Three of Australia’s top netballers have opened up on how their shock round loss to England set the Diamonds up for gold medal glory at the Netball World Cup.
Paige Hadley, Liz Watson and Cara Koenen sat down with Fox Netball’s Madi Browne for a review special and revealed Aussie coach Stacey Marinkovich purposely left shooter Sophie Garbin out of the round clash in a bid to use her as a surprise weapon in a gold medal match.
And that coaching move proved a masterclass with Garbin finishing the pick of Australia’s shooters in the 16-goal win over the Roses in the final.
Watch the full one-hour Netball World Cup Review show for Fox Netball on channel 505 from 1pm AEST on Saturday
Koenen also revealed how England’s post-win celebrations added “fire in the belly” for the rematch, which Australia claimed comfortably with a second half demolition of the old rival.
“Stacey and the brains trust were up at all hours every single night looking through footage and doing different things,” Koenen revealed.
“Not being at our best (in the round game loss) … we felt like we saw a lot of the best they had to offer.
“We took so much from this (loss).
“This was pivotal for us – watching this celebration. Really lit a fire under a lot of us I think.
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“There were a few comments made in the media, comments made about us being less physically fit and a team of individuals rather than a good team – so those media stories were circulated amongst our group chat … it was like, ‘oh yep, well when we face them again we’ll just rewrite that story’.”
Koenen said a pre-game message from sidelined Diamond Gretel Bueta helped steady the nerves amid fears they could become the first Diamonds team not to play in a World Cup final.
“I got a message from Gretel and she messaged me before this (final) like … ‘this is the way it happened at Comm Games’. We dropped a game in the rounds and then we came out and won the final – I was like, ‘true Grets, true’,” she said.
“Stacey had spoken about how we hadn’t utilized Sophie in the first game we played and lost to England by one. That was a very deliberate move on her behalf – not letting their defensive line see her and kind of run their structures against her.
“She came out into this (final) and Kippa (Kiera Austin) also did a wealth of work out the front. But Sophie held her own in that circle – she was so confident coming up against Geva (Mentor) and Funmi (Fadoju).
“Anything they threw at her, she just took in her stride. She held her space like no other.”
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Watson recalled feeling positive after the shock one-goal round loss to England knowing her side didn’t play at their best.
“They just came out really strong. It was a grind almost the whole game,” she said.
“We just went away from what we were doing so well. And to only lose by one goal with so much improvement, I knew we could get them. Not in an arrogant way.”
Hadley agreed the loss put a “fire in the belly” saying it was “frustrating” to lose a game within their control.
“It was our game to lose,” she said.
“They obviously celebrated hard.”
Watch the full one-hour Netball World Cup Review show on channel 505 from 1pm AEST on Saturday
