declaration that she never coveted the role showed her “humility”, Marinkovich said.

“She doesn’t have to be the loudest person but her contribution in how she conducts herself on the court but also in how she brings people together is second to none.

“I certainly have absolute respect for how she has embraced the role. She’s not one of those really loud and dominant people but she has this presence amongst the group and the way in which she functions, I think we really complement each other.

Kate Heffernan of the Silver Ferns collides with Liz Watson of the Australian Diamonds

“And you put the balance of (vice-captain) Steph Wood in there as well, I think we’ve just had a really clear vision of what our roles were going to be.

“It’s been a journey and they’ve certainly evolved as people across this as well but we certainly work in partnership and that’s what’s really great about how she goes about her business.”

The way she and Wood have handled the hurdles thrown in front of them in the past 12 months has also been impressive.

“I think when you look at both Liz and Steph, the more intense the environment, the more they come to come to the top,” Marinkovich said.

“When we’ve had situations where there’s been the external noise, both of them have got players of the match in really tight competitions and I just think that that shows how they’re able to put their focus where they put their focus and to lead by example.

“Regardless of what happens on the outside, the environment that they create is one where they truly embrace the experience, the opportunity but know that they have a responsibility to perform.”

HANDLING THE PRESSURE

Watson is proud of the way she and her team have dealt with the challenges thrown at them.

“It’s definitely been an eye opening experience at certain times and there’s been things that you don’t know coming your way until they’re there,” she said.

“But I think what I’m most proud of is the environment that we’ve created allows people to feel comfortable to speak up, to be themselves and to support each other.”

An example was the recently delayed squad announcement where Netball Australia reneged on its promise to name the Diamonds squad on a specific date, threatening not to announce the team until there had been agreement on a Collective Player Agreement.

“(That was) one of the biggest calls of our life in terms of our netball career,” Watson said.

“Just for the unity of the group, the belief, the patience, the understanding that (refusing NA’s demand) was for the bigger picture - take away my moment of receiving my call and know that what we’re doing is for the next three years or whatever (the term of the agreement) ends up being is just so massive for this group.

“We’re all there for each other and it’s a squad mentality. And I think this has probably been a really big example of that squad mentality off the court.”

It’s all part of the responsibility of being a Diamond, Watson said. The players see themselves as part of a continuum - benefiting from the actions of those that have come before them and trying to make things better for those that will come after.

Next week though, the blinkers will be on. The Diamonds head into camp in Melbourne on July 10, just two days after the Super Netball grand final and only 18 days before the opening centre pass of the World Cup.

LEAVING IT LATE?

To some, it’s a riskily short preparation.

But Watson believes the constant pressure of playing against the best in the world in Super Netball, combined with regular online catch-ups instituted by Marinkovich that have concentrated on logistical and tactical discussions, will allow the Diamonds to hit the ground running in their preparation.

The team will also hold a mini camp in Stellenbosch on arrival in South Africa before heading into the team hotel in Cape Town.

“I think it’s a smart transition plan for us,” Watson said.

“And I’m really confident with the time we’ve got, it’s always really purposeful and it’s not like we don’t have match fitness or skills at the moment, it’s just that connection that needs to come together.”

When that happens, Watson is confident the Diamonds will be in the perfect position to finish a job the team believes is “half done”.

From the moment Marinkovich took over the coaching reins, the focus was on winning back Commonwealth Games gold and the World Cup, titles the Aussies had lost by a single goal to England and New Zealand in 2018 and 2019.

“Stacey said that from the start when she came on - we want to win our two pinnacle events and World Cup’s the one things we still want to do,” Watson said.

“So it does feel like we’re halfway there. But it’s exciting. I’ve never felt so connected with a group as this one.

“We’ve been meeting regularly which has been extremely helpful for us to have that time and to keep that connection throughout the whole season is pretty special.”

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Originally published as Netball World Cup 2023: Why Liz Watson stood her ground over CPA dispute