Courtney ready to make her own mark
IT’S got to be tough following the likes of Laura Geitz, Sharni Layton and Julie Corletto.
But Diamonds defender Courtney Bruce is less concerned about filling her predecessors’ shoes and more about making the goalkeeper bib her own at her maiden World Cup.
The West Coast Fever captain played all four quarters of Australia’s second preliminary victory over newcomers Zimbabwe and made a whopping nine intercepts, lifting her to second overall in the tournament after two games behind only the Gems’ Felisitus Kwangwa.
It was a performance bursting with a determination to tell coach Lisa Alexander that, as her country’s most experienced goalkeeper with 28 caps, she should be starting in the circle in Liverpool.
And one that showed the shy 25-year-old won’t be overawed by the all-star defensive cast she’s succeeded in the four years since the Diamonds won the 2015 trophy in Sydney.
“I’ve been lucky enough to work with both Sharns and Geitzy and learn off them, but I’ve always wanted to make the goalkeeper bib my own just as those two did when they first came in,” Bruce said.
“I think I’m kind of a balance between the two of them. I’ve got that aggression and goget-it attitude of Sharni but that light to my game of Geitzy – that smart and agile elusive kind of player.
“But we all bring something unique and different, that’s what makes all the Diamonds so strong.”
Bruce, who overcame early season elbow bone bruising to make the World Cup squad, attributes her increased on-court confidence partly to work with the Fever’s psychologist.