In three days, the Aussie Diamonds will board a plane to Cape Town with their hopes set on pinching back the Netball World Cup crown.

The tournament runs from Friday July 28 to Sunday August 6, giving the team less than a week to adjust to the time difference and surroundings before their first game against Zimbabwe. 

Although almost 60 per cent of the side has experienced the rigours of a World Cup before — with Australia having played eight games in the space of 10 days in 2019 — Paige Hadley is the only Diamond that has actually gone on to win it.

The midcourter made her debut at the 2015 major tournament at just 22 years old and was part of the side that beat New Zealand 58-55 in the decider to lift the trophy in front of a 16,752 world-record netball crowd on home soil.

Four years on, Hadley then got to experience how devastating that moment would have been for the Silver Ferns, after suffering a 52-51 loss in Liverpool to the same rivals.

It was the first time in 16 years that New Zealand had held the cup, and despite it coming down to just a single goal, the heartbreak of that result — as well as the Commonwealth Games loss to England by the same margin a year earlier — saw major changes made to the Diamonds group.

Most notably, Stacey Marinkovich was appointed as the new head coach and a rebuild started under her tenure.

Of course, those familiar with the story will know the Diamonds hadn’t quite hit rock-bottom yet. That came when they conceded the 2021 Constellation Cup in Marinkovich’s first international series in charge.

Depleted for experience in their shooting circle due to retirements, pregnancy and injury, the side handed over the trans-Tasman bragging rights for the first time in nine years.

With nothing left to show but the Quad Series trophy, the Diamonds were facing warranted accusations of fraud regarding their world number one ranking.

But all of that changed last year, once Marinkovich found her groove, some of the experienced heads of Diamonds past came back into the fold and the new ones found their feet at the international level.

In 2022, Australia won everything on offer — the Quad Series, the Commonwealth Games, the Constellation Cup and the England Test series.

In January, they defended the first of these for a fifth straight time, even without superstar shooter Gretel Bueta, whose return has been credited for as much of the team’s turnaround as Marinkovich.

Now, the last remaining piece of the puzzle is to win back the World Cup trophy, and despite the tournament being as hotly contested as ever, Hadley believes the Diamonds can do it.

“We’re chasing that winning feeling,” Hadley told the ABC.

“We’re stacked with amazing talent. I think Australia could produce two teams at a World Cup and still be able to compete with the top nations.

“The personnel has always been there, but the versatility we’ve built under Stacey is what’s so strong about our team at the moment. The combinations that you can throw out and the range we have is unreal.”

This time around, there are five teams that truly feel like they’re in contention: hosts South Africa, led by Australian coach Norma Plummer, current world champions New Zealand, Commonwealth Games silver medallists Jamaica, and the England Roses, spearheaded by Helen Housby and Eleanor Cardwell.

Housby and Cardwell were two of the best shooters in this year’s Super Netball, guiding their team to the grand finals and proving lethal with the long-bomb, two-point super shot.

Meanwhile, Jamaica’s bookends have outperformed the rest of the Australian competition, as Shamera Sterling and Latanya Wilson terrorised in defence, and shooters Jhaniele Fowler (198cm) and Romelda Aiken-George (196cm) were almost unstoppable under the post.

In the wake of the 2019 loss, then head coach Lisa Alexander was accused of “sour grapes” when she pointed out the challenges that come with having no caps on imports for the Australian league.

But as the team approaches the next major tournament of its kind, those challenges are very much still front of mind for the Diamonds.

Of the 80 top-contracted athletes in Super Netball for 2023, 18 per cent were imports and seven of them came from Jamaica.

No other league gives that kind of advantage to its international opponents, with New Zealand allowing just one import per franchise and England allowing two overseas players as long as they don’t play in the same area of the court at the same time.

With this year’s World Cup the second to be held since Super Netball began, Hadley believes it is only going to get tougher, with Australia’s high-performance systems helping to develop players from other countries.

“Whilst it’s my third World Cup, I think this one is going to be like no other, to be honest, and maybe the most exciting we’ve seen yet,” she said.

“With so many imports developing their skills in Super Netball and then linking back up with their countries, we’ve seen how tough international competition has become, and there’s so much talent spread across the top-ranked teams. 

“What I love about our team is that there is no one player that’s going to win it — it’s all about grinding it out together as a unit of 12 to get the job done. The opposition isn’t going to know what line-ups we’re going to put out there.

“We’re going to have to be really clinical, building throughout the week so that we can play our best netball at the back-end, so we’ve got to stay in the moment, not look too far ahead and play it game by game.”

Netball’s Commonwealth Games future under threat

Although the Diamonds are preparing for a different kind of major tournament, the news today that the Victorian government has decided to cancel its 2026 edition of the Commonwealth Games could have a devastating impact on international sport.

Experts like Dr Steve Georgakis, a senior lecturer in sports studies at the University of Sydney, suggested this could “spell the end of the Commonwealth Games, which have been under considerable threat in recent years” as many countries seek independence from the British empire and organisers struggle to find cities keen to host the event.

These sentiments were echoed by Dr Tom Heenan, a lecturer in sport and Australian studies at Monash University, who said Premier Daniel Andrews was “now confronting the reality that mega-events like the Commonwealth Games are not worth the costs or inconvenience”.

Netball was set to be played at the 2026 Victorian Commonwealth Games, but beyond that its future at the Games was already uncertain, as it was no longer set to be classed as a compulsory sport.

What Victoria had done by securing the rights was provide the Diamonds with a chance to defend their gold medal in front of home crowds, keeping netball’s 32-year history at the Games alive for at least one more instatement, and helping to build interest in a home World Cup in 2027.

Losing the Commonwealth Games funding support would be another blow to Netball Australia financially, and would cut the Diamonds’ opportunity to play at major tournaments in half.

In a statement released by Netball Australia, chief executive Kelly Ryan said the sport’s governing body was “disappointed”, but understood the government’s decision.

Netball Australia was hardly going to go to hard in its response, knowing it is currently tied to the state government via the Diamonds’ $15 million Visit Victoria sponsorship.

Hadley, meanwhile, said the side were trying not to lose focus on their World Cup prep.

“We would love to be able to have two pinnacle events to showcase our sport to the world, and that’s what the Commonwealth Games does for us with no presence at the Olympics,” Hadley said.

“Birmingham last year was unreal — that whole experience on court as well as meeting other athletes and being around the best of the best.

“As an athlete, you want as many opportunities to play in these big events as possible, as much as you want to use them to encourage young boys and girls to jump on and play the sport.

“Fingers crossed we can still be a part of it and that the Commonwealth Games as a whole will continue to grow for able-bodied and Paralympic athletes.”

On the flip side, while the Victorian government’s decision to can the Games is bad news for the Diamonds, it may actually bode well for netball in that state.

During the announcement, Andrews committed to forging ahead with the infrastructure updates his team had promised to deliver to regional Victoria.

Some of these updates were to prepare venues for the Games, while others formed part of the “legacy” concept to transition the facilities for use beyond the event.

For instance, Netball Victoria’s bid for the eighth Super Netball licence has largely been tied to the updates expected in the cities of Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong.

Bendigo stadium (capacity 3,800) was meant to be the host facility for netball at the Games and had only been slated for minor updates to its show court, roof and technology to make it suitable for broadcast; with four new community courts also set to be built.

Ballarat stadium (capacity 3,200) has hosted elite netball before and is judged to be in pretty good working order, but was also in line for an update to its show court as well as accessibility works, with a potential small increase in capacity.

If successful, Netball Victoria’s incoming Super Netball team would have shared its home games between these two venues as well as John Cain Arena in Melbourne.

But the legacy works in Geelong have been of most interest, particularly regarding the Waurn Ponds Station precinct on Baanip Boulevard.

Plans for the venue would see it be transformed from the Games’ artistic gymnastics, weightlifting and para powerlifting venue into a multi-sport indoor facility that could accommodate a dance studio, a regional-level gymnastics centre, and a show court for elite netball and basketball games.

Long before Collingwood announced its decision to withdraw from the Australian league, Netball Victoria and Basketball Victoria had been holding positive conversations with the state government and City of Greater Geelong council for this space.

The precinct would need an update regarding spectator seating and the required high-performance change rooms before it could host games.

This is the venue that would be targeted as the home of a second Victorian Super Netball team, and although there was no certain timeline for the transition between Games mode and legacy mode, it was expected to take one to two years — available from perhaps 2027 onwards.

Now that the Games won’t go ahead, these updates could potentially be started now, fast-tracking a fit-for-purpose elite netball and basketball venue in Geelong.