As netball royalty Anne Sargeant was elevated to legend status in Netball Australia’s Hall of Fame on Saturday night, some poignant words stood out.
“I could throw and catch and shoot a few goals, but in the company of my teammates, that became something special,” Sargeant said, overcome with emotion at being recognised, with her daughter making a surprise visit from the United States to meet her mother on stage.
While the order of the evening is to recognise outstanding individuals, Sargeant made an important point about the nature of the sport. Since its beginnings, netball has always been the ultimate team sport.
The restrictions to the footwork rules and the areas players are allowed to enter on court means that it is a difficult sport to dominate as an individual. However throughout Diamonds history, there have been those special players who have made an era their own.
Vicki Wilson, Liz Ellis, Laura Geitz and new Hall of Fame inductee Sharelle McMahon have all been dominant individuals who could single-handedly turn a game.
The current iteration of the Diamonds on the other hand, is where Sargeant’s words ring most true. Although they lost the most recent Netball World Cup and Commonwealth Games by the slimmest of margins, they have retained their world number one status. They are by any definition a world class team.
And yet individual stars are hard to come by. With coach Lisa Alexander doing away with the concept of a starting seven, there is more of a rotation of players moving on and off the court. In a sport where individual dominance is hard enough, doing it while taking the court in short bursts is incredibly tough.
The Liz Ellis Diamond is usually netball’s most hotly contested award. Taking into account international and Super Netball performances throughout the year, the award is bestowed on Australia’s top player each year. However in 2019, many of the stand out individual players have hailed from other corners of the globe.
Karla Pretorius (South Africa), Jhaniele Fowler and Shamera Sterling (Jamaica), Laura Langman (New Zealand) and Sam Wallace (Trinidad) have been the names on everyone’s lips this season when individual performances and honours have been discussed.
So the awarding of the Liz Ellis Diamond to Gretel Tippett had a different feeling to years gone past. This is not to say that Tippett has not had an incredible year. Although her Queensland Firebirds finished at the bottom of the ladder, Tippett was the shining light in an otherwise struggling outfit.
In the national team, she cemented her place in the side after many years of falling in and out of selection. Her flair and unorthodox style has provided a point of difference and her accuracy has kept the Diamonds right in matches.
However at times she has still struggled with her timing into the circle and forming a combination with Australian captain Caitlin Bassett, as both prefer to dominate the back space. In previous years, this flaw may have locked her out of the award, but in 2019 she was the obvious choice.
With four of the 10 players named in the Super Netball team of the year from overseas (with Laura Langman a very unlucky omission) and four of the Australians not part of the Diamonds team for either some or all of the international campaigns, it highlighted that the Australian team is much more a champion team, than a team of champions.
Tippett was typically humble and gracious in victory, as unassuming off the court as she is entertaining on it. She was full of gratitude for her teammates and coaches for believing in her and supporting her in her unorthodox style. The most obvious lift to her game in recent times has been the increase in her shooting percentage, a change she credits to a shift in mindset.
“I knew I had to pick up that part of my game and I worked quite hard at it,” she said. “The one thing I did was bring my enjoyment more into my game and that relaxed me. Before I was getting too uptight and trying to force it. I know I’ve still got a lot of other things to work on, so I’m going to continue to work hard to develop my game in the next few years.”
Tippett also took out the International Player of the Year award, with Super Netball Player of the Year going to Jamaican captain and West Coast Fever star Jhaniele Fowler. Giants wing defence Amy Parmenter was presented with the Rising Star award for her breakout season.
Diamonds captain Caitlin Bassett was acknowledged for reaching her 100-game milestone this season and put current record holder Liz Ellis on notice telling her she was aiming to knock off that record next, suggesting the awards night may soon change its name to the Caitlin Bassett Diamond.
However, whatever the night may be called and whichever individuals are honoured, the shared glory of the team will always remain at the centre of the sport and that is what the players will continue to celebrate.
