‘A lot of tears’: 21-year-old Ash Ervin realises Diamonds dream, named in 2024-25 squad

After a breakout SSN season, rising star Ash Ervin has realised her Australian Diamonds dream, and Courtney Bruce says sharing her knowledge with Ervin has been ‘really rewarding.’

Emma Greenwood

4 min read

12:00PMJune 07, 2024.

Updated 2:36PMJune 07, 2024

Stacey Marinkovich | The mentor shaping future Diamonds

It wasn’t quite on the scale of Matilda Garrett’s six missed calls last year but new Diamond Ash Ervin also initially missed the moment national coach Stacey Marinkovich called with the news she’d realised her netball dream.

Ervin was in the shower when Marinkovich phoned with news the 21-year-old defender had been included in the Diamonds squad for the 2024-25 season, finding a voice message from the national coach asking to return her call.

“I saw the voicemail and I was so nervous and I didn’t want to assume anything, but I was like, ‘Oh my gosh’,” Ervin said of her nerves at calling Marinkovich back.

“I literally was about to cry when I got the voicemail but I was like, it could mean anything.

Ash Ervin has been named in the Diamonds 2024-25 season squad. Picture: Steve Pohlner

“But I called back and when she told me, I just started crying.

“I was just at home with my roommates (and fellow Lightning players) Charlie Bell and Leesa (Mi Mi) and they’re my best friends as well, and it was really nice to just walk outside and we were all crying and just had a big group hug and it was really wholesome.

“Just a lot of tears, probably too many really but happy, happy tears.”

Ervin’s elevation is little surprise really.

Invited into camp ahead of the Diamonds’ series against South Africa last year following a breakout Super Netball season as a temporary replacement player, the tall defender had been earmarked as a rising star.

And her efforts for the Sunshine Coast this season - in her first year as a full-time contract holder - have shown her early efforts were no one-off fluke.

As well as the natural development that comes with maturity and growth - former Queensland Firebirds teammate Donnell Wallam swears Ervin is now slightly taller than her, meaning she has eclipsed the 192cm attributed to her in the Super Netball media guide, and edged ahead of Wallam’s 193cm - Ervin is being mentored by one of the world’s best defenders.

Former Firebirds teammates, Ash Ervin and Donnell Wallam going head-to-head during the SSN season. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty Images

Former West Coast Fever captain Courtney Bruce’s recruitment by the Lightning was a major reason former Firebirds development player Ervin decided to stay on the Sunshine Coast.

“You’ve got the best goalkeeper in Australia about to be in your team and I just thought the opportunity to learn off her, along with Tara (Hinchliffe), they’re both amazing and I just heard the best things about her,” Ervin said.

“I just knew that it was probably an opportunity I couldn’t miss.

“No matter what that meant for me being on the court, I just knew I had to learn off her, so that was definitely a massive luring to stay and to be honest, the club itself was just amazing and I wanted to stay there anyway.”

Bruce is also enjoying taking on a mentoring role.

“I haven’t been in a team before that there’s been such a big age gap,” the 30-year-old said.

“Ash is nine years younger than me and at Fever we were all much closer in age.

“Just being able to give my knowledge that I have on all the shooters - Ash is such an incredible player, so being able to share that with her (has been great) and she’s so responsive to feedback.

“It’s been really rewarding in that way.”

Courtney Bruce’s recruitment to the Lightning played a major factor in Ervin’s decision to stay on the Sunshine Coast. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Bruce is likely to return from an achilles injury this weeks but has spent the past month off the court, with Fox Netball cameras catching last year’s World Cup defender of the year working with Ervin one-on-one during the halftime break to shore up her skills.

“If I can’t be out on the court, I’d rather be sharing my skills … it’s been really, yeah, rewarding is the right word.

“I think injuries can be frustrating but been able to give back and help them grow has been really fun.”

Ervin hopes she can make her debut later this year when the Diamonds will play Tests in Australia and New Zealand, and she, along with fellow Diamonds squad debutants Georgie Horjus and Hannah Mundy, have an eye on the future ahead of the 2027 World Cup in Sydney.

Marinkovich said the trio had earnt their spots.

“I think they’re really shown throughout SSN (Super Netball), they’ve come up against world’s best players and they’ve had incredible impact throughout the season,” she said.

“There’s things that they definitely need to grow in their game and they’ll learn and they’ll get challenged in the second half of the season as well.

“But they’ve definitely put their hand up showed skill sets and showed that it can really compete with the best.”