While Australia is swept up with Matildas fever in the FIFA Women’s World Cup, another set of Aussie sporting royalty have quietly packed their bags and headed to South Africa.
The 2023 Netball World Cup commences in Capetown on July 28, and the Australian national team, the Diamonds, are favourites to bring home the trophy.
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At the last World Cup in Liverpool in 2019, they saw victory slip through their hands, losing by just one goal to New Zealand as their 12-year reign as world champions ended.
The Aussies have won 11 times since the first tournament in 1963, and have never failed to play in the final, as they look to avenge the heartbreak of Liverpool four years ago.
Currently ranked No.1 and the Commonwealth Games champions, the Diamonds will face 15 other nations.
Sophie Garbin debuted for the Diamonds in 2021, but has not yet played a major tournament with the side, something which isn’t lost on the West Australian.
“At the (Diamonds) dress presentation, I think I had kind of had a bit of impostor syndrome … when I got my dress for the World Cup, oh, my god I felt like I was getting my first dress again,” Garbin told 7NEWS.com.au.
“It was just super special, and I’m just so excited.
Yorta Yorta woman Alkina Edwards designed the uniform, which she has named ‘Ganurra’, meaning ‘blaze’, because the Diamonds play fiercely, like fire.
Garbin says it’s the culturally significant aspects of representing her country at a World Cup that she is soaking up.
“Some board members and Alkina all came down to talk to us and were saying how proud they are and how excited they are for us, and they just gave me goosebumps.
“It’s not pressure, it’s an encouragement that they’re all behind us and they just have so much belief in us.”
Another Diamond off to her first World Cup is Queensland shooter Cara Koenen, and although she’s got Commonwealth Games experience behind her, she knows each major tournament is totally different.
“2019 is definitely sitting in the forefront of our minds, and although it’s a very different group, there’s that little bit more motivation in us and a bit of fire in the belly to be able to win back that cup and and fill up the trophy cabinet,” she said.
“I think something that Stacy (Marinkovich) has been really great at is making sure that those expectations have been set and we don’t want to shy away from that challenge.
“Sam Kerr recently said that pressure is a privilege and we have got obviously the target on our backs being the Commonwealth Games champions and having had a pretty successful international campaign over the last 18 months.
“Obviously, every single game, even those round games, are going to pose different challenges for us and it’s a very, very exciting time to be a spectator of international netball because there are so many different brands of netball, so many different threats across the world that it’s obviously not going to be an easy road.
“You can’t look too far ahead, but yeah, I think that expectation has been set and we don’t want to shy away from it.”
Group pools
Pool A: Australia, Tonga, Zimbabwe, and Fiji
Pool B: England, Malawi, Scotland and Barbados
Pool C: Jamaica, South Africa, Wales and Sri Lanka
Pool D: New Zealand, Uganda, Trinidad & Tobago and Singapore
– With AAP.
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