Diamonds win bronze medal with an eye to greater things for netball

Diamonds win first Commonwealth Games bronze medal with eye on Olympic bid Sun 2 Aug 2026 at 11:11pm There's a sentiment in team sports at multi-sport events like the Commonwealth Games that you lose silver and win bronze. The bronze medallists get to climb on the podium having won their last match, while second place is coming off a heartbreaking loss, having let gold slip through their grasp. For the Diamonds, bronze at the 2026 Commonwealth Games is a complicated celebration. Less than 20 hours after Jamaica ripped their hearts out in the semifinal, the Aussie netballers were back on court at 9am in Glasgow for the first centre pass of their first-ever bronze-medal match. It was hard to bounce back from the loss but they did so against England, winning 65-80. "We had such a quick time to process what happened, I think a lot of us still feel quite numb," defender Jo Weston said. "Then you go out and have a game like we did, we're so proud and we know all of Australia have been behind us, so it's been a real rollercoaster of emotions in a very short time frame. But I think the overwhelming feeling is pride and a lot of love for each other. "It's immensely challenging for us having that mental fortitude to come back out. We have very high expectations of ourselves and we want to do our country proud. "They always say Diamonds are made under pressure and I think that really showed in us today. Although it's not the colour we were after we're really proud about it." Coach Stacey Marinkovich said the night between the games was about leaving space for team members to "be vulnerable". There was no point pretending they weren't gutted, that the loss was anything other than gut-wrenching, but once they left the meeting room it was about moving forward. "It was very emotional last night, it was still probably lingering today a little bit, so to be able to mentally switch in showed our culture isn't words on a wall," she said. "That took a lot of grit to be able to go out there and get that result." Adding another layer of emotion for these stewards of the game, constantly fighting for eyeballs and recognition, is the more objective flip-side of the loss. That is those celebrations of the Sunshine Girls after the semifinal. For the first five Commonwealth Games, only Australia and New Zealand won gold and silver. In 2018, England stunned the Diamonds on their home patch for the Gold Coast title. Four years ago Jamaica beat the Aussies in their group match and made their first final. And in Glasgow, they went even better to take the Diamonds down in a knockout match to fight New Zealand for gold. "International netball is the best it's ever been, which is so good for the sport, it's what we want to see,"Weston said. Four countries is not an enormous range of winners or even contenders, but in every event around the world there are dominant forces. With six years to the Brisbane Olympics and a push for the sport's inclusion, the Diamonds' bronze may have been the best thing for game. "It's great for the sport because we always want the game to grow. Gone are the days where it's just one or two nations really dominating," Kiera Austin said. "It's disappointing for us to have not gotten to that point ... but Jamaica were far too good on the day and that's great going into Brisbane hopefully getting netball into the Olympics. "It's a sport we absolutely love, a sport we think deserves a great platform on the international stage and if it means a greater competition, then winning that gold medal whenever we get the chance to again is going to be all that much sweeter."