DIAMONDS EYE CONSTELLATION
DIAMONDS coach Lisa Alexander says she is always wary of the crafty Kiwis as Australia takes another step down the road to redemption in tomorrow’s Constellation Cup series opener against the Silver Ferns at Boondall.
Australia swept all before them in the recent Quad Series with their shock loss in their gold medal match at Commonwealth Games proving to be a driving force.
The Silver Ferns, in turn, appear to be thriving with new coach Noeline Taurua.
“You could see, already, the aura around the team Noeline has created,” Alexander said.
“She said she was going to make changes and she did.”
Alexander said the Diamonds have learned from their upset loss to England at the Commonwealth Games. “We have spoken about it. “It wasn’t good enough from our point of view,” she said. “Things didn’t go our way that day, so we’ve got to learn from that.
“We’ve learnt a few things about us as a group in terms of our resilience.
“Our leaders have learnt a lot about performance and balancing that with leadership and ensuring we are mentally prepared and switched for game time.’’
Diamonds vice- captain Gabi Simpson said a newlook Australia had plenty of improvement left in them from the promising Quad Series victory.
“We are just getting used to new combinations but it’s so exciting to see the glimpses of how great it will be when it works,’’ Simpson said.
“The Commonwealth Games obviously did hurt us so the Quad Series was really important to us. When teams were coming back at us we were able to hold our own and push out the lead a bit.’’