One title is great, but the job’s not done.
That’s the message emanating from the Australian Diamonds camp as Stacey Marinkovich’s 14-woman squad – featuring eight players who won Commonwealth gold in August and six who didn’t – prepares for tonight’s opening Constellation Cup Test in New Zealand.
The four-match series against the Silver Ferns begins in Auckland tonight (5pm AEDT), moves to Tauranga for a Test on Sunday, heads back over the Tasman for a game at Melbourne’s John Cain Arena next Wednesday and will conclude at a sold-out Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre on October 23.
In a world first, it will also showcase the men’s netball, with male sides from both nations playing televised curtain raisers ahead of the Auckland and Melbourne clashes.
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Australia lost the trans-Tasman Cup to the Kiwis for the first time in almost a decade early last year, after a sub-optimal preparation including isolation and quarantine in Christchurch, meaning Noeline Taurua’s side — which took bronze in Birmingham — only needs to win two Tests to retain the trophy.
Midcourters Amy Parmenter and Maddy Proud, both looking for their Diamonds debut in the series, along with shooter Sophie Dwyer and defender Ruby Bakewell-Doran, agree complacency isn’t an option, especially with star shooter Gretel Bueta out after announcing her pregnancy last week.
Giants wing defence Parmenter said while “vibes are high” post-gold, fuelling the side’s confidence, there are still big boxes to tick.
“The job’s not done. We know we haven’t had been able to secure both the major golds recently so that win in Birmingham just fuels that fire to keep on building. We’ve had a taste of what we can do and there’s unfinished business.”
That unfinished business is World Cup gold, which the Silver Ferns currently hold, after edging Australia in the 2019 final in Liverpool and this series represents a golden chance to land the first blow ahead of next year’s tournament.
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