No fuss, no ego, 100 tests: Liz Watson’s quiet greatness

By Linda Pearce

Resilient. Competitive. Dominating.

The three words Steph Fretwell offers to describe her friend and former captain Liz Watson come with a caveat - a positive one - on the eve of the Origin Diamonds’ captain’s 100th Test.

Where others show those qualities intermittently, Fretwell says, Watson has done so unwaveringly through her 99 games in the gold dress and 11 seasons at club level, having missed all of 2021 with a navicular stress fracture.

“It’s not like she’s ebbed and flowed out of those three words. She’s been those consistently,'' says Fretwell (nee Wood), hailing Watson’s imminent achievement of becoming just the sixth Australian to reach triple-figures from the 197 Diamonds in history.

“She’ll go down as one of the greatest to play the game, not only in Australia but the world.’’

The 31-year-old will also be the first Aussie midcourter and - by 69 days - second-youngest ever to attain 100 caps when she runs out for Wednesday’s third Test against Jamaica at John Cain Arena, Watson’s original home court and the place where she graduated so spectacularly from program-seller to Melbourne Vixens premiership player in her debut year.

Diamond No.168 joins defender Liz Ellis (122) and shooters Sharelle McMahon (118), Cath Cox (108), Vicki Wilson (104) and Caitlin Bassett (102) and, with both pinnacle events looming in 2026-27, is poised to overtake that all-star group.

But, for now, it’s more about the stars aligning quite perfectly for what the Queensland-based Watson suspects will be an emotional night in Melbourne in front of around 20 family members, including parents Manuela and Neil and fiance Hamish Moore, with more tickets having been requested by friends.

“You don’t really realise that not many people have done this, and just to hear the other names who have reached 100, and they’re legends of our sport, and they’re the people that have sort of driven what netball is today, as well, so it’s pretty special to be in that group,’’ she says.

“When you’re still in it, it’s hard to kind of really know how important it is cos you’re still kind of riding the waves of tour life and preparing and wanting to play well, so it’s a nice moment to actually stop and think ‘no this is a really big moment for myself but also my family, who have been there from day one, too’.

“I do like to keep it really simple, but I also know how important this moment is. I’ve felt so much love already and it hasn’t even happened yet.’’

So what makes Watson a champion? 

The dual Liz Ellis Diamond winner is a relentless accumulator and big-occasion performer able to control the tempo and feed under pressure. A powerful and robust endurance athlete once described as a “Mack truck”. The consummate professional who is more likely to be told to train less than more.

“She’s the best wing attack in the world and the best wing attack that I think Australian netball has seen for a long time,’’ says her vice-captain Kate Moloney, who earned her 50th cap in Perth on Sunday.

“She’s been able to perform so consistently at such a high level and I think that’s a credit to the work that she does on and off the court to be able to get herself up and ready for games. She’s an amazing player, and an amazing leader as well.’’

One so composed and inscrutable - including off the court - that Fretwell made it a bit of a mission when the pair teamed up at Sunshine Coast Lightning to light-heartedly get under her skin. Annoy. Poke the bear. Just to prise a reaction from one usually so unflappable.

The pair shared something else, having started as captain and vice-captain in 2021 at a rare time when the Diamonds’ trophy cupboard was bare; sharing a determination to re-stock it and avoid more of the Comm Games and World Cup finals pain experienced in 2018-19.

“You’re not gonna get a big motivational speech from her but how she motivates is how she goes out and performs on a court I think is the big part,’’ Fretwell says. “She also sets a standard at training by leading by example, and she’s a great person off the court as well, who cares about her teammates.

"Lizzy just wants to win, she just wants to make whatever team she’s part of successful.’’

Bianca Chatfield remembers wanting to make a fuss of Watson being chosen for her Diamonds’ debut at the end of just her second season for the Melbourne Vixens, but being fobbed off by a youngster keen to hose it all down.

“It’s never something that she’s been comfortable with, is the adulation around her achievements,’’ says Chatfield, a long-time mentor doubling as “a proud big sister’’ to Moloney, too.

“She’s just such a humble person, Lizzy. We talk about her being a quiet achiever, but she is the captain of the Diamonds and should be everywhere and doing everything and have this profile like we see with a Sam Kerr with the Matildas.

“But Lizzie is just OK for other people to take the spotlight, and that really adds to the way she’s gone about it and her character - that it’s certainly not about her.’’

A sponge in her early years was also a revelation in the gym, matching - and sometimes embarrassing - bigger and more seasoned teammates in awe of her deadlifts, cleans and chin-ups.

“Liz would kick all of our arses in the gym,’’ laughs Chatfield, who believes Watson has redefined the traditional prototype of a wing attack as petite and zippy "into being someone who is an absolute powerhouse; has the speed, has the strength.

“If you’re a wing defence trying to knock her off the edge of the circle, good luck trying, because she has just owned how to change the way a midcourter can play the game.’’

The captaincy (succeeding Bassett in 2021) has added another layer and mental load, with Chatfield recalling how thoroughly Watson - despite being the obvious choice - prepared for the intensive and extensive interview process.

“She was so considered and thoughtful around what it would take, what she could offer, and at such a young age, she knew how to channel that authenticity to those closest to her - her teammates,’’ says Chatfield, who admired the fact Watson did not attempt to emulate the leadership methods of her predecessors, but has moulded the role into  a style all her own. 

“No fuss, no ego about it. A rare quality for taking on one of the most prestigious positions in Australian sport. I remember thinking after I spoke to her that she would go down as one of the all-time greats of our game. It almost seemed inevitable. And here we are.’’

Indeed, with entry to the exclusive centurions’ club beckoning and the national stocks of silverware proudly replenished - including Comm Games and World Cup successes she struggles to split - as Watson rises up Australia's all-time Test list, with no end in sight.

“She gets to 100 hopefully in Melbourne and then there’s still two major championships to come that I know she’s very keen to be a part of,'' Chatfield says. "So it’s hard to imagine how many she could rack up before she’s ready to say goodbye.’’

Watson says with a laugh that it would surely be a short tenure as the most capped Diamond, given the prolific chasing pack, while acknowledging how “cool” the achievement  would be, the pride she feels every time she wears the dress and the satisfaction of maintaining her level for such an extended period.

“The Diamonds environment is so competitive and selections are brutal, our depth is so strong, so for me to be able to stay in the team for this long (is a source of pride), and to have developed myself as an athlete but also a person going into that leadership position as well,’’ she says.

“I’ve definitely had highs and lows and obviously good tours, bad tours, all those things that come with being an elite athlete, so I think the perseverance just to stay with it, and I just love playing for my country.

“I think that’s the bottom line is that I’m representing Australia, and to be able to do it for the 100th time is actually insane when you think about it that way.’’

So, before sharing Fretwell’s thoughts, three words to describe yourself, Liz Watson?

“Oh, gosh...,’’ she says, quiet for a moment. “Hopefully humble is up there, hard-working, and just ‘myself’, I think. I haven’t really changed along the way, I’ve just sort of tried to be who I am.’’