The Quad Series has been run and won in the same stadium set to host the World Cup from late July, with the world’s best side, the Australian Diamonds taking the trophy.
Here are some of the highs, lows and big ‘whoas’ of the tournament.
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Fierce battle between Diamonds and Ferns | 03:17
THE HIGHS
Sparkling Diamonds win title, claim Cup favouritism
Taking the title, an unbeaten record and favouritism for the upcoming World Cup home from Cape Town was a near-perfect return for the Australian Diamonds.
Coach Stacey Marinkovich no doubt learned a lot from the tournament, especially given she didn’t have shooter Gretel Bueta and defender Jo Weston.
Fox Netball’s Kim Green said the connection between Steph Wood and Cara Koenen in goals was a revelation.
“We’ve seen them partner beautifully at the Sunshine Coast Lightning in Super Netball of course, but I don’t think we’ve seen it at an international level until now,” she said.
“Before the Quad, all the talk was about the absence of Bueta and the firepower she brings, but I think we saw a serious amount of firepower from the Wood/Koenen connection. The way Wood played; that’s the kind of dominance we need from a goal attack.
“Given there have been opportunities in the last 18 months for someone to really step up in the goaling circle, and no one really has, it was nice to see both of them put their foot down and say: ‘hey hold on a second, we want these positions’ and take them with both hands, in the final especially,” Green said.
Green said the way Marinkovich “strategically” tested her midcourters, to get a read of who she might take to the World Cup was also key in Cape Town.
“I was a bit blown away that she took five midcourters in that last game, but I think she saw that as her opportunity to work out ‘who I am going to play in these sorts of circumstances?” And now she knows.
Clarke’s 200th a bright spot in tough series for Roses
Winning just one game and showing signs of a deep malaise, England had few Quad Series highlights.
At the top of the list though was centre courter Jade Clarke playing her 200th Test in the bronze medal match against South Africa to become not only the most-capped Rose ever but the most-capped player for a single country too.
Clarke, who has played at five World Cups and Commonwealth Games, has been at the top for almost 20 years, rarely out of the English side since debuting in February 2003.
Freelance netball writer Denise Evans described Clarke as an institution in England netball.
“Workhorse isn’t a particularly flattering word, but it suits our Jade. She has this grit and determination, it’s her signature, and she just gets her job done,” she said.
“Anyone who’s seen her play has also marvelled at her bullet passes and her vision to feed a shooter with a seemingly impossible pass.
“But it’s off-court where she really does the talking. Well, whispering. Because Jade is naturally quiet, reserved and observant. She is dependable, wise and young players rely on her experience,” she said.
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Clarke’s fierce work ethic on and away from the court hasn’t waned as she’s aged, Evans added.
“At 39, she’s touching 40 but plays like she is destined to blow out the candles on her 50th birthday cake still wearing that red dress. She’s Manchester born and bred so it’s in her blood, her nature to keep going until her body or something tells her to stop. They don’t make them like Jade Clarke anymore, that’s for sure.”
‘Absolute gun’ Grace Nweke shows she’s ‘the one’
Kiwi shooter Grace Nweke – who played every minute of the Quad Series and took out player of the tournament and best shooter – showed why she’ll be a “thorn in the Diamonds’ side for many years”, according to Fox Netball’s Kim Green.
The 193cm goaler was the Ferns’ preferred route to goal in their wins over England and South Africa and two losses to Australia and took out MVP honours in the Proteas match before sweeping the series gongs.
Green said the 20-year-old had a brilliant tournament, comparing her to Irene van Dyk, who played 72 Tests for South Africa and 145 more for New Zealand.
“She’s fabulous. I’ve been a fan for a couple of years now. When the Ferns (first played her), she was pulled on and off a lot and this time last year the same thing was happening and I was thinking ‘just leave the kid on, let her figure it out, she’s gonna be an absolute gun’.
“We saw in Cape Town she’s the answer for a long-term shooter in that team, which they’ve been trying to find for a while. She’s the one. And she’s still a baby, remember!
“She’s strong, she’s tall, she can catch, she can shoot, she can jump. She’s got a bit of grit about her. She’s got it all. You don’t often see all that in a player that tall. She has a presence like van Dyk and I think she’ll have a similar sort of career. She’ll be a very longstanding Fern,” Green said.
Australia dominate England in Cape Town | 01:04
THE LOWS
A ‘deflated’ England in need of a ‘Hail Mary’
Winning just a single game and looking like a side without purpose or passion, England looked “down and out” in the Quad Series.
Many are calling for coach Jess Thirlby to be sacked after a tournament to forget, littered with questionable in-game calls and player management and hard-to-ignore tension between the coaching staff and players.
Fox Netball’s Kim Green said the group looked “down and out”.
“I don’t even know if they’re in chaos, per se. Looking from the outside, it’s more a case that they’re deflated and defeated, just so flat and not connected,” she said.
“None of us knows what’s happening behind the scenes, but obviously there’s an issue with the coaching. Maybe it’s about the consistency of the message.
“They’ve been like this for the last six months or so. Nothing seems to have changed between when they played the series here in Australia to what we saw in Cape Town. The performance hasn’t changed, the effort, the attitude. Nothing. If anything, it’s probably gone downhill a little,” Green said.
The former Diamond said if England wants to be competitive, something needs to change and fast. “I’d be doing a Hail Mary as South Africa did by putting Norma Plummer back in charge in November last year.
“Get someone in there to try to spark whatever it is that needs to be sparked. It might (look like) replacing the head coach or maybe making player rotations, but do a Hail Mary and back it in because right now, I’m not certain they can even finish top four at the World Cup.”
Outcry over umpiring points to larger issue
The standard of umpiring by “neutral nation” officials came into sharp focus during the series, with a number of cautions, the send-off of South African defender Phumza Maweni and a bizarre incident in the final raising questions.
It’s not a new issue though, with umpires from outside Australia and New Zealand often criticised at world events for not being able to keep up with the speed and skill of the netball played Down Under.
Fox Netball’s Kim Green said while the incident in the final, which saw the Ferns denied a goal because neither umpire saw it, resulting in a toss-up, wasn’t a good look, it’s up to players to adapt.
“Look, that’s international umpiring. They are always going to umpire differently to what we see in say Super Netball, because they’re umpiring a different standard day in, day out. They don’t see our style.
“But as a player, you just have to adapt. I remember (former Diamonds coach) Norma Plummer really clearly saying to us: ‘you have to get on with it and find a way to figure it out’. You know going into a tournament like this what you’re going to get,” Green said.
She said that the debate also highlights the lack of pay and resources in umpiring.
“Of course they need more resources, more money. If you think about a player, would you expect one with absolutely nothing, no support, who gets paid next-to-nothing to go out there and perform the absolute best? No, that’s just not going to happen and that goes for umpires too.”
‘This is nuts!’ Never-before-seen umpire ‘farce’ mars Aussies’ Quad Series crown
‘This is nuts!’ Ferns denied CLEAR goal | 01:07
Slowpoke starts Diamonds will want to change
Getting a good start is one of Australian coach Stacey Marinkovich’s biggest focuses, but her charges only managed it once in a 4-0 sweep of the Quad Series.
The Aussies trailed 18-14 in the first quarter of their opening clash against England, 17-13 against the Silver Ferns in the preliminary round and then 19-15 in the final.
The only first quarter the Diamonds “won” was in the 65/48 win over South Africa. With Sophie Garbin replacing Cara Koenen at shooter and Kiera Austin replacing Steph Wood, who was rested, at goal attack, the side took an 18-15 into the second stanza.
Fox Netball commentator Madi Browne said the sluggish starts were a key talking point during the series, described as a “work on” by several of the team’s leaders.
“Slow starts are never a good thing, but the upside for the Diamonds is that they were able to not only get back into games but go on to win them, after not-so-great starts. That bodes well for the World Cup, but it’s not something you can rely on in high-pressure matches,” she said.
“I am sure it is something Marinkovich will want to work on when she has a short time with her team after Super Netball and before the World Cup in late July,” she added.
THE “WHOAS”
Pretorius returns with an ‘intercept for the ages’
“She was two-on-one in the circle because Maweni had just been sent off, England had the ball, it should have been a goal to the Roses … every day of the week. But somehow she did it, she came up with it. It was an intercept for the ages.”
That’s how Fox Netball commentator Madi Browne describes the stunning intercept taken by South African defender Karla Pretorius in her side’s 46-all draw with England in the preliminary round of the series.
With 1.08 to go in the game, Pretorius’s defensive partner Phumza Maweni was suspended for the rest of the match for persistent contact, allowing the Roses to take a 46-45 lead.
Left alone in the circle, Pretorius was marking goal shooter Olivia Tchine along the baseline but came off her to somehow intercept a pass from Nat Metcalf intended for her direct opponent Helen Housby.
Pretorius emerged from an ensuing tussle and sent the ball downcourt, where Lenize Potgieter scored to level the game just moments before the final siren.
The feat by the 32-year-old was made even more extraordinary given it was just her second game back after a year off to have a baby.
“It really was something else, a moment that will go down in netball folklore,” Browne said.
Black dress defence setting the bar for all
It’s not easy to measure a defensive unit’s effectiveness or compare one group of players to another, especially when combinations change across a tournament. But it’s clear post-Quad Series that New Zealand has the best, most versatile defence end in world netball.
With Kelly Jury, Karin Burger, Phoenix Karaka, Jane Watson and Sulu Fitzpatrick at her disposal in Cape Town, Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua was spoiled for choice.
Taurua tried them all in the three preliminary rounds and settled on Watson at keeper, Karaka at goal defence and Burger on the wing for the final against the Diamonds, before injecting Jury late at GK.
As a group, the Ferns clocked the highest number of intercepts in a game in the series, 15 against South Africa and lead the gains statistic with 54. The team also racked up the most penalties with 211.
The long arms of Watson, the niggle and midcourt drive of Karaka and the smarts of Burger, as well as the change-up Jury and Fitzpatrick can bring will be keeping many coaches’ minds occupied ahead of the World Cup, especially given they’ll have a full domestic season and another Ferns’ camp under their belts.
Wood’nt you know it: Steph back to best
If you look up world-class netballer in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of Australian vice-captain Steph Wood. Her credentials are impeccable, her record almost perfect.
But with some inconsistent form at domestic level in recent years, a few were perhaps wondering if the 31-year-old shooter was moving beyond her best.
An outstanding Quad Series, which saw her named MVP in both matches against New Zealand, including in the final, have banished any such doubts.
Wood finished the tournament with 52 goals from 63 attempts for an 82% accuracy rate and averaged 13 assists and 17 feeds.
In the preliminary round clash against the Ferns, Wood was paired with her Sunshine Coast Lightning shooting partner Cara Koenen and shot 21 from 24 at 87%, had 17 goal assists and 25 feeds (20 with an attempt) in a stellar showing.
She exploited a height and speed mismatch with 192cm Kiwi defender Kelly Jury, who was sent to goal defence by Dame Noeline Taurua in the last quarter.
In the final, again playing with Koenen at shooter, Wood shot 23/28 at 82% accuracy, had two deflections, 14 goal assists and 20 feeds (15 with an attempt), leading from the front.
Fox Netball commentator Madi Browne said Wood had “well and truly” secured her seat on the plane back to Cape Town for the World Cup.
“And remember, she will potentially be paired with Gretel Bueta at the Cup, and that will have opposition nations very, very worried,” she said.
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