Constellation Cup 2023: Australia’s Diamonds name squad for series against New Zealand’s Silver Ferns
World champion Australia has named a stellar line-up for the Constellation Cup series against New Zealand while inviting four newbies into camp. SEE THE SQUAD
The Diamonds have named their strongest possible line-up to face old foe New Zealand in the Constellation Cup while casting an eye to the future by adding four invitees to their camp ahead of next week’s series opener.
Coach Stacey Marinkovich and her selectors have made just two forced changes to the main squad of 12 that represented Australia at the World Cup, with Sophie Dwyer and Kate Moloney coming into the group for the retiring Steph Wood and Ash Brazill.
Moloney, who played much of the past Super Netball season at wing defence, has come into the midcourt ahead of 2023-24 squad member Amy Parmenter, while Dwyer, who made her debut in the Constellation Cup last year after first entering the Diamonds squad for the 2022 Quad Series, gets first shot at stepping permanently into Wood’s shoes.
The strength of the squad is a massive show of respect for New Zealand, which is are expected to challenge the Aussies despite missing the medals at the World Cup.
But with an eye to the future, all members of the 2023-24 Diamonds squad, apart from NSW Swifts co-captain Maddy Proud, who is carrying a minor knee injury, will head into camp in Canberra on Thursday, along with four invitees.
Twenty year-old Sunshine Coast Lightning defender Ash Ervin, shooter Tippah Dwan and midcourters Hannah Mundy and the reinvented Alice Teague-Neeld will join what has become a selection camp as players vie for places in the squad for the three-Test series against South Africa.
“We haven’t been together for some time and I guess being able to add some fresh faces to the group brings a real energy, so I’m really looking forward to how that transfers to the training environment and then into our match play,” Marinkovich said.
“One of the greatest privileges of playing in the Diamonds is having that rivalry against New Zealand.
“It’s a longstanding tradition. It’s what’s helped shape our sport to the standard it actually is, and the fact that we haven’t been able to play New Zealand in a while just puts a huge amount of significance as to what the Con Cup actually means.”
The delay in negotiating a Collective Player Agreement for the Diamonds – separate to the Super Netball CPA that remains in the works – has left the team a condensed seven-day period in which to ready themselves for the Constellation Cup opener in Melbourne next Thursday.
Without any men’s players or other outsiders to come into the squad environment, Marinkovich will rely on the fiercely competitive environment her side creates to ready it for a Silver Ferns team coming off a 2-1 series win against England.
“It is ferocious. When they step out on court, they’ll go hammer and tong at each other and that’s something that we really pride ourselves on, is creating the training environment to get a transfer into the performance one.
“We don’t have a lot of time, so it is condensed, it’s intense and the girls know that they have needed to do the work to be ready to go when they come into this environment.”
With half the Constellation Cup squad already 30 or over or turning 30 inside the next 12 months, it’s the right time for the Diamonds to be looking to the future.
While Teague-Neeld is already 27, her outstanding form for West Coast Fever over the past two seasons in particular since reinventing herself as a wing attack warrant inclusion in the Diamonds camp, while Dwan gets a look-in again after being an invitee on Marinkovich’s initial tournament squad for the 2021 Constellation Cup.
The addition of Ervin, just 20, and Mundy, 22, is particularly exciting for the future of the sport, with both earmarked for big careers.
“You want to mix your experience with you youth at the right time because the way in which our experienced players function and interact with the entire group, I think they are really willing and able to pass on knowledge and to challenge and to reinforce the way in which the Diamonds want to play,” Marinkovich said.
“I think they also welcome the youth biting at their heels because that gives them more incentive and motivation, and they find it exciting because it makes them think about how they can continue to challenge and evolve their game.
“So it’s a two-pronged approach, you want your experience to share with your youth; you want your youth to challenge your experience; but ultimately, you want to be able to get that connection out on court.”
The Constellation Cup will be broadcast on Fox Netball and live and free on Kayo Freebies.
Fox Sports will run two specials ahead of the series, The 4th Qtr: State of Play, covering off-season trade news and signings; and The 4th Qtr: Constellation Cup preview, both on Channel 505 from 11am on October 5.
Diamonds team for Constellation Cup: Sunday Aryang, Kiera Austin, Courtney Bruce, Sophie Dwyer, Sophie Garbin, Paige Hadley, Sarah Klau, Cara Koenen, Kate Moloney, Jamie-Lee Price, Liz Watson (capt), Jo Weston
Extended Diamonds squad members and invitees: Ruby Bakewell-Doran, Matilda Garrett, Amy Parmenter, Donnell Wallam, Tippah Dwan (invitee), Ash Ervin (invitee), Hannah Mundy (invitee), Alice Teague-Neeld (invitee). Maddy Proud unavailable due to injury.
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