Stealthily, grindingly, but at the end with a great rush of goals, Australia’s new generation of netballers have seized their inheritance. Having motivated themselves with images and stories of the scaling of Mount Everest, by Sunday afternoon they found themselves alone on the summit.
The last time the Diamonds won a Commonwealth Games gold medal, their team list was stacked with the sport’s household names. Among them, Catherine Cox, Liz Ellis, Kathryn Harby-Williams and Liz Ellis remain four of their country’s five most-capped players.
As the wheel turned, New Zealand had its moment, winning Commonwealth gold in Melbourne and Delhi and a world championship in Kingston. The Silver Ferns developed an All Black-like aura. But in Glasgow, a magnificent seven of Australian starters played the entire final and ultimately ran away with it, destroying the Silver Ferns 58-40. The names of Laura Geitz, Julie Corletto, Renae Hallinan, Kim Ravaillion, Madi Robinson, Natalie Medhurst and Caitlin Bassett are set to become as gilt-edged and familiar as those of the retired champions.
“I’m so proud of them,” coach Lisa Alexander said. “They really did buy into the story, which was to write their own history.”
All indications were that this would be the usual Australia-New Zealand final, ending in screams and tears and fingernails bitten to the quick. The first quarter strengthened that expectation, with several lead changes and New Zealand’s Laura Langman asserting a dominant presence in the centre.
The decisive battles, though, were taking shape at each end. The Silver Ferns’ attacking pair of Maria Tutaia and Jodi Brown shot with great accuracy early, but in the second quarter Corletto and Hallinan began to harry their supply chain, and the Australian captain, Geitz, used her athleticism and anticipation to grab some vital rebounds. The 21-year-old Ravaillion, brought in after recovering from injury to replace Kimberlee Green during the semi-final against Jamaica, matched up fearlessly against Langman and provided some penetrating passes to the silky front three of Robinson, Medhurst and Bassett.
Whatever the strength of other Commonwealth Games sports, in netball the gold medal match is the pinnacle. Bassett underlined this by saying, “We’ve been working hard for four years for this match today.” Alexander praised her seven starters, and also the five bench players and four training partners who travelled with them.
Having beaten New Zealand in four straight matches in last year’s Constellation Cup, the Diamonds now have a roll on. A Test series with the Silver Ferns later this year and the 2015 World Championships in Sydney will show how far they can take it.
MEGA GALLERY: Our local athletes at the Games
COMMONWEALTH GAMES HUB: East, south-east and peninsula
COMMONWEALTH GAMES HUB: City and surrounds
COMMONWEALTH GAMES HUB: West and northern suburbs
PICTURE GALLERY: Commonwealth Games opening ceremony
