Netball Australia is desperately trying to find a way to stage planned tests against New Zealand amid fears for the Diamonds’ Commonwealth Games preparations.
The Diamonds’ hopes of playing international netball this season are fading, with Covid outbreaks in Australia and New Zealand threatening the Constellation Cup against the Silver Ferns and possibly the international series against England.
Just a day after delivering news of a significant pay deal for Australia’s professional netballers, Netball Australia boss Kelly Ryan said the organisation was doing “everything in our power to keep it alive” but conceded the Diamonds’ chances of playing Test netball as planned next month were challenging given the closure of the trans-Tasman travel bubble and quarantine needs for visiting teams.
Kayo is your ticket to the best local and international sport streaming Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free now >
Despite rumours the Constellation Cup against the Silver Ferns — planned for Tests in Brisbane, Cairns, Auckland and Wellington from October 13-24 — had been cancelled, Ryan said the series was not done yet, with officials on both sides of the Tasman working through multiple scenarios.
“It’s kind of like the SSN (Super Netball) season all over again, but we’ve got international borders to deal with,” Ryan said of the herculean efforts that went into making sure the domestic season was played in full.
“We have conversations multiple times a day on all the moving parts that go with this.
“We’re still doing everything in our power to keep it alive, but obviously it’s incredibly challenging given the Covid situation here and also now New Zealand,and the closure of the trans-Tasman bubble has made it even more problematic than previously.”
Quarantining conditions are among the most challenging issues for officials to negotiate.
The 2020 series was postponed last year and played in New Zealand earlier this year, with all four matches played in Christchurch after the Diamonds spent two weeks in quarantine.
That wasn’t the best preparation for the toughest test in world netball and Ryan admitted while an Australian hub had been considered, it was “problematic”.
“The reality is New Zealand coming in, quarantining 14 days here and having to go home and quarantine for another 14 days, is not ideal,” she said.
“You can’t expect just to come out of your quarantine and be able to play a good game, you need ideally, another two weeks of conditioning.
“So you’ve got 28 days of quarantine, plus maybe another 14 days trying to get your body right for a series of games across a week.
“It doesn’t really stack up in that regard from a welfare or financial perspective, to be honest.”
The planned series against England is also under threat.
Australia’s ability to assemble its own squad while players remain in lockdown in Victoria and NSW is difficult and would likely have to quarantine here again after going into hotel isolation in New Zealand last week ahead of their series against the Ferns.
“We desperately want to achieve this,” Ryan said.
“We want nothing more than to assemble our new Diamonds squad, the build towards Commonwealth Games is something that’s incredibly important to us.
“It’s just proving challenging in terms of trying to get the international opposition across.”
Originally published as Netball: Covid outbreaks threaten Diamonds’ Commonwealth Games preparations