The Diamonds have backed up their Commonwealth Games gold medal earlier this year by re-gaining the Constellation Cup.
The Constellation Cup is an annual battle between the Origin Australian Diamonds and the New Zealand Silver Ferns.
From its 12-year history, Australia has won the diamond-studded cup on 10 occasions – every year since 2010, excluding 2012 (New Zealand), 2020 (cancelled) and 2021 (New Zealand).
The Diamonds entered the series as favourites given the most recent results from the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with Australia winning gold and New Zealand bronze.
With the first two games of the four-game series played across the Tasman in New Zealand, it was the Ferns who set the tone early.
The series was 0-2 in favour of the Kiwis prior to returning to Australian courts, but the growth from the Diamonds and the home crowd advantage saw the Diamonds turn around their form and win the series at the Gold Coast Convention centre on Sunday evening.
GIANTS coach Julie Fitzgerald acknowledged the growth of the Diamonds from the New Zealand leg to the Australian leg.
“They just improved so much,” she said.
“There was much more intensity in defence. I thought we were a little bit too far off in the first couple of games and weren’t putting enough pressure on the kiwis but once we put pressure on you could see mistakes coming into their game.
“And I think in attack we were driving the ball down the court a lot stronger and feeding it more freely.”
Fitzgerald was in New Zealand for the first two games of the series and was there in person for the debuts of GIANTS Amy Parmenter and Sophie Dwyer.
“I think you can really tell that she’s grown so much across the series,” she said of Parmenter.
“I thought she had a really commendable performance in her debut which is always such a hard time to produce your best consistently but in the second game I thought she looked more settled and then I thought she really made a difference in that fourth test.”
And on Sophie Dwyer’s debut, she said:
“I think she showed – or reminded us – that’s she got an exciting future ahead of her.
“It was only a short time, but I was really happy because she even got a couple of touches in defence as well.”
After missing out on the final squad for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Jamie-Lee Price had spoken about her disappointment and her desire to return and impress in the Australian colours.
Some would argue that Price produced some of her best netball in the national side and would be in contention for a Player of the Series.
“It was the first time I’ve seen her look really comfortable in the green and gold,” Fitzgerald said.
“And be able to dominate in her position and against her opposition – I was really impressed and happy for her.”
While Price regularly plays centre for the GIANTS, she played across both centre and wing defence in the most recent international series.
“I thought she went well when she went back into WD,” Fitzgerald said.
“I was a bit nervous because it’s a been while since she’s been there, but I thought her performance there was quite good.”
The Diamonds will now prepare for their three-match series against the English Roses, beginning on Wednesday in Newcastle.
