Diamonds netballers look for home sparkle

With some players never having played for the Diamonds in front of Australian crowds, coach Stacey Marinkovich says there's a new energy in the netball squad.

STACEY MARINKOVICH.
STACEY MARINKOVICH. Picture: Ross Swanborough/Getty Images

Diamonds Coach Stacey Marinkovich isn't expecting any problems with post-gold medal complacency ahead of netball's Constellation Cup against New Zealand next month.

The arch-rivals will meet in a four-game series, opening in Auckland on Wednesday, October 12.

They then play in Mount Maunganu before two games in Australia - in Melbourne and a sold-out Test on the Gold Coast.

A three-game series against England in Newcastle, Sydney and Brisbane follows.

Four possible debutantes, Ruby Bakewell-Doran, Donnell Wallam, Sophie Dwyer and Maddy Proud, have been included in the 19-player Diamonds squad who will go into a training camp in Canberra on Monday.

Despite the Australians winning gold at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Marinkovich says there's no time to bask in the medal glory.

The World Cup will be held in Cape Town next year while there's another motivation closer to home.

Due to COVID-19 a number of the Diamonds have never played for the national team before family and friends while Marinkovich, who took over the top job in 2020, hasn't coached them in Australia in front of a home crowd.

"I haven't coached in Australia with the Diamonds yet and we've got quite a few players within the squad that actually haven't played in the yellow dress in front of friends and family so it's got a new sense of energy around it," Marinkovich told AAP.

"We've turned our attention quite quickly to the next big marquee event, which is World Cup next year so we understand that we've lived half of our vision at this point in time and we've still got half of it to go.

"The competition at elite level is so close now that you need to keep pushing ahead and you can't be complacent so there's a lot of drive.

'This is a really unique opportunity for us leading into next year, to be able to see what our squad can do, understand the depth of our players and make sure that we're also embedding the strength that we've already got."

Australia beat Jamaica in the Commonwealth Games final, with New Zealand relegated to bronze while hosts England were left smarting after missing the medals.

"New Zealand are in a growing phase and they've certainly gained a lot of experience so in the last game of the Commonwealth Games, were hitting a really high standard of play," Marinkovich said.

"England are bringing out a squad of 16 and they've got youth and experience in there so they'll have some real competition in there and they will want to rectify their performance at Comm Games.

"It's definitely going to be intense."