2019 CONSTELLATION CUP AUS v NZ TEST 3 (Sydney)

Most of them played 3rd quarter as well as the 4th. It was Watson who couldn’t run and drive to the circle and was so tired she made errors. Phillip stopped driving and stood still and started to get in the road. Thwaites helped the score be as close as it was. Bruce should have come on in the last quarter as she is stronger than Klau. With 7minutes to go bring on Tippett,Braz to Centre (take off Watson) and at the start of the 4th put Bruce back on . Problem solved. LA can’t read the game.

JR you make a reasonable point about some of the depth players. You do say Austin isn’t getting a chance because of Bassett and Harten. There is an example of one international taking an up and coming Aussies spot. No doubt there are a number of others.

For example in the Grand Final more than half the players were internationals (not Australian). Reducing the experience gained by Aussies in big matches. I love the international flavour in SSN but worry it is impacting the development of young Aussie players.

JR if you are completely correct perhaps it is LA’s selection policy that is the issue e.g. playing Watson at C, playing an out of form Bassett ahead of Thwaites so often.

Something the Diamonds are really missing is leadership on the court. There isn’t anyone in my opinion who really stands up like a Simpson, Geitz etc out there. In those crucial last minutes having an on court leader who can steady them and remind them of the game plan is key. We just don’t have anyone to do that.

Langman is a master of knowing what is happening re the time – example of I think it was the end of the 3rd quarter where there were 4 seconds to go with NZ centre pass and she went to defend the C pass as if it was Aus. Experienced umpires would have called her for time wasting (I’m sure I’ve seen her pulled for this before and they lost the C) and awarded first pass of the next quarter to Aus. I don’t blame her for doing this at all, it is smart play. Same as running that clock in the last minute or so of the game, we don’t seem to be able to do it well at all at the moment.

I thought after game 2 that LA had really improves her decision making around changes etc but this game just shows that she is still rusty on identifying problems. After CWG, WC losses and consistent performance issues in quad and constellation cups I think at least the selection process and game decisions need to be looked at. Watching the Australian attack end at the start of the game really impressed me at how quickly they’d gone from the team with a mass of TOs in the first two games and then the rest of the game went back to that. I don’t know who was keeping stats and decided that Weston only had one TO but I’m sure I saw her throw at least two balls away in the last half. Personally I would’ve brought Bruce on at GD in the third and let her hunt the ball in the midcourt and force the ferns to change things up. In the last test I’d like to see Watson play at WA however that means Price or Shcerian will be in C and that means that Cbass will probably be GS for the connection when Thwaites dominated Watson. I’d have Tippet GA and encourage Thwaites to take the long bombs since the defenders won’t be able to out rebound Tippet provided she’s in the right position. I also agree with others as good as Price and Brazill are we need someone like Gabi Simpson in the team. Cbass is quite uninspiring, it’s not good to have your captain throw their arms up in the air after a TO while everyone else tries to get the ball back. It’s important to note how relatively low capped this team is. The two most experienced players both play GS and one of them is very hot and cold. We don’t have a Langman or Geitz who steps up and lifts at the right moment but the ferns do and I’m sure with time Bruce, Weston, Watson etc can get there but right now I think selecting Simpson at the expense of JLP or Braz would’ve helped. By that same token this series is about gaining experience and testing things out so it’s not imperative that we absolutely dominate either. It’s a shame Proud injured herself because she’s the sort of player who would be a great leader and is able to go toe to toe with Langman, she’s gutsy and we’d still be developing someone new as well as allowing Watson to play WA at international level.

Interesting comment Allie. Liz W is Vice Captain, and she’s VC at Vixens (ditto Thwaites).

Great articles Ian, thanks for posting them.