Netball World Cup 2023: Netball Australia re-sign Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich until 2027
Stacey Marinkovich will coach the Diamonds through until 2027 and there’s a huge pressure for her to maintain a historic record. Can she do it?
Netball
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Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich has won a contract extension a month out from the sport’s showpiece tournament, with Netball Australia locking her in until the next World Cup in 2027.
It’s a huge show of faith from the national body to lock their mentor in before the World Cup result is known but one that’s likely to be popular with a playing group that has embraced Marinkovich’s vision and squad mentality.
Under the former West Coast Fever coach, the Diamonds regained Commonwealth Games gold in Birmingham last year and head to South Africa next month determined to snare the only major trophy now missing from their collection.
The Diamonds have never failed to make the final and finishing outside the top two would likely lead to criticism of Marinkovich’s early reappointment.
But she is embracing the challenge – as is the playing group.
“The way in which everyone (in this group) including our high performance staff and the players embrace the challenge of being a Diamond is that you’re expected to be successful,” she said.
“So we walk towards that together and we certainly don’t shy away from the fact that is the expectation.
“We’d be lying if it didn’t put butterflies in your stomach to say Australia has never not been in a final – that’s just the class of what the dress actually represents.
“It’s our responsibility to go out there and play our best and make sure that our belief is more than just words, that it’s an actual action and a consistency of performance.”
The deal will allow Marinkovich to concentrate of preparing the world no. 1 Diamonds for the World Cup without the distraction of pending contract talks.
It’s something of an irony given every one of her players is likely to head into camp in the coming weeks off the back of industrial upheaval at the national level and without certainty over their own futures next domestic season.
But it underlines NA’s confidence she is taking the team in the right direction.
“While there’s a build to a World Cup, I think it’s just a recognition that there’s been a really targeted and purposeful progression coming into the role and having the support of the organisation to do some really good things,” Marinkovich said.
“There’s so much more that we can still do together which is what I take great pride in and knowing that you’ve got the support and confidence of the organisation, but then also your high performance group and your players.”
NA boss Kelly Ryan said the organisation was excited to have Marinkovich lead the Diamonds into the future.
“Stacey’s success speaks for itself, but more than that she is a wonderful coach and a
fantastic leader,” Ryan said.
“Stacey has developed strong and meaningful relationships with players, coaches and staff
and has instilled a fantastic culture within the Origin Australian Diamonds program, while
displaying exceptional instincts for the game.”
NA was seen in some circles to have gambled on a relative rookie when they named Marinkovich as Lisa Alexander’s successor in 2020.
The Queensland product, a former Perth Orioles and Fever captain and West Coast coach, was not a former Diamonds player, nor had she coached a team to a national league premiership – despite leading the Fever to two Super Netball deciders.
But the buy-in she has been able to get from players and staff from day one, as well as the fostering of a genuine collective mentality, has been reflected in results – after a rocky start at the 2021 Constellation Cup.
To know she will be at the helm of the team in upcoming pinnacle events in Australia is something Marinkovich will cherish.
“That’s really special. We get to defend a Commonwealth Games gold (in 2026) and to know that we’re going into a home World Cup (in Sydney in 2027), that’s going to be super special,” she said.
“Four years is a little way away. So there will be an evolution of the squad and how we continue to build that as well, so it’ll all be a new experience.
“For us at the moment, it’s focusing on our moment in time (at the World Cup) and knowing that then we hand that on to the next group that will represent it at different points in time.”
Originally published as Netball World Cup 2023: Netball Australia re-sign Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich until 2027
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