The void left by the international retirement of Steph Wood, Australian netball’s little master, was never going to be small. In the Diamonds’ first two matches without the shooter at this month’s Constellation Cup, it appeared Kiera Austin had the goods to fill Wood’s Asics, as the understudy goal attack helped lead the team to victory.
But in the return pair of fixtures in New Zealand, culminating in Monday’s 53-50 loss to the Silver Ferns that saw Australia retain the trophy on goal aggregate, those shoes suddenly seemed to get a lot bigger again. It is anything but a minor problem for the Diamonds.
Apart from 21-year-old Sophie Dwyer, who has less than a dozen international caps to her name and is seemingly a long way from being ready for the world stage, Austin is the only true, 60-minute goal attack option in the current squad. Sophie Garbin and Cara Koenen can play goal attack, but they are widely regarded as specialist goal shooters who moonlight out the front.
In a disastrous 2023 Super Netball season with the now-defunct Collingwood, Garbin on Monday showed why she is not a GA. She was solid after getting the start at her preferred position of shooter but faded, managing just five in the last. Koenen was serviceable, but not spectacular, in her brief stint at goal attack.
Donnell Wallam, who didn’t play in the Constellation Cup but is in the squad for a series against world No 5 South Africa beginning on Wednesday, is also a dedicated shooter.
The elephant in the goal circle is the absence of Gretel Bueta, who hasn’t played for Australia since last year’s gold medal-winning Commonwealth Games campaign. In Birmingham, Bueta was among the Diamonds’ best and scored the second-most goals in the tournament, trailing only Jamaican superstar Jhaniele Fowler. She also shot 37/37 in the final, finishing at … goal attack.
Earlier this year, after the birth of her second child, the player considered by many as the best in the world, announced she won’t play any form of netball in 2024 but stressed she has not retired.
But as the Diamonds look to the sport’s next two pinnacle events – the Commonwealth Games, slated for 2026 but currently without a host city, and the 2027 World Cup in Sydney – it appears to be Austin or bust, given she played 214 minutes of a possible 240.
If coach Stacey Marinkovich gets the Austin who played in the opening Test of the Constellation Cup in Melbourne, who shot 22/27 at 81% accuracy, had 14 feeds with an attempt, and shared the shooting load with Koenen and centre pass work with captain Liz Watson across 60 minutes, there is no problem.
But if she gets a timid Austin, the one who shot 7/9 at below 80%, had only nine feeds with an attempt and turned the ball over three times in 44 minutes in the final Test of the series in Auckland, the world champions will have a predicament. It is a concern for Marinkovich, despite time being on her side to build Austin and blood others.
From having a rock-solid go-to in Wood and a reliable back-up in Austin at the World Cup earlier this year, the coaching group has reached the end of a drawn series with questions over their first and second choices in a key position. They would probably accept the latter, but not the former at this stage of the cycle.
The shooting quandary makes the upcoming series against the Proteas a fascinating one. In a switch already announced before the series, Wallam will replace Austin, meaning Marinkovich will have no choice but to tinker at goal attack against a side Australia did not meet at the World Cup in Cape Town.
At home and against an opposition far less daunting than the Silver Ferns, rookie Dwyer will undoubtedly get more exposure and Marinkovich will be able to see how Koenen pairs with Garbin and Wallam behind her.
Whoever plays goal attack for Australia won’t have an easy ride, with star goal defender Karla Pretorius and her old Sunshine Coast Lightning circle partner Phumza Maweni to provide stiff resistance. Some might consider the South Africa series the poorer sister of what was an epic Constellation Cup, but all the little things may well matter in a big way.
