NS Review: Diamonds v Roses series wrap

RESULTS

Test 1 – Adelaide: Aus 70 def Eng 57

Aus:
Sophie Garbin 46/48 (96%)
Kiera Austin 24/26 (92%)
Total: 70/74 (95%)

Eng:
Helen Housby 26/26 (100%)
Liv Tchine 20/20 (100%)
Eleanor Cardwell 7/7 (100%)
Lois Pearson 4/5 (80%)
Total: 57/58 (98%)

MVP: Sarah Klau (4 gains, 6 deflections, 4 pickups)

Test 2 – Sydney: Eng 61 def Aus 59

Aus:
Sophie Garbin 24/25 (96%)
Kiera Austin 19/22 (86%)
Cara Koenen 16/19 (84%)
Total: 59/66 (89%)

Eng:
Liv Tchine 32/34 (94%)
Helen Housby 29/33 (88%)
Total: 61/67 (91%)

MVP: Funmi Fadoju (8 gains, 12 deflections)

 

Test 3 – Bendigo: Aus 69 def Eng 56

Aus:
Sophie Garbin 43/47 (91%)
Kiera Austin 24/29 (82%)
Sophie Dwyer 2/2 (100%) 
Total: 69/78 (88%)

Eng:
Liv Tchine 39/40 (98%)
Helen Housby 15/17 (88%)
Berri Neil 2/2 (100%)
Total: 56/59 (94%)

MVP: Keira Austin (15 goal assists, three gains, two intercepts)

Player of the Series: Kiera Austin

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MATCH SUMMARIES

Test 1

Australia had an authoritative 13-goal win in the first test in Adelaide, with their fast hands and feet and excellent judgement on the pass keeping England at bay. During a nervous start, both sets of defenders were able to get their hands to the ball. It was the Diamonds who kept their heads and settled first, taking 13 possession gains to the Roses’ six during the game. England languished early with only 57% of centre passes converted to goals in the first quarter (that stat dropping to as low as 40 in the first half). 

The Vixens goaling combination of Sophie Garbin and Keira Austin were slick and reliable throughout the match, shooting at 95%. Meanwhile, England captain Fran Williams delivered a strong game at goal defence, cunningly covering a variety of the Aussie’s well-known moves. 

The Australian defensive combination of Sarah Klau and Sunday Aryang worked a treat. Both set the tone early to put the Roses on the back foot from halfway through the second quarter, forcing them to keep switching up their attack end. The pair combined for three intercepts, six pickups and six gains. Player of the match Klau had a masterful game, her fantastic footwork leaving Eleanor Cardwell no space on the baseline, creating doubt and risky feeds. 

The Roses’ second half combination in attack proved more competitive, with goal shooter Olivia Tchine shooting 20 perfect goals, and debutant Lois Pearson looking comfortable at wing attack. 

 

Test 2

The Roses levelled the series with an exciting two goal win in the second test in Sydney. Having experimented with various positions and combinations in Adelaide, England’s confident starting seven was able to dictate to the world number one Diamonds. The Roses attacking line of Liv Tchine, Helen Housby, Lois Pearson, and Imogen Allison were unchanged for the full 60 mins, and their connection stayed solid. Housby in particular showed outstanding tenacity, reliability and leadership.

Player of the match Funmi Fadoju proved she is not just an impact player, starting at goal defence and dominating in all sections of the court with eight gains. In-form Diamonds goal attack Keira Austin had a magnificent performance again, despite the Aussie front line never looking completely comfortable.

Neither team could string together more than four consecutive goals, nor build more than a four goal lead. Australia did seem to gather momentum with ramped up defensive intensity in the second quarter giving them a 10-5 run to gain a slim lead at half time. However, with a series of impressive direct attacking plays, headlined by Allison and Tchine, the Roses timed their late 7-3 run perfectly to win for just the third time on Australian soil. 

 

Test 3

Australia returned to their game one squad and again delivered a 13-goal winning margin to ultimately seal a series victory. However, unlike game one, the Diamonds were pushed all the way with the Roses pulling back the goal deficit several times in the opening three quarters. 

Australia’s ability to apply a full-court defence was the difference, with their two goal attacks Austin (3) and Sophie Dwyer (1) contributing gains to the scoresheet. This added pressure freed up Sunday Aryang and Sarah Klau to play more on the body and create confusion for the English feeders. 

England showed the depth of their mid-court talent by blooding another wing attack. Jess Shaw made her debut just before half time and immediately made an impact: In her three minutes on court in the second quarter, she put in two feeds, took one centre and drew retaliation from Jamie-Lee Price, resulting in the Aussie WD getting a warning. Shaw’s stats for the second half were very impressive as she shouldered much of the feeding and centre receive weight, allowing teammate Helen Housby to be the linking playmaker. 

England’s ability to convert won ball really let them down in Test 3. Of their six gains they only turned one into a goal. By comparison, Australia converted eight of their won ten. 

 

 

WHAT WORKED

The mobile defence circle for the Diamonds was refreshing and effective. The penalties were kept relatively low (44, 54 and 49 total team penalties for each game), but their gains were high. Aryang and Klau were able to seamlessly switch between holding on the body and coming off for the fly. Aryang’s elusive floating style of defence allowed her to get arms to deflections, pickups and intercepts by attacking the pass while simultaneously keeping off the umpire’s radar (she collected a tidy 24 penalties across the series). 

Diamonds’ circle defence was less effective in game two, with the loss of Jamie-Lee Price and Paige Hadley a factor in the midcourt. Their return to the starting team for game three paid dividends. The key for Australia was a combination of the midcourt pair blocking the top of the circle, and with the circle defenders double-teaming the leads across the circle face to the pocket. If the doubling wasn’t available, Sarah Klau did a fine job of hedging between the feeder’s lead and Tchine, who seemed slightly less decisive in the final test.

 

 

The shooting stats for the series were world class. Tchine’s 91 goals scored at an incredible 97%, while Garbin nailed 113 shots at a rate of 94% being reflective of an amazing domestic season. Both goal shooters were dominant in the air, used a variety of holds and leads, and were at least outwardly calm. The difference for Australia was the faith and connection that have evolved between Garbin and Austin, now with Australia’s two best veteran feeders, while the Roses front line is still getting to know each other and do not spend as much time working together.

Both teams flourished when they could gain momentum through the midcourt. The Diamonds did this more consistently in the first and third tests – Watson and Austin were quick to balance off the centre pass and get excellent depth on second phase, and in the goal third the flat passing into space demonstrated the way Australia’s leads and passes create space as a unit. With very few ball handling errors, the home team kept firmly within the same channels down court and only swung the ball when their teammate had completely slipped the Roses defence. 

The Roses’ victory in the second test was a great milestone and key mark of the strengthening of England netball. It reflected a team that now can build its own confidence and quickly learn its own lessons in a very tough tour against the world champions. One year on from their last win over Australia in Cape Town, their players are smarter and stronger, their coaches fresh and full of inspiration. With this taste of success you can be sure that the Roses are going to continue to step up and challenge the top nations.

 

 

 

WHAT WAS CHALLENGING

In the first test, the Roses struggled with their centre pass conversion (with it sitting as low as 40% in the early stages). Without Nat Metcalf, Jade Clarke or Chelsea Pitman, the Roses have a relatively young midcourt who lack experience and punch. The Diamonds did a good job of exploiting this and forced the Roses to feed from off the circle or attempt off-balance and risky passes. When Pearson was injected at wing attack, she brought extra height and more slick movement which helped. However, with Jamie-Lee Price dominating Pearson in the third test, debutant Jess Shaw struggled to mix up her pace and was too frequently off balance to keep the ball moving fluently.

With all the main four shooters of the series shooting at above 87% in a minimum of 10 quarters played each, were the defenders doing enough to create rebounds? Were the attackers simply too smart with their use of feeders and the selection of shots? Certainly there were few long-range attempts, totalling 5/7 for England and 3/4 for Australia, out of the more than 300 goals in the three matches, showing the intent to make each attempt count. The New Zealand umpires did not overly penalise any players and there was only one intimidation call – perhaps there is room for more use of tactics to unsettle the shooters, especially with officials from a country renowned for fantastic defence of the shot.

England’s fantastic switching from one-on-one to split circle defence in the second test was their weakness in the third. By keeping Williams and Fadoju back too far, Fadoju’s useful unpredictability and athleticism were less influential. The Australians could effectively play three-on-two outside the circle to easily create momentum and get to circle edge, whereupon Garbin was found holding backspace or lunging forward, and Austin elusively complimented her shooter’s moves.

 

 

KEY PLAYERS

Kiera Austin really stood up in this series for the Diamonds. In the past, she has sometimes struggled with consistency, but in this series, she put three strong games together and was a worthy winner of the Player of the Series award. Austin has well and truly claimed the spot of leading goal attack in the Australian side, and her combination with Sophie Garbin, continues to go from strength to strength. Even in the second test when the Australian attack struggled somewhat, Austin did a huge amount of work. 

Sarah Klau led the Australian defence end superbly in the absence of Courtney Bruce and Jo Weston. She was well supported by Sunday Aryang. In just 30 test caps and at the age of 23, Aryang is quickly becoming a key cog in the Diamond’s defensive unit, able to work quite well with both Klau and Bruce which will be a card that Marinkovich will keep up her sleeve when needed.

 

 

One of the takeaways from an Australian Diamonds perspective was the importance of Paige Hadley and Jamie-Lee Price in the line-up. Hadley underlined her status as the leading Diamonds centre in this series, while Price’s ability to win the ball back before it gets to the goal circle was unmatched. Her absence in the second test was noticeable with the Roses midcourt able to swing the ball into the pockets easily. When Price was in the lineup, she was able to take intercepts and disrupt the Roses’ attack in the pockets. She finished the series with three intercepts, six deflections and three pickups from 111 minutes of game time. 

Tenacious Imogen Allison’s consistency and leadership was a shining light for England in all three tests. When she dropped back from centre to wing defence there was a definite restriction of Australian captain Liz Watson – the sacrifice was depth in attack and decisiveness in feeding. Being such a strong player means the Roses will have chances to build a variety of combinations around her as a reliable midcourt cog.

After the second test, Jess Thirlby described an ongoing plan to find how to best harness the strengths of Funmi Fadoju. The athletic and deceptive defender is just beginning to have her talent tapped at international level, and for now it remains unclear whether she should feature in the starting line, or whether she’s potentially better as an impact player, slotted in at any position in the back line. Her brilliant game at goal defence in the second test appeared to give her enough choice to pick her space and influence gains in the midcourt, whilst also creating doubt and taking dramatic intercepts under the post.

Liv Tchine really showed that she belongs at this level, with three strong showings, finishing the series with stats of 91/94, and her combination with Helen Housby looks promising for the Roses’ future.

England unearthed two debutantes in the wing attack position during this series. Wing attack has been somewhat of a challenge for the Roses in recent times, but Lois Pearson put in a tremendous game there in the second test. She has been known more as a goal attack in the Netball Super League, and that was where she started in game one, but she had better management of space at wing attack when moved there and she shone with 26 assists. In game three, she found things a bit more difficult, and she was replaced by Jess Shaw who came on for her first test. Shaw made a strong impact in 33 minutes of game time. Both of these players look to have bright futures at an international level.

 

 

SERIES FUN FACTS

• Helen Housby was the most capped player in the series (with 105 as at the end of Game 3)
• In test 3, Liz Watson equalled Vicki Wilson for the second most test caps as Diamonds captain (with 42). Michelle Den Dekker is the most capped captain with 71.
• With 87 caps at the end of game three, Liz Watson moved to 8th on the all-time most capped Diamonds list.
• When Rudi Ellis made her debut, she became Diamond #192. The night before, she was presented her dress by Diamond #92, Michelle Den Dekker.
• Four of the last five Diamonds debutantes have been defenders: Ruby Bakewell-Doran #188, Tara Hinchliffe #190 and Matilda Garrett #191 being the others. Diamond #189 was Donnell Wallam.
• Defender Alice Harvey was the only Roses player to not take the court in the series.
• Since 1990, there have been ten, three-test series between the Diamonds and Roses. The Diamond have won nine of those. The Roses only series win was in 2013 when they took a clean 3-0 sweep.
• Both teams recorded their highest score in Australia v England tests during this series. The Diamonds’ 70 goals in test one is now their highest-ever score against England, while the Roses’ 61 goals in test two is their highest score against Australia in 90 meetings.
• Australia maintained its record of never having lost a series-deciding final test in international netball. Game three was the second series-decider between these two teams, with the other one being in 2010 in England when Australia won 45-43.

 

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