Swift Maddy Proud is on the cusp of Diamonds selection after many years in-waiting

It was in the middle of a summer’s night on the Greek island of Paros when Maddy Proud opened the email that, back in wintry Sydney, had reduced her NSW Swifts coach Briony Akle to tears.

Warm, happy ones.

Having been controversially overlooked for the Diamonds’ preliminary Commonwealth Games squad in April, then included before ultimately missing out on the 12 for Birmingham for one of three travelling reserve spots, Proud had just learned of her selection for this month’s Constellation Cup and England Roses series.

As one of nine players who will double-up, in fact. And, with Giants wing defence Amy Parmenter, two of nine who are yet to debut for the Diamonds.

“Definitely wasn’t expecting it but was hoping it would happen, and then to find out I was doing both tours as well was definitely a big surprise, but one that I was very very excited to get,’’ Proud said before this week’s Diamonds training camp at the AIS.

“It was just such a surreal experience to get it a) in email and b) while you’re on the other side of the world and not really in netball mode.

“I was like, ‘Oh, God, I’ve got to tell my parents’, and they were very, very excited, so definitely a lot of emotions and just can’t wait to get started now.’’

Akle, too, recalls a sense of disbelief that the Swifts co-captain was included in the 14 for the four Tests against World Cup-holders New Zealand and the three to follow against dethroned Comm Games champions England.

Which, to drill down a fraction, means the 2013 World Youth Cup skipper – who first made the senior squad seven years later but was not named in the match-day team on her sole international tour, in 2021 — is closer to earning a gold dress and Diamonds playing number than she has ever been.

It comes, too, within a few months of Proud’s 29th birthday, three years after her season-ending ACL tear.

Hence the WhatsApp moment with a thrilled Akle at around 2am, Greek time; coach asking if she had checked her inbox, and player replying that she had, could not believe it, and needed to start training, pronto.

“I think what’s most impressive is just Maddy’s mental attitude towards it, in terms of how she’s been through the highs and the lows, and that will make it even sweeter when she gets out there in those Australian colours,’’ Akle says.

“Her journey is one that the younger generation can look up to and see you can still make it; whatever your highs and your lows, you’ve got to stick with it.’’

In Proud’s case, that also meant resuming training immediately after her return from her five-week trip to the UK, Europe and Dubai, for gym/conditioning work that began in early September and court work with the NSW-based Diamonds a week later.

“When I got the email, my first thought was, ‘Oh, I need to stop eating so many gyros, and start getting back on the running track!’’’ says Proud, who was in the Cyclades with fellow Diamonds Maddy Turner and Sarah Klau, and current and former Swifts Allie Smith and Kelly Singleton at the time.

“The best thing about travelling with other netballers is that we’re all on that same page where you like to have a bit of fun but it’s kinda not in your nature to sit around and do nothing. I cannot sit still for very long – especially when I’m on holidays, there’s always something I need to see or something I need to do.’’

*****

Typical Proud, with Diamonds head coach Stacey Marinkovich an admirer of her passion as well as the 100 per cent workrate and effort each time the busy midcourter steps on the court.

“We’ve had some great conversations and Maddy’s really focused on what she wants to achieve coming into this environment and has been able to give herself the freedom to get those connections with those around her so we can maximise the combinations,’’ Marinkovich says.

Another powwow had taken place back in April when, despite exceptional Super Netball form, Proud and Firebird Kim Ravaillion were among the most contentious absentees from a lean squad of 18.

Proud, Akle and Marinkovich then had a three-way chat about what the national selectors wanted to see that they had not, previously, and it was a minor consolation that Proud felt she had not been replaced so much as simply left without what was a reduced number of chairs when the music stopped.

Conscious of not changing her Swifts-style game completely, and determined above all else to help fill the void left by the round one loss of spearhead Sam Wallace to an ACL rupture, Proud nevertheless set about making the small adjustments Marinkovich had sought.

Such as shortening up her wing attack game, given her longer history at centre, hitting the circle edge more, limiting turnovers and adding a touch more defensive pressure.

“So it wasn’t like there was one glaringly obvious thing that they said I needed to work on,’’ says Proud, who would end the season behind only Diamonds captain Liz Watson for SSN goal assists and circle feeds.

“It was just a combination of little things, and in past seasons I had struggled with consistency, and being able to have back-to-back-to-back consistent games and kinda not fade in and out of them, so that was probably more so my own focus as well was just being able to find that form that didn’t just last one or two games; it could actually last a whole season

“And my feedback when I got put back in the squad was, ‘You have done the things that we’ve asked you to do’ and they were impressed in the way I’d stepped up in Sam’s absence and I guess taken on board what they’d said.’’

That was early June. The Diamonds Commonwealth Games team of 12, plus uncapped pair Bakewell-Doran and Donnell Wallam among the travelling reserves, was revealed the next week sans Proud — and despite speculation that her 11th-hour promotion was a sign she, too, would be on the plane.

“I always just thought it was a bonus that I even got added to the squad at a time when I thought that door had definitely closed,’’ she says. “It was something that I was definitely not expecting, and was really grateful for.

“You’ve got to be in it to win it, and you’ve got to be in the squad to be able to even have an opportunity, but I definitely thought it was probably a far-fetched dream because they’d obviously had the rest of the squad picked for a while and I knew what sort of form a lot of those other midcourters were in and the fact that it’s a pretty fierce battle and a lot of competition in those couple of positions.’’

*****

To earn a Diamonds dress, a player needs to be in the match-day 12.

To be awarded a Diamonds number, they need to get on the court. Even just for a minute.

The nearest Proud has come was as part of the extended squad of 16, including invitees, that travelled to New Zealand for the 2021 Constellation Cup that had been postponed from the previous year.

So she is now daring to dream again, and sensing a little deja vu in the fact that it is eight or nine years since she was last at the AIS — her home in 2013 ahead of the World Youth Cup as part of a team that also included her Swifts co-captain Paige Hadley, Gretel Bueta (then Tippett), Courtney Bruce, Jo Weston, Gabi Simpson and Ravaillion.

“You’ve always got to go in with the mindset that you’ll be able to play and put that dress on and get your number and all be able to make it happen, but you also kind of go in with no expectations as well because you don’t know what’s gonna happen on any given day,’’ Proud says.

“I think for me it’s just making sure that I can put in a good performance at the training camp and making sure I show up every session and kind of give my all to be able to put myself in the best position to be able to get in that 12, and then also hopefully be able to get in that seven to be on the court as well.’’

How long Proud has yearned for that moment is clear in the first line of her 2018 kids book — and, let’s be honest, no story on the enthusiastic author and Master of Creative Writing student is complete without a plug for the Grace On the Court series — is the 13-year-old netballer in the title sitting in the stand at a Diamonds game and yelling “Go Aussies”.

“It shows that was my dream from the time you start playing netball,’’ she says. “I grew up watching the likes of a Thunderbirds team, but the one step above that is to be able to play for your country, and obviously being able to do it at the under 21s level was incredible, but to actually be able to do it on the big stage for the Diamonds, I thought that door was closed.

“So the fact that it’s now pretty open and actually happening at all is pretty incredible.’’

And well-deserved, according to Akle, who has seen what the ebullient Swift contributes to both performance and the less tangible elements of an elite environment.

“What doesn’t she bring, to be honest? She’s loud, so she brings that,’’ says the two-time championship-winning coach with a smile.

“I think she is that ultimate team player. Deep down she’s very competitive. She probably comes across as very casual but wants it more than anything to win a premiership for the Swifts, and for the Diamonds, so she’s ultra-competitive but very nurturing. And for team culture, she’s amazing.’’

Young defender Sunday Aryang is the most recent Diamond, at No.184. Ahead of Wednesday’s first Constellation Cup Test in Auckland either Proud, Parmenter or Bakewell-Doran are next in line.

“I think 185’s got a nice ring to it,’’ says the long-time wannabe who is getting there. Almost. “But, hey, I’ll take any number. I’ll take any of them.’’