The electricity may have failed several times inside Melbourne’s John Cain Arena last night, but the world champion Australian Diamonds powered on, dominating the Silver Ferns to win the first Constellation Cup Test 50-40.
Here are the big talking points.
Smiling assassin Bruce ‘relentless’
By the last quarter and with the Diamonds in control, MVP Courtney Bruce resembled the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, grinning from ear to ear, having the time of her life.
After doing a number on fresh Fern, 19-year-old Amelia Walmsley, Bruce switched from keeper to goal defence to mark Kiwi captain Ameliaranne Ekenasio in the third. And she took her spectacular form and footwork with her.
The 29-year-old finished with a game-high five gains, which included three intercepts and two gained deflections. She also had six other tips and two pick-ups in an almost flawless 60 minutes.
Former Super Netball sideline reporter Fiona Crowe said Bruce has established herself as the premier keeper in the world game. Crowe said Bruce’s match-up on Walmsley went as expected.
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“When you’re a senior player going up against a junior, you can usually expect that the less experienced player will run with you for a while, but eventually, they will run out of steam trying to meet that level. And that’s precisely what happened,” she said.
“Bruce just stayed the course. She adjusted where needed but she was utterly relentless and eventually overpowered Walmsley.
“Her move to goal defence was so explosive and added a spark to the Australian forward line. With Sarah Klau locking things down behind her and Sunday Aryang looking impressive at wing defence, she had a lot of freedom to have a crack – and have a crack she did.
“She looks like she’s having a ball and it’s showing in the freedom and confidence she’s playing with. She attracted a little extra whistle in the second quarter and while that would have rattled a younger Bruce, this Bruce just kept on keeping on,” Crowe said.
Hadley all clear after knee scare
Almost every one of the 9043 fans packed into John Cain Arena let out an “oh no” as Paige Hadley clattered to the ground just before quarter-time after a clash with Maddy Gordon.
After stopping for a whistle, the newly minted vice-captain was stationary near the circle edge, but Gordon still contested in the air and fell onto Hadley. The Aussie clutched at her left knee after bearing Gordon’s full weight and looked pained as she left the court.
The Australian camp advised not long after that the midcourter, who did her left ACL in 2014, was “all good” and available to return to play.
Post-match coach Stacey Marinkovich expanded on the scare. “It was a little bit of a tweak to the knee, sort of extended, but we needed to make sure,” she said.
“I think anytime you really stretch your knee, I think just naturally in the game you want to make sure everything’s cleared and right,” Marinkovich added. “She was fine. After the first couple of minutes, we got the clearance.”
Moloney a ‘middie on a mission’
From the moment she took the court just before quarter time, replacing Paige Hadley at centre, Kate Moloney was a middie on a mission.
The only player dropped by Stacey Marinkovich from the 2022 gold-medal-winning Commonwealth Games squad for this year’s World Cup, where she sat in the stands as a reserve, Moloney wanted to prove her worth. And across the next three stanzas, she did.
Moloney powered through court, delivered the ball with precision and brought her trademark defence across the transverse line.
She was so good, Hadley – who appeared to hurt her knee in a clash with Maddy Gordon but was cleared soon after – didn’t get back on the court.
Marinkovich was impressed with Moloney’s game. “As Kate entered the game, I thought she was running the ball hard, so we kept with the change,” she said.
“She knows the game plan. She certainly runs really hard. She let the ball go and you could see that the way she was able to inject (herself) defensively across that line, it just stalled them a little bit more.”
In what felt like her first “proper game in a long time”, Moloney said she was “blowing” in the second.
“But then as you get into the rhythm of it again, it just sort of starts to come back. (I was) excited to be back out on court. It was nice to be out there,” she said.
“The score line probably was a bit bigger than what it felt out there. It felt like it was goal for goal and they were on us the whole time. It was a good contest.”
Superb Austin’s ‘triple-double’
Kiera Austin claimed the starting goal attack bib in a game labelled superb by former Diamond Madi Browne.
Austin replaced Steph Wood, who has retired from the international game, as most expected; brilliantly.
“She had, in basketball terms, ‘the triple-double’. She had 22 goals, 13 centre pass receives and 10 goal assists … a huge contributor,” Browne said.
“The other thing that she always contributes is that defensive pressure. She didn’t get a gain, but she’s got that extra height.
“She’s elusive. She kind of just looks like she’s plodding along, but she’s so creative even when she’s not really doing anything. So (in) ‘dead time’, I always find that she’s working really hard,” Browne said.
While most have considered Austin the heir apparent to Wood, her performance made the GA bib hers.
“With Steph Wood gone – the play maker (who was) so incredibly smart with the ball in hand – it’s amazing to know we had someone else sitting there who’s just as creative and can seamlessly transition in,” Browne said.
Austin’s established connection with captain Liz Watson at wing attack and Kate Moloney, who replaced Paige Hadley at centre, paid dividends, Browne added.
Another former Diamond, Nat Medhurst, agreed Austin was impressive.
“The moving circle definitely helped her ability to get depth and into the circle, which the New Zealand defenders struggled to slow down,” she said.
“You’d probably want her to take some of the shots earlier on in the first half that she was dishing off, as they were in her shooting range.
“Defensively, her and Watson did a great job at suffocating the middle third,” Medhurst said.
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