Queensland young guns Tippah Dwan and Tara Hinchliffe will join the 16-strong Origin Australian Diamonds squad travelling to New Zealand for the four-match Constellation Cup test series being played from 2-7 March.
The Queensland Firebirds duo have been named as tour invitees with squad members Steph Wood and Emily Mannix both sitting out of the tour to focus on recovery from post-season surgeries (knee and hip respectively), and Gretel Bueta on maternity leave. Wood and Mannix are expected to be fully fit for the 2021 Suncorp Super Netball season.
Origin Australian Diamonds Squad – March Constellation Cup tour
- Jess Anstiss - West Coast Fever/Western Australia
- Kiera Austin - GIANTS Netball/New South Wales
- Caitlin Bassett – Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic/Western Australia
- Courtney Bruce - West Coast Fever/Western Australia
- Verity Charles - West Coast Fever/New South Wales
- Sophie Garbin - NSW Swifts/Western Australia
- Paige Hadley - NSW Swifts/New South Wales
- Kimberley Jenner - Queensland Firebirds/Queensland
- Cara Koenen - Sunshine Coast Lightning/Queensland
- Sarah Klau - NSW Swifts/South Australia
- Jamie-Lee Price - GIANTS Netball/New South Wales
- Maddy Proud - NSW Swifts/South Australia
- Kate Moloney - Melbourne Vixens/Victoria
- Gabi Simpson - Queensland Firebirds/New South Wales
- Liz Watson - Melbourne Vixens/Victoria
- Jo Weston - Melbourne Vixens/Victoria
Origin Diamonds Head Coach Stacey Marinkovich is delighted to have Dwan and Hinchliffe, 2020/21 Australian Development Squad members, joining the tour.
“Both Tippah and Tara have had outstanding Suncorp Super Netball seasons last year and have featured strongly in our pathway talent identification process over the past few years,” she said.
“It’s unfortunate that we will be without Steph, Emily and Gretel for this test series, but the silver lining is that we’re able to expose Tippah and Tara, two of our most promising up-and-comers, to our Diamonds environment when they may not have otherwise had the opportunity to gain this experience so early on in their careers.”
In preparation for the Constellation Cup test series, the squad will come together this Friday 12 February in Sydney for a three-day camp ahead of their departure for Christchurch on Monday 15 February, where they will enter quarantine at a managed international quarantine facility for 14 days.
“Our group of players and staff are looking forward to entering the performance environment for the first time as an entire squad. We are excited by the opportunity to start implementing our game plan and put it into practice before we head into quarantine on Monday,” Marinkovich said.
“Whilst the environment we’re entering is unique, as a group we will continue to focus on the things we can control and embrace each challenge and experience that arises. There’s no greater netball rivalry than the Diamonds and Silver Ferns and we’re going into this series with a very targeted purpose, to ensure we walk away with knowledge and a true understanding of our performance.”
The Constellation Cup test matches are then being played at Christchurch Arena on Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd March and then at Trustpower Baypark in Tauranga on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th March.
Netball Australia is working closely with the Australian Government on the process and travel arrangements.
All Constellation Cup matches will be broadcast live on Nine, 9Gem and the Netball Live Official App, with broadcast details to be confirmed in the coming weeks.
The 2020 Constellation Cup was postponed due to the impact of COVID-19 on international travel. Netball Australia and Netball New Zealand are hoping to complete two Constellation Cup tournaments in 2021, one in March and one in October.
