Cover Image: Aliesha Vicars
The 2026/27 Diamonds squad was announced last Sunday, with the Commonwealth Games team to be announced in a fortnight. National coach Stacey Marinkovich took time out to chat about the nuances of selecting a squad of 18, the four invitees plus the main omissions.
What were the main challenges of picking a squad for the Commonwealth Games this year.
The biggest question I face is form versus build.
This year, because of the SSN dates, we only have four training sessions in Melbourne before we fly out. And when players come into camp after a tough SSN season, you can’t smash them. You can’t add more trainings and more meetings, because they’ve already reached saturation point.
With such limited time, we have to rely on the strategies, on court relationships and culture we already have in place over the three year build, versus what we’ve seen during this season and can accomplish in just four sessions.
Some of our players potentially going to Glasgow have never played in the UK, or been in a multi-sport event or even experienced a long haul jetlag, and we have to learn this in the heat of a Commonwealth Games. We haven’t had as much time together as we had in the last cycle, and certainly not as much as most of our opposition.
It becomes even more important to know the strengths of the individual players and of the whole group, and how they will respond under pressure in tight games, because it’s such a different environment.
The Diamonds team of 12 has to be approved by Commonwealth Games Australia, and then will be announced by them in mid June. Unfortunately at this stage, the three reserves won’t be able to travel to Glasgow with the team.
The reserves will be with us in Melbourne for our preparation to go away, and we still have the capacity that if an injury is sustained before the competition starts, then we can bring those players into the team. That’s where we are at the moment, so we’ve put the best plans in place around it that we can.
What does the Diamonds programme look like before you depart.
This year it’s looking pretty strong as to who the top four SSN teams are going to be. We’ve got our plans, court bookings in place, knowing roughly where our coaches and strength and conditioning people will be.
As players come out of their SSN teams, they will have a week’s break. As well as club commitments, we want to get them off court and give them some clear head space from the game because SSN is so intense and demanding.
So we freshen them up as much as we can, train in state based hubs until everyone can get together in Melbourne, and then really hit the ground running.
Australia unfurl their 2022 Commonwealth Games banner. Image Aliesha Vicars
THE SQUAD
Shooters – Kiera Austin, Sophie Dwyer, Sophie Garbin, Cara Koenen, Donnell Wallam
Donnell Wallam has made her return to the squad. What have been her strengths this season?
She’s such a focal point and is demanding volume of ball. Donnell has also added a few dimensions with her strength and the way she’s holding in the circle. We’ve got a wide range to our shooting circle – moving players, Sophie Garbin has that strength on hold plus movement, and then you’ve got Donnell who’s more that post-up shooter. So now we look to the opposition and how they connect to see who we need to get the job done.
Sophie Dwyer had a slow start to the season but has stepped up in an underperforming side.
I’ve seen a great maturity in Soph and what she’s been doing with the Giants. When she went back from the Diamonds they had a new lineup, a new coach and that takes some time to adjust to. She previously had Jo Harten behind her as a dominant voice and that shaped how Giants played the circle.
She’s matured to bring her strength to the game as the season has progressed, taking volume in the circle, demanding the ball and from all our measures, her movement has improved. So there’s a lot to like in what she’s done and certainly the maturity of understanding what’s happening out on court and having that voice is something that I think will really add to our environment.
Cara Koenen is performing well at goal attack this season. Is she a serious option to be used there.
She trains in both positions at the Diamonds. She’s added extra skills to the goal attack position this season, which will also complement her goal shooter game. So while she hasn’t played much in her key position during the SSN, she adds real strength and flexibility to what we can do on court.
Kiera Austin and Sophie Garbin had some challenges against the Jamaican defenders last weekend. Do you have any concerns.
That’s the beauty of SSN – we see the Jamaican defenders in full flight and combination. So we will learn a lot, and discuss how our players can adapt to that rather than get to a moment at the Commonwealth Games where we have to find solutions on the run.
I’m looking forward to seeing how they do it over the finals series, and against the different defensive strategies applied against them.
First Nations Round was the perfect time for Noongar woman Donnell Wallam to learn that she’s been elevated to the Diamonds squad. Image: Jodie Dent/Decadent Designs
Midcourt: Georgie Horjus, Kate Moloney, Hannah Mundy, Jamie-Lee Price, Alice Teague-Neeld, Liz Watson.
You haven’t given much away about where Horjus will play. What are her greatest strengths.
She’s got speed across both positions and she’s a playmaker, but does it very differently across each position. That shows she’s just got such depth of understanding of what’s required of her in particular roles, and how she connects with people around her.
Georgie doesn’t need time to transition from one position to the other – she is very balanced across both and she has impact with immediacy. That makes her a real threat to opposition because you can try and plan for her in one role, but she also has something else she can slip straight to.
You have a lot of flexibility in the midcourt – in attack a potential Horjus/Watson combination is quite different to a Watson/Moloney or Watson/Price one for example.
They do play quite differently, and generally with low turnovers. Sometimes you’re looking for a strategic move and opponents need to adjust to a different combination. And by changing personnel, you can get a different look by emphasising their strengths. We don’t want like-for-like players, we want points of difference.
As you won’t be travelling with reserves, having flexibility in the midcourt must be even more important.
We’ve picked three reserves to train with us in Melbourne that still provide us with backup options if we lose a player before the competition starts.
The way we’ve always selected, we’ve gone through as many ‘what if’ scenarios as we possibly can, knowing that if we’re mid competition and have a tournament ending injury, we’ve still got rotations, or stability and familiarity across combinations.
We can’t cover every single ‘what if’, but we spend a lot of time discussing them and that gives us confidence we can address them if needed.
Georgie Horjus looks set to earn a call up for the Commonwealth Games. Image: May Bailey-Ireland/Clusterpix
Defenders – Sunday Aryang, Courtney Bruce, Matilda Garrett, Jessie Grenvold, Sarah Klau, Jo Weston
What a great call to be able to make to new squad member Jessie Grenvold
It’s refreshing to be able to make cold calls where players aren’t expecting anything. The way she took the call showed great humility, which is one of our key values in the Diamonds group – never expecting anything and always looking at how you can grow and improve.
Jessie is exactly like that. She’s taken opportunities, she’s improved her performance every time on court, and she’s in that really nice space of being a true competitor. She’s got her feet on the ground, learning as she goes, and there’s no ceiling on what she’s done yet.
With Sunday Aryang out of Commonwealth Games, it leaves you with only two true goal defences in the squad. While the other three keepers can play there if needed, does it leave you with any concerns.
No, because we have used our keepers at goal defence in rotation, so they know what role we need them to play if required. We’ve been working to create depth across our circle defenders as we do across each area of the court.
With Aryang injured on Diamonds’ duties, was there a requirement to keep her in the squad?
There’s no requirement to keep an injured player, but Sunday is very much a part of our future plans. Under the CPA, while an injured player is unavailable we can name a temporary replacement player from the invitee list or even outside it – the doors aren’t closed on that.
What were the advantages of keeping her in the squad, even though she’s unavailable this year.
When Sunday had her injury she was at the height of her game. We do need depth at goal defence, she’s very youthful and we acknowledge we have a number of mature players in the defensive end. So we want to keep working closely with her and maximise her opportunity for return.
Jessie Grenvold (right) has earned her maiden call up to the Australian squad. Image Shaun Sharp/Sporting Moments by Shaun
Invitees –Macy Gardner, Charlotte Sexton, Amy Sligar, Grace Whyte
The invitee selection is always fascinating. Amy Sligar is performing strongly in a challenging team situation. What has impressed you this year.
Amy has great capacity to play hard one-on-one defence, her attack down the court is very dynamic and in our environment, she’s learning different strategies and ways of playing as part of a defensive unit.
That’s what we want to keep pursuing. With her great individual strengths, how does she look in a unit strategy? Does she become really familiar and comfortable so that we see her ability to read and fly at ball as well as doing the shutdown? The only way we can continue to test that is to have her in our environment.
Grace Whyte is interesting, because she was injured early in the World Youth Cup and we saw little of her, and yet of all that team, she’s been the one to really make the most of opportunities that have come her way through injury. She seems to play the game quite differently.
That’s the point with Grace, she is a little bit of a unicorn. It’s not a textbook style, so how can we harness her individuality, while also connecting her with others and bring strength across different combinations.
She’s another player who has just grabbed an opportunity with both hands. She doesn’t get fazed on court, mistakes happen but she immediately transitions out of it, and that’s the competitive mindset we need.
Charlotte Sexton had a great World Youth Cup, but has had limited time in SSN. She has had strong Reserves form – how important is that competition becoming in selecting some of your group.
Very important. The Mavericks Reserves have been outstanding, and she was a really strong part of the World Youth Cup winning team. She has great ability to get the ball, she’s continuing to learn and understand what is required of her. She’s also 190cm tall, and as we start to look towards our next cycle, we do need to explore all our young, tall defenders and understand what they need to make further progress.
There’s been plenty of discussion online about Macy Gardner’s selection. How would you respond to critics. What has stood out to the three selectors?
There are some missing nuances in the discussion around Macy’s selection.
She came into camp in January with the Australian development group, and showed great promise there. The selectors have many different data points around players’ performance, and we’ve found she’s safe with the ball, a hard runner, dynamic and can play across two positions. She’s a real competitor defensively too, similar to the tenacity of a Kate Moloney in chasing a loose ball.
We need to keep exploring midcourt depth and want to see more of what she looks like as part of the group. That’s a big part of the invitee role, we want to see how the work certain players are doing in SSN translates into our Diamonds environment and what those players need to keep developing.
Grace Whyte plays the game quite differently, and has earned an invitee role with the Diamonds. Image: Aliesha Vicars
Key omissions from last squad – Rudi Ellis, Ash Ervin, Paige Hadley, Erin O’Brien, Teigan O’Shannassy, Lucy Austin
The biggest omission is Paige Hadley.
I have so much respect for Paigey both on and off the court, in and out of the Diamonds environment. We will continue to support her holistically and the journey she is on. Having a baby doesn’t mean the door shuts to her future at next year’s World Cup. For now we have such depth in the midcourt area, and selection has been based on the here and now of who is ready for the Commonwealth Games. The midcourt has traditionally been one of the most difficult areas to select and this time has been no different.
It’s always one of the hardest conversations to have with somebody that is such a strong part of the programme and has such a great presence in her leadership and the way she plays the game.
We are committed and have reinforced to Paige that our entire support team is there for her to continue to build her game back to its best.
If she wasn’t Commonwealth Games ready, could she have been included as an invitee with a view to next year.
The invitee positions are more around the future of the Diamonds, and those players are in the infancy of a possible national career. With players like Paige and Ash, we already have a good understanding of their performance, and we know that will continue to build with the plans we put in place with them and their clubs.
Paige Hadley will work towards earning reselection for the Netball World Cup. Image: Marcela Massey
Ash Ervin is a young player with potentially a big future, but she’s lacked court time this year and hasn’t been included at all.
Ash is still very much part of our future. The Diamonds camp is very performance related, there’s pressure in how the athletes play on court but with limited camp time coming up that time isn’t focused on developing their individual skills.
So, instead of having a small amount of time at camp with all its disruptions, she can have a really solid club preseason. We will also work with the club so she and other similar young athletes can get those individual gains, increase their strength, their physical capacity and their footwork skills for example. Working hard on that development will make sure there’s a step up in the consistency of their performance when they’re on court.
One of the criticisms of the Roses full time programme is the SuperLeague clubs only get a couple of training sessions per week with their athletes. So from that perspective, it sounds like some of the younger athletes have better opportunities with their clubs than with the Diamonds.
Sometimes I will only have four training sessions with the squad before I have to pick a team based on performance. So, do you disrupt a junior’s preseason when there’s limited opportunity for selection, or do you have them back at their clubs to make some big gains and then reap the rewards of that down the track?
We’re trying to help all those young players reach their potential, as opposed to being seen with potential but having limited ability to make inroads into that in the Diamonds’ programme.
By working really closely with the clubs we can establish programs that really work for each player as an individual, and also work to get them on the SSN court, and hopefully into national selection.
Selection has to be very multi-faceted, to make the best decisions for the athletes as well as for the national programme.
Kate Eddy has had another terrific season, and there have been fan based questions around her not being selected.
I haven’t had a conversation with Kate so it would be unfair to discuss her performance. She shows great consistency across the SSN, and plays the game well. But the selectors do have a different lens to the outside world – we use different data sets, and we are comfortable with the players we have selected.
Australia celebrate victory at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Can they go back to back with a new look team? Photo: Stephen Pond/Getty Images.