Any other result is unthinkable for a side who has cruised through their Commonwealth Games Pool matches unbeaten \u2013 with no opponent getting within a double digit margin of the world No.1 Diamonds.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are the finals you want to be a part of,\u201d coach Stacey Marinkovich said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no greater pressure than trying to get to a gold medal match.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it appeared the pressure got to Australia early as they were guilty of forcing ball into Sophie Garbin and Kiera Austin, resulting in big defensive gains for Jamaica.<\/p>\n
Aussie greats Cath Cox and Kim Green questioned if the decision to start Melbourne Vixens\u2019 duo Garbin and Austin against what had been Adelaide\u2019s premiership defence of Shamera Sterling-Humhrey and Latanya Wilson was the right call.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it spooks them,\u201d Green said of Jamaica\u2019s defenders coming out on top.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019d be silly not to be a little nervous.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have to change what they are doing because clearly it didn\u2019t work it the domestic league.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Diamonds defence was keeping them in the opening term – Courtney Bruce even shrugging off a big Romelda Aiken-George elbow to the head.<\/p>\n
Courtney Bruce copped an elbow to the face.Source: SUPPLIED<\/p>\n
But that was just the start of Bruce\u2019s pain as she racked up penalty after penalty – her quarter time tally more than the entire Jamaican side put together.<\/p>\n
When Bruce didn\u2019t move to set the penalty, instead claiming she was pushed into the post by Romelda Aiken-George, play was stopped for umpire Ken Metekingi to officially advance the call.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not the stuff you want to be embroiled in seven minutes in,\u201d Cox lamented.<\/p>\n
Courtney Bruce had this penalty advanced for failing to move aside.Source: SUPPLIED<\/p>\n
The woes in attack rolled on for the Diamonds as Kiera Austin had two shots on goal rejected by Sterling-Humphrey.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to suddenly be thinking about adjusting your timing,\u201d Cox said of Austin\u2019s mental struggle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat will need to happen is the shooters will need to protect each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the first change it was Jamaica leading 13-10 – handing Australia their first opening quarter loss of the Games.<\/p>\n
STARTING SEVEN<\/p>\n
AUSTRALIA: GS Garbin, GA Austin, WA Watson, C Moloney, WD Price, GD Weston, GK Bruce<\/p>\n
JAMAICA: GS Aiken, GA Beckford, WA Grierson, C Plummer, WD Ward, GD Wilson, GK Sterling-Humphrey<\/p>\n
Match details: Australia vs Jamaica, with first centre pass from 10pm AEST.<\/p>\n
How to watch: Stream on 7Plus<\/p>\n
CAN THE DIAMONDS DELIVER ON BIG STAGE?<\/p>\n
History shows Australia have won every Comm Games semi final they\u2019ve played since netball\u2019s introduction back in 1998.<\/p>\n
Australia remain the most successful netball nation \u2013 playing in every final while winning four gold medals.<\/p>\n
But on Saturday night they\u2019ll face the rising Jamaica, who were the only side to defeat Australia in the last Comm Games.<\/p>\n
Only six of those players remain for the Sunshine Girls in Glasgow in 2026; but they\u2019ve got defensive power capable of quelling Australia\u2019s attack.<\/p>\n
Players of Team Jamaica enter a team huddle.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Jamaican quartet of Shamera Sterling-Humphrey, Latanya Wilson, Kadie-Ann Dehaney and Jodi-Ann Ward \u2013 who are all playing in Super Netball, has proven tough to get through, with only New Zealand securing a win against them this tournament.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s in attack where questions remain as the Sunshine Girls turn to veteran Romelda Aiken-George at goal shooter in the absence of Jhaniele Fowler-Nembhard who welcomed her second child earlier this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have the ability to win so much ball!\u201d Aussie great Kim Green said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s what they do with it from there that\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s worth remembering, semi finals have not been kind to Jamaica.<\/p>\n
The Sunshine Girls have played in six previous Comm Games semi finals \u2013 winning just one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The equation for the Australian Diamonds is simple \u2013 win the semi final against Jamaica tonight and meet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,85],"class_list":["post-837750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}