Diamonds ‘off the pace’ after horror collapse against New Zealand
The Australian Diamonds are looking to bounce back after a lacklustre start to the Constellation Cup, falling 56-50 to the New Zealand Silver Ferns.
Coming off a shock semi finals exit at the Commonwealth Games, the Diamonds are searching for their spark as they navigate a new era of international netball.
Stacey Marinkovich admitted her team was on the “back foot”. Fiona Goodall
Head coach Stacey Marinkovich admitted her squad was “slightly off the pace” in game one and lacked the necessary early aggression to beat the surging New Zealand side.
“I think you’ve got to start with a lot of energy straight up. You’ve got to have a lot of immediacy out on court and I thought we were slightly off our pace,” Marinkovich said on Tuesday.
“Our numbers would show that we weren’t as aggressive as what we needed to on the ball in our movement and when you allow a key defensive opposition opportunity to stay with you, it builds their confidence and puts us on the back foot.”
Despite the recent downturn in performance, Marinkovich remains confident in her team’s abilities.
“Our girls have got all the skill sets to evade and to be able to shoot over any defender. They’ve just got to draw on those skill sets in the key moments,” she argued.
This year’s Constellation Cup serves as a building block ahead of the 2027 home Netball World Cup.
Marinkovich emphasised the importance of the four-game series for identifying areas of growth to return the Diamonds to their peak form as the clear no.1 side in the world.
“I think for us, we’ve identified that these are really key games for us and making sure that we explore because we need to understand what it is that we need to keep growing and evolving,” Marinkovich said.
“Our January camp will be that opportunity to work on those things, but we’ve got to be able to have absolute clarity as to what we’re going to target.”
Australia faces the NZ Silver Ferns in Christchurch on Wednesday night for game two, before the series shifts across the Tasman for the final two matches.
Acknowledging the impact of the passionate Kiwi crowd, Marinkovich is looking forward to the momentum shift that returning to Australian soil will bring.
“The Constellation Cup, there’s the beauty of it. There’s a real home-court advantage in the crowd and how passionate they are for the game, and you certainly saw that in game one, and I know we’ll see it here in game two,” she continued.
“It’ll be refreshing to be in front of our home crowd and having a sea of yellow at the game, so yeah, we’ll definitely embrace this one, but looking forward to heading home as well.”
