The Australian Diamonds’ campaign at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games begins tomorrow, with the team looking to reclaim the gold-medal status it lost four years ago on the Gold Coast.
Despite their world-number-one ranking, successive one-goal losses in the finals of the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2019 Netball World Cup means the side currently doesn’t hold a title at either of the sport’s major tournaments.
After a host of retirements and turnover in the coaching ranks, the Diamonds also conceded the 2021 Constellation Cup, handing over the trophy for just the second time in the 12-year history of the trans-Tasman battle and leaving their once illustrious trophy cabinet almost bare.
The good news is that this year the side seems to have found its feet again.
In January, the Diamonds held onto their Quad Series title, making it through the tournament in London undefeated to beat England in the final 58-46.
Here, they uncovered a brand-new shooting combination between Steph Wood and Gretel Bueta and settled on Liz Watson as the next Australian captain to hopefully steer them back to the top.
Based on their dominant form in this series, the Diamonds head into the Commonwealth Games as favourites, even though they have limited experience, with only four players remaining from their 2018 campaign – Watson, Wood, Jo Weston and Courtney Bruce.
They also have a host of young players that have made their way up the ranks since Stacey Marinkovich took over as head coach in August 2020, like Kiera Austin, Cara Koenen and Sunday Aryang.
West Coast Fever defender Aryang, a 21-year-old fresh off the back of winning a Super Netball premiership less than a month ago, is particularly expected to shake things up — both on the court and off it when it comes to diversity.
Aryang’s story so far
Aryang was recruited to the Fever during Marinkovich’s eight-year tenure at the club, and made her Super Netball debut as a teenage training partner in 2019.
That year she played just one game, the next she played 14, after teams were expanded from 10 players to 12 for the 2020 season to help with the workload of the condensed competition in the Queensland hub.
By 2021, there was no question that Aryang deserved a full-time contract (despite teams reverting back to 10 players), and over time she earnt a starting goal defence spot out the front of Fever captain and Diamonds goal keeper Bruce.
This defensive duo has really blossomed over the past couple of seasons, as Aryang’s elusive work hunting the ball has helped to bring the best out of Bruce.
Her incredible closing speed is still catching defenders by surprise and her ability to stay in play has been a real asset.
Last year, the combination took them to the preliminary finals, and in 2022, under the guidance of a new head coach in Dan Ryan after Marinkovich left to focus on the Diamonds, Aryang and Bruce played a major role helping the Fever lift their maiden national netball league trophy.
It’s been less than a month since the team beat the Melbourne Vixens in the Super Netball Grand Final in front of a record crowd of 13,908 on their home court.
Speaking with the ABC, Aryang said she was still riding the high of that premiership win.
“It’s yet to sink in,” she said. “Sometimes I forget that West Coast Fever actually won and then people come up to me and ask me about it and that’s when it really hits home that wow, we won the Super Netball premiership.
“It’s still so crazy to me. Everyone at the club was just so, so happy … We’d been close the last couple of years and pushed ourselves really hard to get there, so to finally finish on top after all that work was the best feeling in the world.”
A win for diversity
The lack of diversity in the Diamonds team has been a talking point in recent years, especially with the criticism and tough conversations happening at a domestic level regarding the under-representation of First Nations people in the Super Netball playing group.
At this Commonwealth Games, a record 10 Indigenous athletes will represent the green and gold across a range of sports, and this number doesn’t include Diamonds reserve and Noongar woman Donnell Wallam, who in April became the first Indigenous player in 20 years to be selected for a Diamonds squad.
There are also 11 African-born athletes in the Australian Commonwealth Games team for Birmingham and Aryang is one of them, alongside the likes of Peter Bol.
Aryang already became the first African-born Diamond in January this year when she debuted in the Quad Series in London and took a total of five gains in the matches she played against South Africa and England.
While she acknowledges progress in improving sporting diversity has been slow, Aryang is proud to be one of fresh faces redefining what it means to be an Australian athlete.
“I’m so happy to be part of the change and it’s actually really great to see Donnell in the squad too and for the two of us to be able to bring that diversity to the group after so many years,” she said.
“I hope it continues and that it inspires other kids to pursue sport because seeing someone like me when I was young in an Australian team would have made a big difference.
“When you see someone that looks like you at that level, you can probably relate to them a little bit more and it motivates you to believe you could do it too.”
England and Jamaica the biggest challengers
The England Roses are expected to be Australia’s biggest challengers at the Commonwealth Games, with the defending gold medallists playing on home soil.
But Jamaica has also been touted as a dangerous threat, considering a range of its players have been performing in the Super Netball league and their two bookends — goal shooter Jhaniele Fowler and goal keeper Shamera Sterling — are considered to be the best in the world.
Aryang has had plenty of practice against Fowler at the West Coast Fever and is expected to play a key role alongside Bruce in Australia’s final match of the group stages against Jamaica.
“It will be so weird playing against Jhaniele,” Aryang said.
“I guess I’ll finally find out what’s it’s like to be all the other defenders trying to shut her down in Super Netball.
“We obviously play against Jhaniele at training all the time, so it’s just about bringing that to the Diamonds and trying it in a real game.”
Commonwealth Games fixtures
Friday, July 29 — Australia vs Barbados
Saturday, July 30 — Australia vs Scotland
Monday, August 1 — Australia vs South Africa
Tuesday, August 2 — Australia vs Wales
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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