With the Quad Series behind us and the Constellation Cup rivalry ready to reignite, Samsung Australian Diamonds specialist coach and Suncorp Super Netball commentator Clare Ferguson shares her thoughts on how the 2018 international season has gone so far.
What were your biggest takeaways from the Quad Series?
It was just such an exciting series, in terms of the variety we saw from all of the teams and how they all evolved across their three games.
There was immense growth within all of the line-ups and that’s really exciting heading into the Constellation Cup, particularly given New Zealand’s performance across their three Test matches.
The Samsung Diamonds came away undefeated from their three games. What impressed you about those performances?
What was exciting from the Diamonds’ perspective was being able to see some fresh faces out on court and to see some less experienced Diamonds have an opportunity to solidify themselves a bit more.
Look at players like Courtney Bruce coming away with two ‘player of the match’ awards from the Quad Series.
She’s not a new face within the Diamonds line-up but she’s relatively inexperienced at international level, so with the departure of players like Laura Geitz and Sharni Layton, it’s really allowing Courtney to come into her own within that environment, and it was exciting for her to start to grow and evolve as a defender and gain some confidence.
Having Kelsey Browne also included in the line-up was a beautiful change-up in terms of the pace and variety that she brings on court.
With Gretel Tippett also being provided with an opportunity we were also able to see that change in combination and provide her with a bit more international experience.
