Diamond advantage: How Super Netball strengthens Australia’s World Cup hopes but also helps rivals
In the 60-year history of the netball World Cup every title has been won by either Australia or New Zealand. The Diamonds have been champions 11 times, the Silver Ferns five.
Even when Trinidad and Tobago got its hands on the prize in 1979, it had to share the honour with both Australasian squads because the round-robin tournament had ended in a three-way tie.
Australian Diamonds captain Liz Watson.Credit: Getty Images
But the rise of Australia’s Super Netball domestic competition has changed the sport’s global landscape. Whether it has disrupted netball’s established order or entrenched Australia’s dominance will become clearer when the 2023 World Cup gets under way in South Africa on Friday.
Australia landed in Cape Town this week as strong favourites for the 2023 trophy. And rightly so; they not only have a proud history at the World Cup, they also hold every other piece of silverware that was on offer in the past four-year-cycle, namely the Constellation Cup, Commonwealth Games gold medal, the Quad Series and the England Test series.
Diamonds veteran wing defender Ash Brazill said having the strongest league in the world had enhanced Australia’s development, but conceded it had also aided those national teams that have players at Super Netball clubs.
“When I was little kid and you just watched the [World Cup] grand final, it was always just Australia v New Zealand; that was the closest game. The rest were all blowouts. Where now you’re getting the top six nations where anyone can win or lose, so it’s scary going into them [those games],” Brazill said.
“The way they [the other teams] train, the way they see the game, the way they read the game, has completely changed because they [international players] come into our league and every year they’re getting better ... there are superstars.”
A third of Jamaica’s 15-member World Cup squad play in the Super Netball competition, including five-time league most valuable player Jhaniele Fowler, fellow star shooter Shimona Nelson and gun defenders Shamera Sterling, Jodi-Ann Ward and Latanya Wilson.
Fever’s Fowler told this masthead ahead of this year’s Super Netball finals, that many top international players want to play in the Australian domestic competition because it was the “pinnacle” netball league in the world.
Fowler said her move to Australia had made her a more complete player, exposing her to elite coaches and putting her against the best in the world each week.
At the last World Cup, New Zealand claimed the title by just one goal. Diamonds goaler Kiera Austin, who plays domestically for the Melbourne Vixens, said beating the Silver Ferns this year would “be really sweet”.
By playing with and against top international talent in Super Netball every week, Austin said Diamonds players had the ideal preparation for the World Cup.
“Because we’ve played against the Jamaicans, (and) we’ve played against the English girls as well, that is such an advantage to us. We know what they are like, we play against them week in and week out,” she said.
Jamaica’s Jhaniele Fowler in action for West Coast Fever during the Super Netball season.Credit: Getty Images
“So it’s been a huge advantage to have our internationals playing in the SSN [Super Netball], and we know what to do when we come up against them.”
Austin added that New Zealand would be a bit more of a mystery because Australian players don’t come up against them as often. But she’s kept an eye on the ANZ Premiership – New Zealand’s domestic league – and recent encounters in the Quad Series confirmed they would again be Australia’s biggest rivals heading into the tournament.
She said Australia’s mission at the World Cup was, as always, clear.
“[We’re] not going to come back without that trophy,” she said.
Just like in 2015, Diamonds wing attack/centre Paige Hadley heads to this World Cup a short time after a heart-breaking one-goal loss in Australia’s domestic grand final with the NSW Swifts. She’s hoping for a World Cup win to ease her pain, as it did eight years ago.
“Funnily enough, I was in this position in 2015. I lost the grand final by one and then I went on to win the gold with Australia,” Hadley said after the Swifts’ defeat to the Adelaide Thunderbirds earlier this month.
She said she’d have added motivation when playing against the Thunderbirds’ internationals at the World Cup.
“Seeing Shamera [Sterling, of Jamaica] and Eleanor [Cardwell, of England] win that [with Adelaide], I want to make sure Australia win that gold medal,” said Hadley.
Sixteen teams will be competing at the World Cup across 10 days from July 28 to August 6. Australia’s campaign kicks off against Zimbabwe on Friday.
2023 NETBALL WORLD CUP IN CAPE TOWN: SCHEDULE - STAGE ONE PRELIMINARIES
Day 1, 28 July
- New Zealand v Trinidad & Tobago
- Australia v Zimbabwe
- Tonga v Fiji
- Uganda v Singapore
- South Africa v Wales
- England v Barbados
- Jamaica v Sri Lanka
- Malawi v Scotland
Day 2, 29 July
- New Zealand v Uganda
- Australia v Tonga
- Zimbabwe v Fiji
- Jamaica v Wales
- South Africa v Sri Lanka
- England v Malawi
- Scotland v Barbados
- Trinidad & Tobago v Singapore
Day 3, 30 July
- Australia v Fiji
- New Zealand v Singapore
- Wales v Sri Lanka
- Malawi v Barbados
- England v Scotland
- Jamaica v South Africa
- Uganda v Trinidad & Tobago
- Tonga v Zimbabwe
POOL A
- Australia
- Tonga
- Zimbabwe
- Fiji
POOL B
- England
- Malawi
- Scotland
- Barbados
POOL C
- Jamaica
- South Africa
- Wales
- Sri Lanka
POOL D
- New Zealand
- Uganda
- Trinidad & Tobago
- Singapore
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