With seven players backing up from the last Netball World Cup, Diamonds skipper Liz Watson is hoping Australia‘s tournament experience provides an edge over their rivals in South Africa.
The 12-strong Australian team fly out to Cape Town on Friday, with their opening match against Zimbabwe on July 28 as they look to wrest back their world crown from New Zealand.
While it’s the first World Cup for coach Stacey Marinkovich, the Diamonds will field an experienced line-up.
Watson, Stephanie Wood, Jo Weston, Sarah Klau, Jamie-Lee Price and Courtney Bruce were all in Liverpool for the 2019 edition, while midcourt ace Paige Hadley is playing in her third successive tournament.
Their arch-rival Silver Ferns only have four players returning to the world stage.
“It’s definitely going to help, absolutely,” Watson told AAP.
“Having pretty much the same team as last year’s Commonwealth Games, with Jamie-Lee Price also coming in although she was part of the last World Cup, means we are very familiar with the format.
“We’ve got a lot of leaders from Super Netball and so much experience within the group.
“We’ve had some success so we want to carry that on.”
Winning the World Cup will bring to fruition a plan formulated back in October 2020, when the squad gathered for the first time under the newly appointed Marinkovich in the Queensland town of Noosa.
At that stage, the 11-time world champions had lost the World Cup, and also the Commonwealth Games title to England.
“Stacey came in and said, ‘This is how we want to run things, this is what we want to do’, and asked what we thought and felt,” the skipper said.
“Everyone was on board because she was so strong and passionate about the program and where she wants to go with it. It definitely set the tone for the next few years.
“She set the standards and behaviours right from the start.”
Former England captain Ama Agbeze, who led her team to success in the gold-medal match against the Diamonds at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, said overnight she feared for the future of the sport should the Games cease to exist following Victoria’s shock withdrawal as 2026 hosts.
Watson was reluctant to criticise the state government’s decision after they stepped in as a sponsor last year to rescue the financially stricken sport.
“It’s disappointing for the Comm Games but we do understand and respect their decision,” Watson said.
“They’ve put a lot into our sport … it was very clear when (Victoria’s premier) Dan (Andrews) came out and said the reasons why.”
Watson said she hoped another location could be found to help highlight netball on the global stage.
“Most other sports have the Olympics as their pinnacle but the Commonwealth Games is right up there with our World Cup,” she said.
“Fingers crossed it’s still held, and hopefully somewhere in Australia as well.”
Read More: Watson counting on World Cup caps to help Diamonds home