Price is right for Diamonds

NETBALLER Jamie-Lee Price has been waiting years to make her debut for the Diamonds, but captain Caitlin Bassett says she and her fellow Australian players are almost as excited at the prospect of it happening in Sunday’s Constellation Cup match.

Price, the daughter of NRL star Steve Price, lived and played netball in New Zealand as a teenager when her family across the Tasman for her father’s career.

But Price later decided she wanted to represent Australia and now plays for the Giants in Super Netball.

The decision paid off with a late call-up for the Diamonds who are playing their final two matches of the Constellation Cup series in New Zealand on Sunday and the following Thursday.

Bassett said she and fellow Diamonds players are looking forward to the moment Price earns her first Australian cap and is predicting the athletic netballer to make a big impact.

“I love it. I find my most enjoyable games are when there is a player debut,” Bassett said.

“There is a real sense of excitement. And most players have an absolute cracker. “It does lift the team. “The excitement of a debutant is very contagious.

“It brings you back to why you are playing for Australia and what it all means.”

Coach Lisa Alexander is experimenting with new combinations in the series which concludes with Sunday’s match in Hamilton and the October 18 game in Wellington.

Alexander has just this series and the first part of the Quad series with New Zealand, South Africa and England in the new year before the World Cup in England starting in July 2019.