The Australian Diamonds have got their Commonwealth Games campaign in Birmingham off to a flying start with a clinical 95-18 victory against Barbados at the National Entertainment Centre.
After starting with a steady line-up, the team led by 52-9 at the half-time break, allowing the reigning silver medallists to make a host of changes in the final two quarters.
Head coach Stacey Marinkovich was spoilt for choice, rotating 11 out of the 12 athletes in the team throughout the 60 minutes and resting some of her biggest stars to gift valuable court time to younger players.
Courtney Bruce, captain of the 2022 Super Netball champion West Coast Fever, was a standout and carried on right where she left off on the domestic stage, stealing ball left, right and centre to finish the match with 10 gains – one more than the entire Barbados team.
Crucially, Bruce was also able to stay in play for much of the match, only catching the umpire's eye for six contacts and four obstructions, to ensure she kept the pressure on the opposition and restricted their ability to score.
After her Super Netball glory less than a month ago and now following that up with such a strong performance against Barbados, it's clear Bruce is going to be a key asset to the Diamonds in Birmingham.
Up the other end, the successful January Quad Series pairing of Gretel Bueta (44/48) and Steph Wood (10/15) were shaky in the opening quarter, as Bueta was put off by the tough Barbados defence to miss four attempts at goal.
The pair's spatial awareness was also a bit off during this period, as they got tangled up in the goal third, but their connection grew as time went on and by the time they'd reached the second quarter, they'd well and truly blown out the cobwebs, helping the Diamonds' attack to flow freely.
Speaking with the ABC, Bruce said she didn't think it was anything to worry about.
"I think it was probably just nerves of having our first game out there, as much as Gretel is a great shooter, she's also a great rebounder so it was likely just nerves and excitement of playing our first game, because it's been a long build-up and we've been pumped to get out there."
Despite this, Marinkovich opted to switch things up, making six changes to her starting seven for the third quarter by injecting a number of players off the bench and swapping Bueta and Wood for the 2021 Constellation Cup pairing of Cara Koenen (35/38) and Kiera Austin (6/6).
This is where the incredible depth of the Australian team was brought to light, as the new crop of players on court barely missed a beat to continue pushing out the score, while keeping Barbados within four to five goals per quarter.
Still, the substitutions kept rolling, as Marinkovich elected to make four more changes to the team for the final 15 minutes – most notably bringing Wood back on in goal attack to join her Sunshine Coast Lightning teammate Koenen.
This also meant a number of the players got a run in multiple positions, as Bruce shifted out to goal defence for the third quarter, Ash Brazill shone in wing defence and centre, and Austin spent some time in goal attack and wing attack.
All in all, their performance against Barbados has enforced their tagline as favourites, putting the rest of the tournament on notice by showcasing the endless list of options on their playing roster.
The only player that didn't get on court today was 2015 World Cup winner Paige Hadley, who put on a strong showing during the recent Quad Series in the midcourt alongside Liz Watson.
Marinkovich confirmed Hadley was still being managed for a minor leg injury that she downplayed as more of a niggle.
"Paige is going well, I guess you've got to look at the bigger picture and we're just looking at some loading at the moment but you'll see her out there very shortly and she's moving very well, so there's nothing to be worried about," she told a media conference.
"We're definitely looking to [potentially bring her in] tomorrow, but we'll have our meetings and then just keep weighing up where and when we want to inject her."
Marinkovich also confirmed she was very pleased with the team's first hit out.
"We started to see some variation in the set-ups and I think our intent was pretty good, our scoring continued to build and we talked about respecting the opposition and the best way you can do that is by playing your best netball and whilst I think the score was what it was, we still had to keep pushing to drive the standard."
Earlier in the day, England defeated Trinidad and Tobago 74-22, as Eleanor Cardwell shone in the second half to shoot 30 goals at 100 per cent accuracy.
Jamaica beat Wales 72-43.
New Zealand and Northern Ireland are still to come in the later session.
Australia will face ninth-ranked Scotland tomorrow on day two at the NEC.
Commonwealth Games fixtures
Friday, July 29 — Australia vs Barbados
Saturday, July 30 — Australia vs Scotland
Monday, August 1 — Australia vs South Africa
Tuesday, August 2 — Australia vs Wales
Thursday, August 4 — Australia vs Jamaica
Saturday, August 6 — Semifinals
Sunday, August 7 — Bronze medal match
Monday, August 8 — Gold medal match
