WITH speed to burn and plenty of defensive pressure, the Diamonds looked set to make a name for themselves in their final Fast 5 series on home soil but it was to no avail. With what could be considered as one of their youngest and most inexperienced teams to date, Australia put its best foot forward to narrowly fall short of making it to the gold medal match. Instead, wrapping up third spot in the bronze medal match against the Malawi Queens 38-15.

After an impressive day one performance from the home side only falling to arch rivals New Zealand, Australia failed to keep up that intensity across day two with a surprise defeat to England. The Roses had been held winless throughout the series but claimed a big scalp upsetting the Aussies chances at gold glory.

The Diamonds showcased plenty of youth throughout the series with the shooting combination of Kaylia Stanton and Kiera Austin shining in the goal circle. Twenty-one year-old Sophie Garbin was also strong for Australia highlighting her solid movement and ability to hit the scoreboard nailing four goals from four attempts from the one point range in the bronze medal match.

Young gun Kim Jenner also starred with her ability to read the play and take a heap of impressive intercepts. Her clean hands and class to stay in play across the court proved to be important in stopping the flow of goals for opposition teams. Jenner ended the series with 14 deflections and seven intercepts staking her claim as a star of the future for Australia down in defence. Sarah Klau, Tara Hinchliffe and Sam Poolman also worked well in tandem with Jenner rotating through the circle. Credit to the strong defensive pressure they applied Malawi only managed to score 15 points for the entire bronze medal game.

In the midcourt the rotations of Jess Anstiss, Laura Scherian and Maddy Proud was crucial in providing that spark and ability to turn the ball over through their pressure acts. Anstiss led the way in attack with 10 feeds and six goal assists, while speedster Scherian played her role racking up nine feeds and four goal assists against Malawi to get the Aussies over the line.

It was not without trying though, with Malawi staying within striking distance until half time, when the Diamonds pulled away. In the last quarter Australia put on a real show scoring 15 points to Malawi’s two, the lowest quarter score for the match. Though the Diamonds did not win gold their young talent should provide plenty of excitement for the future of Australian netball.