Australian Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich backs Tasmania’s push for a Super Netball team

Tasmania’s push for a future elite netball team has received a major boost from the woman leading Australia’s national team.

Endorsements for a Tasmanian Super Netball team don’t come much bigger than the Australian Diamonds head coach, Stacey Marinkovich.

The woman that led Australia to both a Commonwealth Games gold medal and a World Cup victory in consecutive years is better placed than most to offer an opinion on such a hot topic.

But after her second visit to the state since late last year, Marinkovich believes that with the right set-up and recruitment, a Tasmanian elite level netball franchise would add plenty to the country’s top netball competition.

Marinkovich has been coach of Australia since 2020, leading the Diamonds to both Commonwealth Games gold in 2022 and a World Cup win in 2023. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

“Obviously they would need some recruitment but I guess that’s the thing with all states, is to see what you can blood and bring through,” Marinkovich told this masthead.

“I think the under 19s national team made that step into the fifth and they knocked off South Australia in one of the games. So the standard of netball in Tassie has certainly improved at the Junior Nationals and things are moving along.

“There’s a real appetite for sport down here. We saw strong crowds at our Diamonds games here last year and you’ve got a great stadium (at MyState Bank Arena). So hopefully Super Netball will get bigger and give us the opportunity to really look at those options (of expansion).”

With Tasmania currently playing home to the reigning three-time WNCL champions, an AFLW team set to launch within the next five years and talk of a potential WNBL team, Marinkovich said a future elite netball program in Tasmania was also important for the sport at a grassroots level.

“I think that’s the big thing in women’s sport, it is just so competitive and we want to make sure we’re a national sport,” she said.

“We have a really strong identity and we want to make sure that we’re present everywhere, so I think you know it’d only be right to make sure that we’re pushing those avenues.

“We need to make sure though that we’ve got the system to be able to support it, I think that would be the biggest thing. We’ve got to make sure if we’re going to put a team in that it’s sustainable and we want to make sure that it can be successful as well.

Australian captain Liz Watson in action during game three of the International Test Match series between Australia Diamonds and South Africa Proteas at MyState Bank Arena on October 31, 2023 in Hobart, Australia. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

“I think anytime a Tasmanian team starts to integrate into a professional sporting league people will look at the success of the men’s basketball team (Tasmania JackJumpers). They’ve started incredibly well so netball would no doubt look at that and want to make sure that (a Tasmanian team) is long-lasting and it’s not just tokenistic.

“Tasmania don’t just want a team for the sake of it to then see it pulled if they are not sustainable.”

Marinkovich is currently in Tasmania to work with local coaches and players and attend the Super Netball match between Melbourne Mavericks and Sunshine Coast Lightning at MyState Bank Arena on Saturday Night.

The former West Coast Fever head coach was also hopeful the Diamonds would return to Tasmania to play games in the lead-up to the 2027 Netball World Cup in Sydney following two games in Hobart last year.