2022 Commonwealth Games – Day 7 (Aug 4)

Mcleod I have to disagree with your comments on Johnson! If you compare the stats, both Johnson and Karaka sit on 6 gains each, with both having 2 intercepts but Johnson has 9 deflections compared to Karaka’s 4! In fact, Johnson sits second in the Ferns team for deflections! I don’t think it’s fair for you to say she offers nothing when she is clearly getting hands on ball for her team.

With NZ I’d say a medal of any colour will exceed the initial expectations, Noel’s has said that its a lead up to NWC where they’ll be all guns firing.

4th is not a disgrace with the level of competition and their squad strength. Its a better result than last games.

I personally always find that NWC is a much higher accolade than CWG out of the 2 main tournaments.

If it wasn’t for covid the rankings would be different I reckon. Aussie would not be number 1 as having lost the last two major events. England would prob be 1. NZ could be ranked 4th even though their reigning WC. So a 4th place wouldn’t be below their actual ranking?

Anything other than gold for Diamonds would be trashed by Socials. Real netball followers wouldn’t be so shocked as they know the strength of the top 4 team atm.

Surprising how the gap has opened back up from 5th through 7th? Yes SA were missing a few keys but they didn’t look competitive. Malawi and Uganda were competitive but couldn’t sustain.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by Nate.

Yep for sure imports will be a huge talking point either way. If Aussie win gold then see we have the best league in the world and doesn’t matter the amount of imports. They lose and yes there’s too many and the reason why Jamaica and England have become so much better (which isn’t far from the truth).

Just because someone trains against them each week doesn’t mean they can get the better of them, right? Everyone knows to shut Fowler down you have to shut the feed down because no defender can match her for height. FYI I’m not a Bruce fan at all and agree with previous comments about her reactions and behaviours.

Interesting that Crampton struggled on the feed to Nweke, led (if not, very high in the stats) feeds/assists in ANZ, but was very hesitant to give the ball.
The combination between Souness and Crampton not quite there either.
I have to say, there was a few selections of Noels that I didn’t agree with, two that have proven me wrong are TPSR and Heffernan.

You have to remember that this tournament is a marathon not a sprint – i mean this in the sense that careful pacing is required. If you empty the tank in pool play, you can’t give 100% in the knock out stages when every single game is truly a must-win. People keep saying you should always aim to win every game, as if the ferns and DNT didn’t try. They bloody tried but they had a game plan and a limit on what they were willing to give within the context of a pool stage match – may be that’s how many minutes each players were put out on court or a limit to a certain strategy of play. That’s because humans have a finite amount of physical and mental capacity they can expend over a 9-10 day tournament, so yes, you do need to sometimes rest your best player if you think they will become exhausted because muscle takes time to recover. In the knock out stages, your priorities do change, so yes, you keep pushing them harder because conserving energy for the next game is a lesser priority. And that’s why the fitness standards are important… B-)

Having coached in NZ and Australia Rob Wright has the knowledge to really assist Jamaica, and it’s showing. We have to remember that one of the defensive SF combinations is the Mystics defence end and he’s their assistant coach. Likewise Nweke at GS.

SM has had a real media bashing after Australia’s loss to Jamaica. I know the comments already been made above about waiting for people to say that SSN has had an impact but I agree with those that say it has. After all both Jamaica and England players have benefited from playing in the SSN against the Diamonds and its certainly showing which makes it increasingly hard for Diamonds to put up anything new. Jamaica would have gone into that last game knowing that the Diamonds D wouldn’t be able to match up on Fowler, thats a massive boost before a game even begins.

I’ve expect Jamaica to take Gold or Silver since before the games began, although I was a little unsure about their midcourt, and I’m still expecting them to.
As a NZ’er I would accept a fourth placing at these games, its not as though everyone isn’t giving the best they can.