2022 Commonwealth Games – Day 7 (Aug 4)

Klau was played in part of the last quarter

Jamaica deserved the win. They wanted it and went for it.

Australia went into their shells. There needed to be a change in the Diamonds shooting circle. Also, SM seems a little immune to taking Bruce off the court.

Moloney was solid but when the game was on the line was MIA. That’s standard Moloney. Wouldn’t have minded Austin on at WA and Watson to C.

Tough road for the Aussies now.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by Tully.

What a collapse from the Diamonds attack end, especially from our senior players. Wood and Watson were just so tentative, and Moloney has never really been an option on attack so from there it completely crumbled. I know it’s been said a million times but the Diamonds really needed Proud (or a healthy Hadley), there was just no chance when Watson went off the boil.

Amazing effort from Jamaica. They lifted the intensity in defence and were so disciplined in attack at the end. Beckford’s decision making has improved immensely. Hopefully they didn’t peak too early and play their grand final today, based on today’s performance they should be in the gold medal match.

I’m not too concerned about the Diamonds coming up against NZL or England, they’re pretty much as good as each other. This loss could actually be good for them. Better to collapse in a pool game than in the final like the last CWG.

Also, how many goals did Bueta shoot in the last quarter?

I’ve warmed to Stacey Marinkovich as a coach; I think her approach to the Quad Series was excellent and I’ve been fine with most of her rotations this tournament. But she still is not good at responding to what’s happening on court the way coaches like Akle and Taurua are. Also it’s easy to say now after losing, but I don’t think there’s an obvious difference between NZ and England right now, so I definitely would have liked to have seen a few more of our players tested against Jamaica in preparation for finals. What good will making the gold medal match be if Stacey isn’t prepared to bring on Koenen or Austin on if/when the attack gets stagnant? Or Klau early enough to make a difference?

I still think this is a really good team, but that last quarter was very worrying.

Hahah good to know someone else is on the same page!
Although fantastic point about SM not being able to respond to what’s happening in front of her.
I feel she was the same at Fever and that’s why they never were able to take it all the way under her. Worrying signs come the medal matches!