Australia national netball team

The Australia national netball team, commonly known as the Australian Diamonds (or Origin Diamonds for sponsorship reasons) represent Australia in international netball tests and competitions. The team was formed in 1938 and played that year in the first international game of netball against New Zealand.

Australia

Nickname(s)	Diamonds
Association	Netball Australia
Head coach	Vacant
Captain	Caitlin Bassett
Most caps	Liz Ellis (122)
INF ranking	1
Team colours Alternate
First international
Australia  40 – 11  New Zealand Melbourne, 1938
Largest win
Australia  113 - 12  Singapore Sydney, 1991
Largest defeat
New Zealand  61 - 36  Australia Auckland, 2005
World Championships
Appearances	15 (Debuted in 1963)
2019 placing	2nd
Titles won	11
Commonwealth Games
Appearances	6 (Debuted in 1998)
2018 placing	2nd
Best result	First (1998, 2002, 2014)

The Diamonds are administered by Netball Australia, the national governing body for netball in Australia. Players are usually selected from the Australian Suncorp Super Netball franchises. The team is presently captained by Giants Netball shooter Caitlin Bassett.

History

The Australia national netball team originates in 1934, when female players participating in what was then known as women's basketball at a national carnival in Brisbane, were later selected for the sport's first international match against New Zealand in Melbourne on 20 August 1938.[1] The outbreak of the Second World War delayed a three-match tour of New Zealand to 1948, which the Australian side won handsomely against their trans-tasman opponents.[1] Their first match against non-Kiwi opposition occurred in 1956, when the team played a Sri Lankan composite side on the way to a staggering 57-game tour of the United Kingdom, which featured tests against Scotland and England, of which the latter was played before 5,000 people at Wembley Stadium.[1]

Australia and England during a test match in 2008

The sport harmonised its rules in time for the inaugural World Championships in 1963, which Australia won.[1] The Diamonds dominance of international netball continued thereafter, winning 11 of the next 14 World Championship (since renamed the Netball World Cup) titles and coming second only to New Zealand. Since netball's inclusion in the Commonwealth Games in 1998, the Diamonds have won three gold medals, having lost twice in finals to New Zealand and once (quite recently in 2018) to England. Their historical success has ensured their number one ranking in the INF World Rankings.

Australia's fiercest rival in the sport is New Zealand, nicknamed the Silver Ferns. As of October 2013, the two nations had met in 115 test matches with just 13 victories separating the teams.[2] Then national team coach Norma Plummer labelled it "the one game you want to play in...it's exhilarating because it's the best in the world, nothing else beats it."[2] Famous Australian wins over the Silver Ferns include a five-goal win at the 1983 World Championships and a memorable one-goal win with seconds to spare in the final of the 1999 tournament, which was played in Christchurch before a hostile audience.[3] The Diamonds have won eight of nine Constellation Cups between the nations. The team has met the Silver Ferns in several World Cup finals, winning the gold medal match in Sydney in 2015 but losing the equivalent match in Liverpool four years later.

In more recent years, Australia have developed a keen rivalry with the England Roses. The Roses' thrilling win over the Diamonds in the final match of the 2018 Commonwealth Games was labelled "the biggest gold medal upset in the history of the Commonwealth Games" by The Australian.[4]

Prior to 2008 the team was simply known as the Australian national netball team. In the second half of the year Netball Australia formally adopted the nickname the Diamonds, a concept familiar to most other Australian sporting teams, including the women's national basketball team, the Opals.[5] Lisa Alexander took over as head coach from former national team player Norma Plummer in August 2011.[6] Alexander’s tenure ended in March 2020. She was the most capped Diamonds coach, managing the team for 102 test matches.[7] A new coach will be appointed later in the year.

When competing at the Fast5 Netball World Series, the team is referred to as the Fast5 Flyers.[8]

Competitive record

Netball World Cup
Year	Championship	Location	Placing
1963	1st World Championships	Eastbourne, England	1st
1967	2nd World Championships	Perth, Australia	2nd
1971	3rd World Championships	Kingston, Jamaica	1st
1975	4th World Championships	Auckland, New Zealand	1st
1979	5th World Championships	Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago	Joint 1st
1983	6th World Championships	Singapore	1st
1987	7th World Championships	Glasgow, Scotland	Joint 2nd
1991	8th World Championships	Sydney, Australia	1st
1995	9th World Championships	Birmingham, England	1st
1999	10th World Championships	Christchurch, New Zealand	1st
2003	11th World Championships	Kingston, Jamaica	2nd
2007	12th World Championships	Auckland, New Zealand	1st
2011	13th World Championships	Singapore	1st
2015	14th World Cup	Sydney, Australia	1st
2019	15th World Cup	Liverpool, England	2nd

Netball at the Commonwealth Games
Year	Games	Event	Location	Placing
1998	XVI Games	1st Netball	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	1st
2002	XVII Games	2nd Netball	Manchester, England	1st
2006	XVIII Games	3rd Netball	Melbourne, Australia	2nd
2010	XIX Games	4th Netball	Delhi, India	2nd
2014	XX Games	5th Netball	Glasgow, Scotland	1st
2018	XXI Games	6th Netball	Gold Coast, Australia	2nd

Fast5 World Netball Series
Year	Tournament	Location	Placing
2009	1st World Series	Manchester, England	3rd
2010	2nd World Series	Liverpool, England	4th
2011	3rd World Series	Liverpool, England	3rd
2012	4th World Series	Auckland, New Zealand	sixth
2013	5th World Series	Auckland, New Zealand	2nd
2014	6th World Series	Auckland, New Zealand	2nd
2016	7th World Series	Melbourne, Australia	2nd
2017	8th World Series	Melbourne, Australia	3rd
2018	9th World Series	Melbourne, Australia	3rd

Netball at the World Games
Year	Games	Event	Location	Placing
1985	2nd World Games	1st Netball	London, England	2nd
1989	3rd World Games	2nd Netball	Karlsruhe, Germany	2nd
1993	4th World Games	3rd Netball	The Hague, Netherlands	1st

Players

Current Diamonds Squad

The current roster was selected for the 2019 Constellation Cup.[9]

Australian Diamonds roster
Players	Coaches
Name Pos DOB Height Club Nat Caps Caitlin Bassett (c) GS 23/05/1988 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) Giants Netball 100 Ashleigh Brazill WD, C 29/12/1989 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) Collingwood Magpies 8 Courtney Bruce GK, GD 08/12/1993 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) West Coast Fever 36 Paige Hadley C, WA, WD 26/8/1992 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) New South Wales Swifts 28 Sarah Klau GK, GD 30/9/1994 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) New South Wales Swifts 9 Tegan Philip GA, GS 3/09/1988 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) Melbourne Vixens 15 Jamie-Lee Price WD, C 10/01/1996 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) Giants Netball 13 Laura Scherian WA, C 26/07/1988 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in) Sunshine Coast Lightning 4 Caitlin Thwaites GS, GA 29/12/1986 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Melbourne Vixens 55 Gretel Tippett GA, GS, WA 03/07/1993 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Queensland Firebirds 36 Maddy Turner GD, WD, GK 17/12/1995 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) New South Wales Swifts 1 Liz Watson (vc) WA, C 30/03/1994 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) Melbourne Vixens 44 Joanna Weston GD, WD, GK 14/02/1994 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Melbourne Vixens 38	Head coach Lisa Alexander Assistant coach Clare Ferguson & Megan Anderson Notes (c) – Captain (cc) – Co-captain (vc) – Vice-captain – Injury / maternity leave (TRP) – Temporary Replacement Player
Player profiles: Team website	Last updated: 19/09/2019

Notable past players

• Liz Ellis AM: Most capped Australian Netball player with 122 test caps. Liz has commentated the majority of Netball matches played in Australia for the ANZ Championship and the Constellation Cup since 2008. Ellis is currently a Wide World of Sports commentator for the Suncorp Super Netball league.
• Sharelle McMahon: Represented Australia in 118 tests spanning 14 years. Known for shooting the final-second winning shot in the 1999 Netball World Cup final. Sharelle is currently a 9/Gem Commentator for the Suncorp Super Netball league.
• Catherine Cox: Accumulated 108 Test caps and more than 2000 goals for Australia. Cath is currently a 9/Gem Commentator for the Suncorp Super Netball league.
• Norma Plummer: Former player and captain and is the former coach of the Australian Diamonds and of the West Coast Fever. She is the current coach of the SPAR Proteas
• Vicki Wilson: Has 104 test caps to her name. Coach of the Firebirds 2006–2009, was a commentator for Network Ten and an assistant coach of New Zealand.
• Kathryn Harby-Williams: Fierce defender for Australia with 94 test caps.
• Rosalie Jencke: Defender for Australia with 43 test caps. Current coach of the Queensland Firebirds.
• Shelley O'Donnell: Played for Australia for 10 years with 80 test caps.
• Anne Sargeant OAM: Shooter for Australia. 52 test caps to her name in a period with many fewer annual test matches compared to 2001–2013. Anne is currently a 9/Gem Commentator for the Suncorp Super Netball league and is the selector for the national team.
• Michelle den Dekker: Defender for Australia with 84 test caps and was captain in 1985–86 and from 1988–95. Den Dekker was also the coach of the Thunderbirds[10] and has been a specialist coach for the national team as well.
• Natalie von Bertouch: Mid-courter for Australia with 76 tests and captain from 2010-2013.
• Sharni Layton: Defender for Australia with 46 tests caps.

Most-capped Australian netballers

Source: Past Players (Netball Australia)

Name	Test Caps	State	Test Team Years
Liz Ellis	122	NSW	1993–2007
Sharelle McMahon	118	VIC	1998–2011
Catherine Cox	108	NSW	1997, 2000–2013
Vicki Wilson	104	QLD	1985–1999
Caitlin Bassett	100	WA	2008–Present
Kathryn Harby-Williams	94	SA	1990, 1992–2003
Carissa Tombs	91	NSW	1989–1999
Natalie Medhurst	86	SA	2007–Present
Michelle den Dekker	84	SA	1985–1986, 1988–1995
Shelley O'Donnell	80	VIC	1990–1999
Natalie von Bertouch	76	SA	2004–2013
Kimberlee Green	74	NSW	2008–2015
Laura Geitz	71	QLD	2008–2018
Susan Pettitt	71	NSW	2006–2018

Kit suppliers

Australia's kits are supplied by Coast2Coast. The team sponsors are Samsung, Nissan, Suncorp and Woolworths.[11]

Home Courts

The Diamonds use many different home courts around Australia. The courts they most commonly use are:

Venue	Capacity	City
Qudos Bank Arena	18,200	Sydney
RAC Arena	14,846	Perth
Brisbane Entertainment Centre	11,000	Brisbane
Adelaide Entertainment Centre	10,500	Adelaide
Melbourne Arena	10,500	Melbourne
AIS Arena	5,200	Canberra

See also

• Constellation Cup
• Netball in Australia

References

1. "Australian Diamonds History". Netball Australia. Archived from the original on 12 July 2018.
2. "Diamonds vs Silver Ferns: Old foes' biggest rivalry". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 October 2013.
3. "Nothing bigger than Diamonds against the Silver Ferns". The Australian. 14 October 2017.
4. "Commonwealth Games 2018: Netball final ends in misery for devastated Diamonds". The Australian. 15 April 2018.
5. Lulham, Amanda (9 September 2008). "Our girl's dazzling new look". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
6. "Alexander is new Australia netball coach". The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 August 2011.
7. "Australian Diamonds Coach To Step Aside". Netball Australia. 11 February 2020.
8. http://netball.com.au/team/australian-fast5-flyers/
9. "Samsung Diamonds Constellation Cup Team Announced". Netball Australia. 18 September 2019.
10. http://netball.com.au/thunderbirds-appoint-den-dekker-new-coach/
11. Samsung Diamonds

External links

• Official team website
• Netball Australia website