Constellation Cup series to be rescheduled
AUSTRALIAN netball fans will have to wait a little longer for international matches, with Netball Australia announcing today that the Constellation Cup between Australian Diamonds and New Zealand Silver Ferns will be rescheduled due to the current closure of the trans-Tasman travel bubble and ongoing COVID-19 restrictions in both countries.
The Diamonds and Ferns were set to go head-to-head in October, with two tests planned to play in Queensland before both squads would travel to New Zealand for the third and final tests. Netball Australia CEO Kelly Ryan said Netball Australia and Netball New Zealand were working in tandem to determine new dates and locations for the series.
“There is a joint commitment between Netball Australia and Netball New Zealand to ensure the Constellation Cup goes ahead,” Ryan said. “We want our netball fans to be able to watch this sport’s greatest rivalry and this series forms a crucial part of the Diamonds preparation for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.”
The Diamonds are also still set to play the England Roses, with rescheduling in progress between Netball Australia, England Netball and various federal and state governments to ensure the planned tests go ahead – initially planned to play in the lead-up to the Constellation Cup.
Victorian-based Diamonds will complete 14 days quarantine in Perth ahead of playing the Roses, in line with Western Australian government requirements, while the NSW-based players remained in Queensland following the Suncorp Super Netball season, with the full expected to assemble when dates and venues for the Roses series are confirmed.
In better news, Collingwood Magpies head coach Nicole Richardson has been awarded for her impressive achievements on and off the court, named Diamonds assistant coach for the upcoming series with head coach Stacey Marinkovich commending Richardson’s netball nous.
“We are delighted to have highly-regarded coach Nicole Richardson join the Diamonds for the upcoming series,” Marinkovich said. “Nicole brings a strong defensive skillset and a well-rounded approach to building high performance systems and structures.”
“We are looking forward to working with Nicole to create a highly competitive training environment, new layering to our game plan and attacking the upcoming matches.”
Picture credit: Netball Australia
Diamonds delve into positives despite disapointing result
DESPITE having already lost the series, the Australian Diamonds still came away from Wednesday night’s final Constellation Cup match with something to smile about having convincingly won the final test. Reflecting on it all post match, Diamonds’ head coach Stacey Marinkovich described the importance of winning the match to bookend the year as “huge”. “I […]
Silver Ferns don’t clean sweep but still come away happy
WEDNESDAY’s final Constellation Cup match brought mixed emotions for New Zealand, because although they lost that match they were still able to celebrate post match because they had already won the whole series. Speaking after Wednesday night’s final test of the series, Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua was reflective of it all. “I thought […]
Kelpies big winners, but big picture shows plenty to still be done
DESPITE how things went for the Australian Diamonds in their recent Constellation Cup series against New Zealand, things could not have been more different for the Australian Kelpies, who clean swept their series with the Kiwis after a 71 to 39 goal win in game four yesterday. Speaking after yesterday’s match, star Kelpies’ defender Josh […]
Diamonds win match, but Kiwis still come away with big prize
THE AUSTRALIAN Diamonds have avoided an undesired series whitewash against New Zealand, winning the final match of the 2024 Constellation Cup 63 goals to 50. Proceedings were tight early, but then the Diamonds were able to really put their foot down in the second and third quarters to really open up the game on […]
Kiwis claim series over disappointed Aussies
NEW ZEALAND has won the 2024 Constellation Cup after beating Australia 61-43 in the third test to claim the series. Diamonds’ coach Stacey Marinkovich swung the changes pre match, making three changes to the match day squad and a couple to the starting seven, but ultimately the outcome was the same result. By contrast New […]
Kiwis go two up, but not all hope lost for Aussies
NEW ZEALAND’S stranglehold of Constellation Cup matches in New Zealand has continued, after downing Australia again to take a 2-0 lead in the 2024 series. In what might have felt like a sense of déjà vu for Australia and its fans, New Zealand had a strong first half which really catapulted them to the successful […]
Celtic Cup squads begin to be announced
THREE of the four nations competing at the upcoming Celtic Cup have announced their squads for the series over the last few days. Northern Ireland has arguably the biggest names of the three announced squads so far, with Netball Super League stalwarts Michelle Magee, Emma Magee and Niamh Cooper all included. Northern Ireland coach Shenoah […]
Netball to continue as Commonwealth Games sport
AFTER much upheaval and uncertainty, some more certainty has been given around the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Set to be held in Glasgow from July 23 to August 2 2026, it will be a scaled down event, with only 10 sports running. Luckily for netball, it is one of the events that survived the cull, and […]
Kiwis crush Aussies to cause upset and go one up
NEW ZEALAND has put behind it some poor recent results and kept their strangehold on matches against Australia played in New Zealand, after winning Test 1 of the Constellation Cup 64-50. The game started out tight, but New Zealand surged ahead in the second term, turning a one goal quarter time lead into a nine […]
[…] READ>>Constellation Cup series to be rescheduled […]