#13 Nations Cup review

For me the stand outs for the England Roses were the sensational shooting capabilities (and ability to play over both shooting positions) of Ellie Cardwell and the emergence of Amy Carter, who frankly looked like she had been playing in the red dress for a lot longer than she has! 

A lot has been said about the start of a new 4 year netball cycle and when you consider we still, potentially, have the likes of Serena Guthrie, Jo Harten, Helen Housby and Geva Mentor (plus others!) coming back into the squad, the future is looking bright! 

The Nations Cup does highlight an ongoing concern for me, and that is who is, realistically, going to replace Geva Mentor? She’s gone on record to say that she wants a crack at the next Commonwealth Games and World Cup and, frankly, who would bet against that happening!?! 

But, she will retire at some point and I don’t see a natural successor emerging! 

Whatever defensive combination was played during the Nations Cup, however influential Stacey Francis is back in the Roses fold, we were exposed in every game, at some point or another. There was little consistency at the back. 

I wasn’t lucky enough to go to any of the games live this time round - but you could hear and feel the atmosphere through the telly box! Social media was awash with support and the players’ appreciation of the crowd’s efforts. The matches were live on Sky and YouTube, with Lisa Alexander commenting that netball has really grown in England, even since the World Cup. The sport continues to build momentum and the Nations Cup has refuelled the hunger and desire from the netball community! How exciting! 

Looking at the other nations involved, if NZ was worried about the retirement of Maria Falou - they needn’t have been! Ekinasio seems to have got even better with the responsibility of the Captaincy, Bailey Mes has been given a new lease of life, Selby-Rickett is playing with confidence and Wilson, oh my, what a player! 

The World Champs just looked a cut above everyone else and were not really troubled in terms of results. 

There really was only one winner to be honest. 

I was disappointed with South Africa - they can’t seem to just get that extra 1% to take them over the line in the close games. (Thankfully, in the last one!!) Karla Pretorious has a quiet series for me. I have a bit of a soft soft for Sigi Burger and would have liked to have seen her on court more. She offers something different to the other SA shooters and I really hope she has a great season for new side London Pulse to put herself into national contention. 

Jamaica have been touted as ‘back to their old selves’ and in terms of their ill discipline & consistency over 4 quarters, I agree! 

I’m not sure ‘back to their old selves’ is such a good thing anyway - they’ve not made a final or any inroads against the top sides in recent years. 

For me, they are too reliant on the long ball into Fowler - they couldn’t adapt when Shimona Nelson came off the bench - an absolute cracker of GS, in her own right. New coach Connie Francis has her work cut out, but as usual with Jamaica their strength is their unknown quantities and you always have to expect the unexpected! 

Away from the actual netball action I was thrilled to hear the dulcet tones of Aussie Head Coach Lisa Alexander on commentary. 

By her own admission she was there spying - and why not!?! Shows how much the Aussies are hurting right now and her desire & belief to be on top, once again! 

Her insight and knowledge is first class, she’s not afraid to be honest and her passion for all things Netball is infectious. What an amazing global ambassador of our great game! 

So, it’s now less than a month to the Vitality Netball Superleague and of the Netball Nations Cup was meant to quench our thirst, it succeeded! 

What I’m looking forward to most is the coverage Netball will get. Sky will broadcast games and hopefully will learn lessons from previous years as to which games to broadcast and when! 

We’ll see more newspaper column inches, photos and magazine articles about our players. They’ll be local TV coverage and hopefully national coverage too - I’m still surprised when I see netball featured on BBC Breakfast, but it’s becoming ‘the norm’ so shouldn’t be! 

All that attention can only be a good thing for our great game - bring it on!