THE fans have had their say on who deserves to make the 2022 Netball Team of the Quad Series. Yesterday, netball fans were invited to produce their own Team of the Series for the recent Quad Series, with seven starters and three bench players. The three bench players would include one defender, one midcourter and one goaler.

Between our Netball Facebook group and Twitter followers, 13 fans submitted their teams. From there, a starting spot was worth two points, and a bench position one. The points were tallied up to work out positions, and this was the result:

STARTING SEVEN:

GS: Gretel Bueta (Australia)

It is no surprise to see the Australian dynamo in at goal shooter. The Player of the Series and star in the Diamonds’ Final win over England, Bueta ended up being the universal choice across the teams. Bueta scored 107 goals from 115 attempts, being the second highest goal scorer of the tournament. Of the 13 sides, Bueta started goal shooter in seven, goal attack in one, and forward emergency in three. Only two sides failed to have Bueta in the 10-player squad.

GA: Steph Wood (Australia)

Nudging out England’s Helen Housby by just one vote (13-12), Wood used her netball IQ to full advantage in the Quad Series. She provided a two-prong attack with Bueta, and ended up scoring 56 goals from 63 attempts, alongside 58 goal assists. In terms of teams, Wood started in goal attack five times, and was the reserve in three, just getting ahead of Housby (six starts, no reserves).

WA: Liz Watson (Australia)

Despite a comeback in the teams late from Natalie Metcalf, Watson was comfortably chosen as the standout wing attack across the series. She started in nine of the teams, and was reserve in two more, remaining the world’s best wing attack for another series. Metcalf (three starting spots) and Tiana Metuarau (one) were the others to earn votes. In the series, Watson had 46 goal assists in three appearances.

C: Serena Guthrie (England)

The first non-Australian in the lineup, it is no surprise to see the Roses captain slotting in at the centre bib. The centre bib was somewhat competitive, but Guthrie was the standout with nine starting spots, as well as two wing defence starting spots. Just two sides did not include Guthrie in the 10-player team, but the England midcourter earned 22 votes to be the second highest vote-getter. Guthrie finished with 27 goal assists, four intercepts and seven deflections.

WD: Ash Brazill (Australia)

Bursting out of the blocks with a Player of the Match in the first Diamonds game, Brazill was an eye-catcher and clear choice at wing defence. Aside from the two teams where Guthrie was chosen starting wing defence, only Beth Cobden (one), Tshina Mdau (one) and Karin Burger (one) earned nominations. Starting in a massive eight games and on the bench in another, Brazill only missed out in four sides.

GD: Layla Guscoth (England)

There were next to no questions about the deserving goal defence. Aside from one team not including her, Guscoth started in the remaining 12. She earned more points (24) than any other player in the squad, and it was easy to see why. In her four appearances, Guscoth picked up six intercepts and 20 deflections, as well as two rebounds, whilst only committing three turnovers – less than one per game – across the four matches.

GK: Sarah Klau (Australia)

Completing the Diamonds-Roses starting seven is ironically enough a player who did not earn a starting spot in the majority of games. Having some incredible impact moments, Klau showed just how much depth Australia has, coming on at goal keeper and picking up seven intercepts and 15 deflections off comparably low minutes against many other defenders. She started in six of the 13 teams, and was on the bench in four more, in the most competitive on-court position.

BENCH:

SHOOTER: Ine-Mari Venter (South Africa)

The South African goal shooter was a revelation at the tournament, coming out of her shell and stepping up in the absence of long-time shooter Lenize Potgieter. Venter scored more goals than any other player at the event, putting up 134 from 147 attempts, and collecting three rebounds. She started in five teams (just shy of Bueta’s seven), and was named the bench shooter in a further three.

MIDCOUTER: Natalie Metcalf (England)

A late rush of votes from Facebook saw Metcalf snatch the midcourt backup spot, with the competition red-hot. Bongi Msomi held it for a long period of time with three starting teams and one backup, but Metcalf came home with a blaze of glory, earning four starting spots and two bench positions. Though she finished behind Watson on-court, the wing attack was certainly influential throughout the tournament.

DEFENDER: Phumza Maweni (South Africa)

The second South African in the team, Maweni was right up there competing with Klau for a starting spot. She was named starter in four teams, and on the bench in two more, she was just shaded by Klau (six and four respectively), but finished ahead of Geva Mentor (two and two), and Courtney Bruce (one and two). Maweni was a standout for the South Africans despite the Proteas not winning a game.

SECOND SIDE:

The following side is made up of the players who missed out on the starting team, led by Helen Housby who fell one vote short of Wood in goal attack. Msomi was the next most unlucky, just two shy of Msomi, whilst bookends Mentor and Eleanor Cardwell both received six votes. The evenness of New Zealand’s top performers was evident with Burger and Claire Kersten receiving four votes apiece with Diamonds’ Bruce. Mdau with three votes had the least of the second side but still did enough to earn it in, whilst Metaurau and Paige Hadley joined Bruce o the bench.

GS: Eleanor Cardwell
GA: Helen Housby
WA: Bongwi Msomi
C: Claire Kersten
WD: Tshina Mdau
GD: Karin Burger
GK: Geva Mentor

BENCH:

SHOOTER: Tiana Metaurau
MIDCOURT: Paige Hadley
DEFENDER: Courtney Bruce

TWITTER vs FACEBOOK

As an additional aside, this is the differences in the Quad Series Team of the Series when comparing Facebook user teams against Twitter user teams. Interestingly, the Twitter team was more diverse with the bench entirely made up of South Africans, whilst the Facebook combined team purely had Australian or English players.