As far as national squads go, the 2024/25 Australian Diamonds is an important one. They are at the start of a four year cycle building towards a home World Cup at the end of it, with the event to be played in Sydney during Netball Australia’s 100th anniversary year.
With so much on the line, the selectors have had to juggle rewarding those who’ve campaigned so successfully in the past and are still at the peak of their game, adding in new players who will challenge for a place in the 12, and trying to cover contingencies from retirements to injury.
National coach Stacey Marinkovich shares some frank insights on her selections.
You have had some massive achievements in your first four year cycle, including gold at the most recent Commonwealth Games and Netball World Cup, although there have been a few losses sprinkled in there. In this current cycle, Australia will hold a home World Cup in 2027 – does that change your planning at all?
We are in a slightly different phase as we have a bit more time. When I first came into the job we had two years from that first appointment effectively, this time it’s the full four years. Our list has a really good blend of youth and experience which creates a competitive environment, and makes sure we have a ready made list of players in case some players don’t go the distance to the World Cup.
At the same time, if there’ s a lot of retirees after the World Cup, we are continuing to make sure the Diamonds have sustained success with really smooth transition of players.
Having a home World Cup is much more encompassing than playing overseas. You want to be able to connect with your community, to showcase the sport in the best way. So there’s the performance on the court, but there’s also the interaction and role that players and staff need to have off the court.
Diamonds celebrate with their NWC 2023 banner. Image – Aliesha Vicars
There is a different kind of pressure that comes with a home World Cup, and of the players, only Paige (Hadley) has had that experience before. How do you handle the challenges that go with that pressure?
You are fortunate every time you put a Diamonds’ uniform on – you are in an environment that comes with expectation, so the athletes have a good understanding of pressure.
But obviously it will be different, more loved ones around, more familiar spectators. So it will create an atmosphere for the players, but the expectation is also more, as opposed to when you are tucked away in South Africa with a smaller group of people around you.
There’s obviously going to be some psychology around it, plus being really clear on our roles and responsibilities, our systems, how that’s going to evolve or change. We will work through that at as a group. The best thing to be able to do is table all those thoughts and feelings, and work through what we need to put in place to allow us to focus on the task at hand.
We also need to embrace a pretty significant and special occasion.
You have three new inclusions: Hannah Mundy, Georgie Horjus and Ash Ervin.
The exciting part of the youth that we’ve brought into the squad is that they’ve shown they can play against world class athletes across their SSN experience. Their new challenge point becomes consistency and international competition against various styles of play.
We have to get them into our training environment to see them in the Diamonds context, playing in different partnerships and under different strategies, because it goes to a different level of intensity and speed of game.
We see what that looks like for those players, then progress to debut with the support of experienced players around them.
I liked what you said before the interview started, that your responsibility is not just to have success at the World Cup but to look towards the future of Australian netball as well. Sport is cyclical and your squad appears to have overlapping youth and experience to cope with the unexpected.
We’ve certainly made sure that we don’t just bring in a group of youth and take away our experience, because the reality is our experienced players are absolutely flying in the SSN at the moment.
I don’t select based on age. Age just brings an awareness that you track the players and their performances, and make sure that their bodies are robust. Equally, you don’t leave players out because they are youthful. If they are ready to step up and challenge, then we want to be prepared to put them out on court.
We have some great young talent that needs to be polished, and some experienced players are continuing to lead the way.
Hannah Mundy has been impressive for the Vixens. Image Clinton Bradbury/Bradbury Photography
Mundy is is thriving this year, particularly now that she’s having more court time. What has she added to her game?
Hannah’s got such variety in her movement, she’s a strong and powerful athlete, the way she can change direction, get depth and hit the circle edge. The consistency of her execution with the pass has improved and we are seeing those strong performances.
We saw how significant Horjus has become as a player when the Thunderbirds attack end struggled without her last weekend. What has stood out to you about her?
This is Georgie’s second strong year in the SSN and we’ve seen her take her opportunities in Fast5 and perform in an international competition. She’s very similar to a Steph Fretwell; great playmaker, great handler of the ball, and is prepared to go to post at goal attack. At wing attack she finds good space on court.
I’m really excited to work with Georgie and to see how we can take those game smarts and put it in amongst our group and make it a real strength.
There has been some discussion about whether Georgie’s height (172cm) is a limitation, but she also trains regularly against the Jamaican defence, so she is potentially adding tools to her game against them.
While people talk about Georgie’s height, I haven’t seen it hinder her ability to contribute or impact on a game. We will see what it looks like in our international competition, but that’s the point of adding her to the squad. To challenge what happens in the SSN, and how that transfers to our environment and the international court.
Georgie Horjus gets the shot up, despite defensive pressure. Image: Hannah Howard/On the Ball media.
Ash Ervin troubled Grace Nweke at Fast5 last year, and took a big step up against Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard last weekend. By bringing her into the group, you have the option of running Courtney Bruce or Sarah Klau at goal defence and Jo Weston at wing defence, giving you a really tall defence.
That is the point. Goal keepers are becoming a lot more versatile, they are playing across the goal defence position as well and Ash does have a presence in the circle. She does need to continue to build the strength and power that comes with the evolution from a youthful athlete to an experienced one.
Ash Ervin is continuing a wonderful season. Image: Kylie at CBK Photography
There’s always unfortunately a few players that miss out – this year it was Maddy Proud and Ruby Bakewell-Doran who were cut. What are your thoughts on their omission.
With Maddy, it’s one of those occasions where there is a huge amount of depth and competition across that midcourt. We’ve got a blanket of players of similar age groups so we need to look for the next layer to come through and challenge. Unfortunately, I can’t take everyone. Maddy is working really hard recovering from her knee injury and we will continue to support and connect with Swifts around that.
It’s similar with Ruby. We have changed the balance of the squad – we’ve added another goal keeper with some height which could see some of our existing players move forwards. We needed to balance the squad, because otherwise we are goal defence heavy so we had to find a way to get our numbers right. Again, we will have those feedback discussions with Ruby, and continue to work with Firebirds on her development plan.
You’ve included two invitees – Em Mannix and Lucy Austin, who are at opposite ends of the experience scale. Mannix is having a great season and has previous Diamonds experience. Is she a ready made addition if there is an injury to a key defender?
We’ve changed the structure of how we use the invitee. It’s really purposeful in the exposure that they get – it’s not a one-off occasion. They get the opportunity to show that their domestic skills are transferable into the Diamonds.
Emily is having a standout year, showing that she can impact across two positions, and for us, we want to see more. We’ve had some strong performing combinations in the Diamonds environment, so now what does her involvement look like amongst those players, and do we elevate her into the squad or to continue to strengthen her relationship with the defenders.
Lucy Austin has put a lot of work into her game and conditioning over the past two years, although unfortunately isn’t getting as much court time this year.
Lucy did an incredible amount of work and also played very strongly for us in the Fast5 competition. She’s shown she’s got the athleticism, a shot that she can take from anywhere in the circle. Whilst she’s playing a specific role for Thunderbirds and is having varying court time, by having her as an invitee, we can get our hands on her and set a connected development programme with her SSN club.
We can also see how we can assist her progression, so she continues to be part of our pathway because she has got some very strong attributes. Working with some experienced players around her will help her game to improve further.
You lost two players to retirement who you will need to find alternatives for – goal attack Steph Fretwell and wing defence Ash Brazill. In the shooting circle Kiera Austin has really stepped up in a successful Vixens outfit, but it’s perhaps been harder for Sophie Dwyer in a team that’s struggling.
I have a really different opinion to the outside world in terms of some player’s performances. We’ve had some good communication with Sophie, and Julie (Fitzgerald) is a huge supporter of the Diamonds. There are attributes that Sophie has been focusing on in her game that I can see are really developing.
We can get caught up in the win/loss or a particular stat, but there’s a lot more to the game and she is taking some really good steps. We have to take a SSN performance for what it is, but then we have to transfer it to that Diamonds context and playing with different players around her.
We saw at Nations Cup Sophie transitioned really nicely and showed strong development, and I don’t see that’s gone backwards. We will see where we continue to target her continued growth when we come back together.
Stacey Marinkovich has positive views on Sophie Dwyer’s game. Image: May Bailey/Netball Scoop
That philosophy really paid off with Sophie Garbin, who played out of position last year at Collingwood and struggled at times, raising some eyebrows when you selected her for the World Cup. However, she played a key role for Australia and has gone from strength to strength since.
Absolutely. Every year, you see the girls taking strides in different ways. Sophie is now looking very comfortable in the Vixens environment in the goal shooter role, she’s in great physical shape, she’s adding a lot of strings to her bow. I’m really pleased with how that combination (with Kiera Austin) is growing.
Sophie Garbin has been in brilliant form for the Vixens. Image: May Bailey/Clusterpix Sports Photography
Ash Brazill played some centre, but she was predominantly a wing defence. In the current Diamonds group, you have wing attacks and wing defences who play a range of positions. Is there still room in the game for one position specialists?
I’m not adverse to a specialist, and particularly if they are the number one player in that position, so you keep your view open because of what they can contribute. We’ve still selected a specialist wing defence in Amy Parmenter. She can play centre, we don’t see it as much, but her strength is across wing defence. When she is up and flying, she is getting really good ball.
However, in the marquee events you have to weigh up how you balance load across the tournament. A one position player has to take a fair bit of load given they don’t have the versatility to slide into others.
The game is also too quick with the way substitutions are being run now, so you need versatile players that can give you enough of a change against different opposition. The reality is that we don’t have time to practice a thousand different strategies within our camps, so most players have to be able to impact in different ways and across a few positions.
One of the exciting aspects of your job is looking at emerging talent and we are finally seeing the Under 21 programme take shape again after Covid. How do you work in with Cathy Fellowes to build players with the strengths you will need down the track for the Diamonds, in particular those who are already playing SSN and making the most of the court time they are getting.
I haven’t really worked with Cathy in a coaching capacity, so I’m really keen to get her views and understand her lens of the game. There’s one part that we want to build – we want to work the younger athletes towards the Diamonds style of playing that we have, but the other side to it is, that I really do rely on Cathy, Michelle Wilkins and Anita Keelan who are working across that pathway, to understand what talent, and what kind of talent, is coming through.
There’s a way in which we want to play, but if we have different skills and strengths coming through, then we will need to adapt our game plan to make sure we accentuate the skill sets that are there. So it’s a two way conversation and we will work together with what is in our system, what works in international netball, and how we get that blend of their strengths with the Australian way of playing that has served us successfully through many different generations.
What lies between the SSN and the internationals later in the year.
Everyone will have a good break – the players need time to breathe as they’ve had a couple of big years. We will have a camp a few weeks after the SSN finishes, for court work and to keep working on our culture and connections. From there, players will go back into training hubs in their home states, until it’s time for the test series.
Marinkovich giving instructions during the 2023 Netball World Cup. Image: Danny Dalton | Tah Dah Sports
