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AAP
AAP
Sport
Roger Vaughan

Australia cruise to fourth netball win

Paige Hadley (front) missed Australia's netball win over Wales after aggravating her calf injury. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Australia are backing their versatility to cover for Paige Hadley after they cruised to another convincing Commonwealth Games netball win.

While Wales took it up to the Diamonds on Tuesday, Australia were never troubled and the 79-33 result was the fourth straight thrashing they have handed out in the tournament.

But injuries are a concern, with Hadley sidelined after aggravating her calf muscle injury on Monday against South Africa.

She did not play against Wales and it remains unclear when Hadley will return.

Goal attack Steph Wood also rolled her ankle in the third quarter on Tuesday and sat out the last quarter.

But Wood did not appear unduly affected post-match.

"We're all good," Wood said.

Hadley is the bigger worry, after she initially hurt her right calf in a pre-Games training camp.

She sat out the opening win over Barbados and had limited minutes against Scotland.

Hadley then started on Monday, but pulled up in the second quarter and immediately left the game.

She sat out the rest of the match with an ice pack on her right calf.

First Ash Brazill, then Kate Moloney and finally captain Liz Watson rotated through centre against Wales.

"We've backed our depth through this whole tournament. We have great versatility in our wing attack, centre and wing defence positions, so I'm sure we'll keep rotating through there," Moloney said.

"Hopefully we'll get Paigey back out there.

"We've prepared for it. We had a really great two-week camp before we came in, when we were trialling all different combinations.

"It's super-important that we've tried lots of different combinations, seeing what we can put out there."

In a pre-game statement, coach Stacey Marinkovich gave no indication on how long Hadley would be sidelined.

"Paige is one of the toughest competitors in netball and we will continue to work with our medical team on her return to the court," she said.

"We have a versatile and dynamic team and we are focused on improving performance as we progress towards the business end of the Games."

Moloney said they took what they needed out of the Wales win.

"We executed the things we wanted - we wanted to make sure we kept our standard," she said.

"Our defensive pressure was good and we were able to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

"Wales really took it up to us, especially early in the game. We had to work really hard to get that result and we showed some great depth."

Australia's campaign will go up another level on Thursday when they play Jamaica.

Shooter Cara Koenen led the Australian scoring against Wales with 49 goals.

Only Koenen and goalkeeper Sarah Klua played all 60 minutes as Marinkovich continues to experiment with their line-up.

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