New Zealand celebrate after clinching the Constellation Cup. Photo / Photosport
By Bridget Tunnicliffe of RNZ
The Australian Diamonds talk about expecting to win whenever they step out on court, and that has been reflected in the reaction across the ditch to their shock loss of the Constellation Cup to the Silver Ferns.
New Zealand won the Constellation Cup for just the third time in 14 series on Sunday night, after beating Australia 61-43 in the third test in Perth.
It was the first time since 2006 the Silver Ferns had had three consecutive wins against the Diamonds.
After stunning the world champions in the first two tests in New Zealand by margins of 14 and 11 goals, the Silver Ferns were expecting a tougher test on Australian soil.
They had been on a five-game losing streak across the Tasman – but a brilliant second half saw the Ferns beat the number one-ranked Diamonds by 18 goals.
A Fox Sports headline read “Should be better than this: Aussies hit new low after ‘unacceptable’ netball meltdown”.
Quoted is Fox netball commentator and former Australian netball great Nat Medhurst, who said the test was marred by simple repeat errors.
Medhurst said she expected better from the world number ones.
“There’s been so many changes to try and fix something and it hasn’t been fixed,” she said on the Fox Netball broadcast.
“They haven’t seemed to have learnt from one Test match to the next ... Break, stepping, fumbles – they are costly and it happened across every single Test match.
“We’ve got world championship players not wanting to go to the post. They should be better than this.”
Cat Tuivaiti, a former Silver Fern and guest commentator on Fox Netball, described Australia’s third-quarter meltdown – which they lost 18-9 – as “unacceptable” from the world champions.
Code Sports went with the headline: “Diamonds capitulate in horror loss as changing of the guard begins”, in an article that highlighted both the captain and vice-captain being sent to the bench.
“The Diamonds were intent on bringing their trademark physical defence to the contest in a bid to unsettle the Ferns and while it worked early, the game deteriorated into a messy slugfest in which Australia was whistled out of the contest as their challenges became undisciplined.
“The series loss will be jarring to the Australians, who held every trophy in world netball and have managed to find a way to get the job done over the past three years regardless of the occasional defeat.”
The article also pointed out the result was great for world netball, considering the Silver Ferns had lost a series to England three weeks ago, which led to them dropping to third in the world rankings.
News website news.com.au summed up the result with a headline “Netball massacre flips sport on its head”.
The article opens with: “Australia have been wiped off the court in stunning scenes in Perth, losing the Constellation Cup for just the third time in history.”
In the ABC’s blog of the match, the Diamonds were described as being in disarray.
“They were heavy favourites leading into this series and there hasn’t been a single player other than Jamie-Lee Price that I can think of that has really tried to fight their way back into the contest. They have looked like a different team these past three games. Seriously concerning. Not the way they’d like to finish 2024. Seems there’s a bit of work to do to get this line-up ready for a Commonwealth Games and home World Cup.”
Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich said in the post-match press conference that simple mistakes had cost her side dearly.
“The gap between our best and not is too far. We took a step forward in this game in terms of energy in the first half, but it’s the unforced errors and repeated nature of that in close proximity that sees us lose confidence and puts us in chase mode. Silver Ferns put pressure on us right across the court,” Marinkovich said.
She went on to say mistakes were being made by players that were “not the norm”.
“I think that we are a bit mentally fatigued at the moment. There’s things within the programme that I think we can freshen up. Players also need to be able to take accountability and we pride ourselves on our honesty and having those conversations and it’s something we’ll need to do.”
With a 3-0 lead, the Silver Ferns go into the final test in Melbourne on Wednesday with a chance to take a clean sweep of the series for the first time since its inception in 2010.