Via AAP
A ruthless Diamonds outfit have fired off a warning to England at the Commonwealth Games, thrashing Tonga 99-38 to open their gold medal campaign in Glasgow.
New Zealand kicked off Saturday (AEST) with a dominant 77-44 victory over hosts Scotland, but Australia’s all-conquering netball team upped the ante at the Hydro against Games debutant the Tala.
Defending their 2022 Birmingham gold medal, the netball world No.1 will get a medal match preview when they next face 2018 champions England in the second of five pool games.
“We’ve got a big game tomorrow (against England) and we’ve got to make sure that we’re really firing,” Diamonds coach Stacey Marinkovich said.
“You don’t know what the scores actually mean until we actually face each other.
“Teams can be out of form and then as soon as we hit each other, everyone finds it.
“We’ll have an understanding of what England does. We know they’ve got a star-studded line-up, and we’re just going to take accountability for what we can do out there.”
Sophie Garbin (31 goals/34 attempts) and Cara Koenen (31/31) were near flawless in the circle against Tonga, while captain Liz Watson rarely missed a beat with 38 goal assists and 47 feeds.
Former Melbourne Mavericks goaler Uneeq Palavi was easily Tonga’s biggest threat, but defensive midcourter Jamie-Lee Price did well to contain her ex-teammate.
The highly-rated Tongan attacker fired off 29 goals from 34 attempts as she managed being double-marked in the circle at times.
The Diamonds opened their campaign with a 61-goal win.
Palavi wasn’t the only ex-Super Netball player on court, with former Queensland Firebirds midcourter Hulita Veve going head-to-head with Watson and Kate Moloney.
Price was one of five Games debutants in Australia’s 12-strong squad, with Georgie Horjus, Matilda Garrett, Sophie Dwyer and Garbin all taking to the court.
“We wanted to go out there with a lot of energy,” Marinkovich said.
“In the last couple of days, it’s been so much emotion and build-up, like, you don’t lose sight of what actually stepping into the Commonwealth Games means.
“They’ve got a lot of flair out there. They had a lot of debutants and you never know exactly what you’re going to get.
“I thought the girls really took responsibility when they stepped out on court and really attacked the game.”
Australia are aiming to go back-to-back for the second time in Games history since successfully defending their 1998 title in 2002.
The Diamonds have never missed a netball final since the sport was added to the Games program in 1998 and are the most successful nation with four gold medals.
It was just the second time the netball world No.1 played Tonga, having claimed an 85-38 pool victory at the 2023 World Cup in Cape Town.
Saturday’s match may have been Tonga’s first-ever Games match, but the Tala enjoyed healthy support from the nation’s travelling contingent – which included Princess Latufuipeka Tuku’aho – and the Scottish home crowd.
