Kate Moloney – “who saved Australia’s butt” at the Commonwealth Games last year – is desperately unlucky to have missed World Cup selection, but in a brutal twist, the selfless leader will also make a perfect reserve, according to ex-Diamond Kim Green.
The 74-cap Diamond turned Fox Netball pundit told The Down Low Moloney’s exclusion, seemingly at the expense of an in-form Jamie-Lee Price, was the toughest call made by Stacey Marinkovich, particularly considering the premium the coach has clearly placed on big-stage experience.
“God, talk about desperately, heartbreakingly unlucky,” Green said of the 30-year-old Melbourne Vixen, this week named as the midcourt emergency for Cape Town, with Liz Watson, Paige Hadley, Ash Brazill and Price in the playing squad of 12.
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“I feel for Kate because she had such a good Commonwealth Games. She really saved Australia’s butt when Hadley got injured and couldn’t play after a certain point. She played so many minutes and was so important to the success of that team.
“We know you have to show 100 percent what you’re capable of when you’re given the chance at Diamond level and also domestically in Super Netball, and Kate’s done that, on repeat, so it must be a bitter pill for her to swallow.”
In naming the rest of the squad – shooters Kiera Austin, Sophie Garbin, Cara Koenen and Steph Wood and defenders Sunday Aryang, Courtney Bruce, Sarah Klau and Jo Weston, who all, bar Garbin, won Birmingham gold – Marinkovich had been “certainly conservative”, Green said.
“She’s definitely gone for consistency and to me, that has so much to do with the fact that these players won that Commonwealth gold. You can’t take that away from them, you just can’t. As a coach it makes so much sense to go back to what you know is a winning formula.”
Marinkovich explains suprise WC squad | 06:22
The golden formula included having shooter Donnell Wallam and emerging defender Ruby Bakewell-Doran as travelling reserves – and she’s gone with that duo again.
The fact 27-year-old Price, who plays centre and wing defence like Moloney, forced her way into the 12 after also being an emergency in Birmingham, is a testament to her Super Netball form, Green said.
“And importantly, they’ve obviously seen enough of her in the Diamonds’ environment too, to know she can perform at that level, so she slips in.
“But that doesn’t make it any easier for Kate. If anything, it just shows how ridiculously hard it is to break into this Australian midcourt.
“Then you think about Maddy Proud, who is playing insanely well, just crushing it every week in Super Netball. In any other year or era, maybe she’s the first midcourter picked?
“When you look at the shooters and defenders, there’s debate sure, but the top five are pretty obvious, there’s not much more depth, but with the midcourt, you could go on forever looking at unlucky players.”
Not unlucky is coach Marinkovich, who has the best reserve she could want, Green added.
“It will be such an unbelievably tough role to fill, so hard to go and not get on the court unless someone is injured or sick, which of course no one wants to see.
“But if any player can do it, Kate Moloney is the kind of leader that can. She will put her ego aside to play that role in the most selfless way imaginable. She’s an exceptional leader and I don’t think that changes just because her role does.
“Kate’s got strong enough self-worth to know she will be really valuable in Cape Town. That makes her the exact kind of person you want as a reserve, someone who will do everything, give everything and push those players in training to make them the absolute best they can be.”
On First Nations star Wallam missing out, Green pointed to chemistry and experience as possible explanations.
“It’s such a hard one, because if you look at Donnell’s form and what she has been able to do when she’s played for Australia … she’s been outstanding and Garbin’s issues are well-known, but the Diamonds fold is so hard and how you ‘fit’ matters,” Green said.
“As someone who struggled at times, I can’t tell you how hard it is to fit into it and not everyone finds it a breeze. It’s easy and suits some, but everyone. They’ve clearly seen something that (means) they know she’s not quite ready.”
Without Wallam and Gretel Bueta or the inclusion of a surprise packet like Amy Parmenter, the squad lacks a certain X factor. But that doesn’t worry Green, who said the squad can “absolutely 100 percent win the trophy for Australia.”
“Sure, it’s great to have an amazing player who can do an amazing thing. If you don’t have an X factor, you need players who are going to grind their little butts off … and this squad has that,” she said.
