Bianca Chatfield: Stacey Marinkovich’s masterstroke, England’s misstep, unheralded internationals on SSN radar

For a team that has constantly been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons in the past few years, they have really found a way to build a strong inner sanctum where they’ve protected and supported each other.

They’ve built a team that was a target for so many selection sceptics — me included.

Stacey Marinkovich had a game plan, one that none of us on the outside were privy to; she had the faith this group would make it happen when it was really needed.

This World Cup result is so important for Australia. It’s the most significant trophy in netball but, in the broader international sporting world, the Diamonds aren’t necessarily at the top of everybody’s conversations.

In the past, considering the great rivalry with New Zealand over many decades, we were probably one of the only female sports that got people talking.

I love that there are now so many other sports in the conversation — including the Matildas at the current FIFA Women’s World Cup — but let’s not forget that the Diamonds are just as dominant as ever, and I really hope that their latest achievement is something everyone can celebrate.

With that brilliant 61-45 triumph over England, the Diamonds have done their job, and it’s up to everybody else to continue working hard to put our sport at the forefront of sports fans’ minds. With football taking most of the headlines in the past few weeks, I feel like the Diamonds have been a bit forgotten.

Distinctions

Stacey Marinkovich

The Diamonds coach continues to be as elusive as Cara Koenen is on the baseline.

She speaks really well about the team, and says a lot publicly that you expect from a coach, but you get the feeling that there’s a connection between Stacey and her players that allows them to become re-energised and empowered to be far better than they’ve ever been in Super Netball.

Take Sophie Garbin. Sitting on the bench for the Magpies. Really struggling for form. And yet things changed the minute she knew she was in the Diamonds environment. Stacey just has a way of doing it.

It’s the conversations they all have and the belief that they have in each other, and doing it in a way that I don’t believe has really been done before.

Every former Australian coach has had a starting seven, and it would be very obvious early on who was in that starting seven. And, other than through injury or lack of form, it was the responsibility of that seven to get the team through and to win the final at the end.

Stacey’s managed her players so that all 12 have been able to come on at the right time, and at different times, to get the job done. The game plan she’s built suits that.

As we saw in the Commonwealth Games, it’s the timing of the changes. Not so much against England in the rounds, but when it really counted, the changes she made were the ones that needed to happen.

Every coach will say “we’re a team of 15”, but Marinkovich’s players truly believe it — even though three players were in the awful position of being reserves — and that’s a hard thing to actually make happen.

Previous results had already vindicated her appointment and, with four more years to come, what else can she do?

Unsung Diamonds

Jo Weston, Sophie Garbin and Cara Koenen are examples of players who don’t necessarily get the kudos they deserve, but were crucial contributors right throughout the tournament, not just in the final.

They worked hard in a way that they had to: to prove their position on the court, and then perform really smartly when they got the chance.

Weston went into the World Cup with not many thinking that she was going to be the starting goal defence, yet she went out at different moments and stuck to the tactic of hard one-on-one, and wore down her opponent.

For me, the key match-up in the final was Weston against Helen Housby, the player of the tournament, who’s had such a dominant year.

For Australia to win it, Weston had to wear down Housby to limit her impact, and the fact she did it in 30 minutes, instead of needing the 60, allowed everybody else around her to win ball. It also allowed other Diamonds to take on that second half, knowing that Housby had been cut out of the game.

Garbin came in with so many doubters, but from the opening match you could see the strength of her game at shooter, her ability to hold off and also screen defenders so smartly to allow her goaling partner to flourish.

That’s the old-school Diamonds’ way, with a shooter of that ilk; at times it’s a huge advantage, and at other times it was a more moving circle that was needed.

But it was so important that Marinkovich had both options up her sleeve, and that Garbin could not necessarily start, but be injected and have the impact that she did.

The yips under the post that often emerge when she gets under pressure were nowhere to be seen. What an incredible player she has become.

To be able to take on all the mental pressure that she would have carried into this tournament and play the way she has makes Garbin such an asset for any team.

Speaking of moving circles, Koenen had an incredible tournament. No doubt her combination with Steph Wood allows her to play to her very best, but Koenen doesn’t get enough credit for her accuracy under the post, her brilliance in eluding any defender trying to match-up one-on-one, and her calm approach.

Whatever the circumstances, or the moment, she just finds a way to turn and find an option, then reposition. For such a tall, lean player, Koenen’s strength to be able to pull in balls surprises me at times, and she deserves a lot of credit for Australia’s success.

Passes

The return (and retirement) of the specialist wing defence

Having a locked-in wing defence is key, and — with the exception of four years ago in Liverpool — has always been the Australian way.

Ash Brazill played that role in Cape Town.

She got a chance to cement her intentions from the very start of the tournament and build her way into it. As another unsung hero in a way, she did the groundwork early, which is what we’ve come to love about Braz.

At 33, she could have easily been tiring towards the end of a gruelling tournament, but what an incredible way for her to finish her career — becoming a starting seven Diamonds player for the last two years, and taking home a Comm Games gold and now a world championship in her final ever game of netball.

Even though she announced her retirement early, I never thought it was going to become a big issue or distraction, given her casual energy and approach. Braz is the type that every player says is just cool and calm and gets on with it, and not too fussed about anything, and that’s the energy that they probably needed from her.

It was the perfect way to sign off. What a farewell.

Increased player currency as the signing window opens

The value of some players will change as a result of their World Cup performances, with every Super Netball player currently out of contract. It could have gone either way.

The contracting delays have been disruptive, and stressful, but the World Cup is always an opportunity for athletes to really display their wares and put themselves forward to potential club recruiters — especially this year, with former Magpies like Garbin needing a home, and a new Melbourne team coming into SSN under coach Tracey Neville.

Now we’ve seen what a Kiera Austin/Garbin combination can do, and teams have a fresh slate, imagine an Austin/Garbin double-act at the Vixens?

And will Neville be looking at someone like Uneeq Palavi, for example, for the third shooter role, or as a training partner, given that the Tongan representative is already in the Victorian pathway?

We’ve been able to see so many of these lesser-known players on show at international level, and the strong-bodied Pacific Islanders have got something a bit different to offer, which coaches like Neville, Dan Ryan and Briony Akle have seen in person over in South Africa, but every other club will have been watching from afar.

Fails

Not the Diamonds

There’ll be no Aussie nitpicking in this column. Not today!

But the World Cup itself needs a rethink heading into Sydney, 2027. Eight games in 10 days is just too much of a squeeze.

Even if it went to eight games in 14 days, those four extra days would help the weaker nations in particular to be able to compete. And to keep competing at their best.

A lot of the netball later in the tournament was scrappier and less skilful than we’d seen at the start of the week. That’s fatigue, and it’s potentially dangerous. You could tell that the better resourced and prepared teams, like the Diamonds, were able to push all the way to the end because their depth gives them options.

But at least one glaring flaw is being rectified. Thank goodness the faux-injury rule is being replaced – officially – by rolling subs from January 1 because it’s been a debacle and embarrassing for the game.

International watch

New Zealand

What does their worst-ever World Cup result say about the Silver Ferns’ decision not to let their players compete in the world’s strongest domestic league?

I’d say it’s time to rethink that policy. The SSN-based players excelled, and although New Zealand had so much more lead-in time they couldn’t match it with the top countries — and the top international players are all Australian-based, competing against each other week in, week out.

Uganda

After a highest-ever finish of fifth for the She-Cranes, it’s only a matter of time before we see their exceptional goal shooter Mary Cholhok on these shores.

With her movement, her height and her accuracy under the post, I feel like the UK-based Cholhok is going to be the next Jhaniele Fowler; a player who absolutely dominates our competition. We don’t know exactly when that will be. But soon, I expect.

England

I was shocked by the comments of Housby and Roses coach Jess Thirlby and the ammunition they provided to the world No.1 Diamonds after the upset in the preliminary rounds.

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I don’t know why you would even go there or if they thought that was something that was going to intimidate the Diamonds, but to call them out on their fitness, or to say they’re a team of individuals is poking the bear in a way that was just ridiculous, and came back to bite them.

I can’t even understand how they think that was smart, or if they didn’t even have any thought process around it. But seeing the result and how the Diamonds won it, I think England would have to reflect on that.

It was the Roses‘ first final at a World Cup, so these are the things you learn along the way. When you’re experienced, you know to keep your mouth shut.