The signs were there earlier than some realised. Hidden behind an average winning margin of 47.2 in their first five preliminary matches was a Diamonds outfit lacking its usual lustre. It was in their slow starts to many of those games, an inability to hit the ground running from the first whistle. It was in the 22 turnovers against the world No 10 Scotland and the first half draw with world No 6 Malawi. These tiny imperfections added up to create trouble at the team’s first real hurdle of the tournament. Their one-goal loss to England – the first time Australia has lost to England in Netball World Cup history – sent them down a more difficult road to regain the trophy they so desperately desire.
The World Cup format has long been contentious. With a large gap – albeit slowly shrinking – between the top nations and the rest, the early stages often involve one-sided games. Efforts have been made at various times to combat this and hold more games between the top nations, but to do so takes away from the egalitarian spirit of the tournament. With Australia and New Zealand unlikely to invite Zimbabwe or Barbados over to play a series, this is the only opportunity many players get to test themselves against higher-ranked – and better-resourced – opponents.
The drawback for the Diamonds this World Cup has been that the little cracks have slipped by unnoticed, brushed off as nerves as they settled into the tournament, masked by substantial wins and swathes of goals. With their tournament far from over, they find themselves now facing Jamaica in Sunday morning’s semi-final, a task they would have been hoping to delay until the final.
Publicly the team has kept their cool, with captain Liz Watson reeling off the old adage that “to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best,” but privately the conversations will be more urgent. Australia has never missed the final of a World Cup and that is not a piece of history this team will want to be part of.
To avoid that fate they will need to defeat a Jamaican team that seems to reach new heights each time they take the court. Fresh off a Super Netball premiership, the Adelaide Thunderbirds’ defensive duo of Shamera Sterling and Latanya Wilson look as dangerous as ever, bolstered by the Collingwood Magpies’ MVP Jodi-Ann Ward and the Sunshine Coast Lightning’s Kadie-Ann Dehaney. At the other end of the court looms the world’s best goal shooter in West Coast Fever’s Jhaniele Fowler, with New South Wales Swifts’ strike weapon Romelda Aiken-George on the bench. Traditionally the midcourt has been the stumbling block for the Sunshine Girls, but the continued rise of the defence and attack ends seems to have lifted the other players with it and there will be little respite for the Diamonds in any area of the court this time around.
The Diamonds suffered a two-goal loss to Jamaica during the 2022 Commonwealth Games round matches in a shock upset. But it seemed to reinvigorate them, and when they came up against the Sunshine Girls again in the final, they put on a clinical performance to come away with the gold medal. The Australians have incredible wells of resilience and they pride themselves on the ability to bounce back after a defeat. They will be hoping their loss to England to provides the spark they need to make it through this tough semi-final. This is a team with a longstanding winning culture and sometimes that is enough to get them over the line in a close match.
However, should Jamaica triumph, while disappointing for the Diamonds, there is no doubt it would be tremendously good for world netball. That Jamaica are capable of causing a shake up to the world order with only a fraction of the resources of other top nations is incredibly impressive, and a beacon to others that the status quo does not have to remain.
For many years, even the semi-finals were a formality – marking time until the inevitable final between Australia and New Zealand. After New Zealand’s lacklustre performances against Jamaica and South Africa during the preliminary rounds, there is for the first time a possibility of a major event final without either powerhouse taking part.
Despite the early score blowouts, these later preliminary games have set up two truly tantalising semi-finals and a Netball World Cup on the brink of one of its most exciting finishes. For the Diamonds, it will take every last bit of strength they can muster – they are swiftly running out of opportunities to prove they can still make the whole place shimmer.
