The Australian Diamonds have won a physical match-up against Wales at the Commonwealth Games, beating them 79-33 in their final run on court as their meeting with netball powerhouse Jamaica looms on Thursday.
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As a team, the Diamonds performed well in defence, finishing with 26 gains spread across the court.
Defenders Sarah Klau (9) and Jo Weston (5) were the main culprits, but there was also plenty of possession clawed back by the attackers – particularly Cara Koenen.
In total, Koenen recorded one intercept, three offensive rebounds, a deflection and three pick-ups, which is pretty remarkable considering she spent the entire 60 minutes at goal shooter.
It was Koenen’s first start in Birmingham after spending most of her time here as an impact player, and she grabbed the opportunity with both hands, shooting close to 50 goals (49/54).
The impressive performance also saw Koenen continue to build her connection with Gretel Bueta (26/27) after the pair rekindled an old combination from their Queensland pathway days at an Australian Netball League (ANL) level a few days ago to beat Scotland.
The Diamonds have a heap of versatility in their shooting group and although head coach Stacey Marinkovich will likely revert back to her winning Quad Series partnership between Bueta and Steph Wood for their upcoming blockbuster against Jamaica, Koenen has given her plenty to think about.
Meanwhile, injured midcourter Paige Hadley had her right calf heavily strapped as she watched on from the bench, following the team’s earlier confirmation that she would sit out the match.
The good news is that the Australian medical staff haven’t completely ruled Hadley out from making a return to the court, but with heavyweights like Jamaica up next, then the semi-finals, it is hard to see her taking the place of another fully fit player in the line-up.
Unfortunately, there were more injury scares in this match against Wales.
Wood only lasted a quarter after she was brought on in goal attack in the third period to give Bueta a rest and rolled her left ankle right before the break. She was later seen receiving physio attention.
Goal keeper Klau also took a tumble in the fourth quarter, as she challenged for a high ball being fed into the circle and got tangled, grimacing as she got up. There was less cause of concern for Klau though, as she was able to carry out the rest of the match.
Speaking with the media, Wood downplayed her ankle trouble.
“It was just a bit of a stinger,” she said, “knowing that we’ve got a big game coming up, we made the rotation as more of a precaution.”
“I can be a bit dramatic at times, so I did think the worst, but I’m all good.”
Quizzed about Hadley, Wood said the group had been trying to rally behind her after such a disjointed debut at the Commonwealth Games.
“She’s a really important member of our team and we’re all close-knit, so when someone goes down we want to get around them.
“We’d love to have her out there and even though she wasn’t able to take the court today, she was giving us feedback and contributing that way, so we’re hoping we’ll see her play again later in the tournament.”
Given the workload captain Liz Watson has had to shoulder thus far in wing attack, with Hadley unable to help out, Marinkovich made sure to give Watson a rest in this match against Wales, bringing her off after 15 minutes.
In her place, shooter Kiera Austin built on the couple of quarters she’s moonlighted in wing attack during the Commonwealth Games campaign, tallying 25 goal assists and 26 feeds.
The question will now be whether this option will be strong enough to use against the higher-ranked teams, should Australia find they need to mix things up in attack.
Marinkovich will also need to determine whether she prefers Kate Moloney or Ash Brazill at centre if Hadley is again unavailable, after both have performed well so far when they’ve had the chance to drive the midcourt.
The team will spend their rest day tomorrow watching replays of Jamaica, as they prepare to face the world’s best bookends in Jhaniele Fowler and Shamera Sterling.
The undefeated Sunshine Girls beat Barbados by a slightly larger margin than Australia did during the group stages and will surge in with confidence after their 78-34 win against Scotland today.
Luckily for Australia, they’ve had plenty of experience playing against some of Jamaica’s best players in the Super Netball league and already know a key part of the game plan will need to revolve around slowing the ball down out the front of their goal circle.
“We’re definitely looking forward to Jamaica, they’ve got some pretty incredible players in their team that have been successful in Australia so it’s going to take a full team effort,” Wood said.
“We’ve seen bits and pieces of them here in Birmingham and watched their game against South Africa, but we’ll spend some more time on Wednesday doing performance analysis on them.”
How the Diamonds perform in this match will give fans a better idea of Australia’s gold-medal chances, considering they’ve made it through the group stages with relative ease and could very well face Jamaica again in the final.
Commonwealth Games fixtures
Friday, July 29 — Australia 95 d Barbados 18
Saturday, July 30 — Australia 83 d Scotland 30
Monday, August 1 — Australia 74 d South Africa 49
Tuesday, August 2 — Australia 79 d Wales 33
Thursday, August 4 — Australia vs Jamaica
Saturday, August 6 — Semifinals
Sunday, August 7 — Bronze medal match
Monday, August 8 — Gold medal match
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