Live: Silver Ferns on top of Diamonds early in Constellation Cup opener

A scoreboard issue inside the arena delayed the teams coming back on court but it has been fixed and the second quarter is now underway. Neither team has made a substitution yet. So Marinkovich is backing her starting seven to turn this around.

SCORE: New Zealand lead 15-10

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Oh dear, Diamonds fans. It's not looking great. The hosts are dominating so far in Auckland!

Will head coach Stacey Markinovich be brave enough to make changes at the break? The midcourters are struggling to sight the shooters in the circle and our accuracy is lacking. Austin sits at 50 per cent having only converted 3/6 attempts at goal so far. And although Koenen is sitting at 88 per cent with 7/8 goals after the opening 15 minutes, she has also fumbled the ball over the backline and struggled to break free from the opposition.

It could be worth shifting Price into centre and giving either Watson or Horjus a spell on the bench? The Australians are lacking punch through the middle and being pushed wide by New Zealand's defence as they bring the ball down the court.

With two minutes left, the passes are only getting faster and longer between Silver Ferns teammates.

SCORE: New Zealand lead 13-7

Kelly Jackson. WOW! A perfectly timed block on Austin's attempt at goal sees her come up with clean ball and once again the Silver Ferns do more scoreboard damage. Less than five minutes to go till the first break of the game.

SCORE: New Zealand lead 10-5

The Australians are working overtime trying to feed the shooters who are being forced off their hold and smothered by the Silver Ferns defence. A ball meant for Koenen sails out of court as she falls on her back and New Zealand make it count.

SCORE: New Zealand lead 9-5

The pace of this game is so entertaining and the score is fast slipping away from the visiting Diamonds.

SCORE: New Zealand lead 8-4

Goal defence Burger pinches posession in the Diamonds' goal third and Nweke rewards her with a goal.

SCORE: New Zealand lead 7-4

Five minutes into the game and the Silver Ferns have the edge. Heffernan drives along the baseline and scores nice and close under the post.

SCORE: New Zealand lead 5-4

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New Zealand's defenders are up and about early. They force a held ball for Liz Watson and go back-to-back.

SCORE: New Zealand lead 2-1

Nweke answers at the other end for the Silver Ferns.

SCORE: Level 1-all

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First centre pass is Australia's and Austin slots the first goal.

SCORE: Australia leads 1-0

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We now know who will hit the court at Auckland City Arena for the opening game.

AUSTRALIA

The Diamonds have made several changes to their starting line-up from the bronze medal match in Glasgow. Koenen get the start ahead of Garbin. Without Moloney available there's a shift in the midcourt with captain Watson starting at centre, allowing Horjus to take the WA bib. Meanwhile, Garrett starts in GD with Weston ruled out of the series.

GS – Cara Koenen

GA – Kiera Austin

WA – Georgie Horjus

C – Liz Watson

WD – Jamie-Lee Price

GD – Matilda Garrett

GK – Courtney Bruce

SUBS: Sophie Dwyer, Sophie Garbin, Jessie Grenvold, Sarah Klau, Amy Parmenter

NEW ZEALAND

The Silver Ferns have also made some changes to the starting seven that won gold. Reuelu-Buchanan misses out, Heffernan takes her spot at WD and that moves Gordon to centre and allows Poi to start the game at WA.

GS – Grace Nweke

GA – Georgia Heffernan

WA – Kimiora Poi

C – Maddy Gordon

WD – Kate Heffernan

GD – Karin Burger

GK – Kelly Jackson

SUBS: Parris Mason, Mila Reuelu-Buchanan, Ta Paea Selby-Rickit, Carys Stythe, Amelia Walmsley

Defender Sarah Klau was still named in Australia’s Constellation Cup squad despite being fined $5,000 by Netball Australia and handed a two-match ban for breaching the sport’s code of conduct and bringing the game into disrepute.

Klau plead guilty in a Sydney court to common assault after kicking a bouncer in the back when she was denied entry to a pub back in June. The matter came to light after Klau played in the team at the Commonwealth Games and an investigation was launched into the timeline of events to determine whether the athlete knew they were being summoned to court prior to leaving the country for Scotland.

Ultimately, the sanction has been suspended by Netball Australia for 12 months pending good behaviour. This cleared Klau to play in the Constellation Cup but fans have still been divided on her inclusion. Its likely the omission already of fellow defender Jo Weston impacted the decision to keep her in the Diamonds squad.

Key Event

Courtney Bruce is set to play her 100th cap and become the Diamonds' seventh ceturion tonight. Bruce is also the second defender to reach the milestone after Liz Ellis.

Meanwhile, if Sophie Garbin comes off the bench she will hit 50 Tests. Captain Liz Watson is also expected to claim the record for most Constellation Cup games (37) overtaking Kiwi legend and fellow midcourter Laura Langman. If defender Jessie Grenvold makes it on court, it will be her international debut.

Liz Ellis (defender) 122 games

Sharelle McMahon (shooter) 118 games

Cath Cox (shooter) 108 games

Liz Watson (midcourter) 108 games

Vicki Wilson (shooter) 104 games

Caitlin Bassett (shooter) 102 games

Courtney Bruce (defender) 100 games

Both team's have built their 14-player squads around the Commonwealth Games but there are some changes.

AUSTRALIA: There will be no Jo Weston this series for the Diamonds after the defender ruled herself out. Weston wanted to take a break to rest her body and focus on her Masters studies at Deakin University. Added to the squad are all three Commonwealth Games reserves: Donnell Wallam, Amy Parmenter and Jessie Grenvold.

NEW ZEALAND: The Silver Ferns will be without Catherine Hall as she recovers from an ACL injury she sustained in Glasgow. They have also added three of their six reserves from the major tournament: Te Paea Selby-Rickit, Peta Toeava and Parris Mason.

According to Netball Scoop:Overall, the Diamonds have 211 games worth of Constellation Cup experience, compared to the Silver Ferns with 140.

The dress that caused a stir in Glasgow for potentially being too short made by Commonwealth Games Australia uniform provider Valour Sport will not be used for this series. This actually has nothing to do with the controversy surrounding the major tournament as that dress was specifically made for the Games and would not have been used beyond that event anyway.

 However, it was important following that drama that Netball Australia ensure its next kit would be fit for purpose, taking on athlete feedback and midcourter Jamie-Lee Price worked closely with new provider ASICS to design a dress for this series that hopefully won’t hitch up while the team is in action. There is reportedly a different one in the works with ASICS for next year’s Netball World Cup in Sydney.

“Athletes come in all shapes and sizes and you want to make sure that they all feel comfortable in the dress, so that’s probably been the priority for us as players is to have something that is functional and doesn’t just look great when you’re standing still, so far it’s been awesome,” Amy Parmenter told ABC Sport.

It'll be interesting to see how each team fares after so much exposure to each other in the domestic Super Netball season. With unlimited imports allowed in the Australian league and New Zealand's competition struggling in recent years, there has been a big influx of Kiwi talent that now get to train alongside and play against the Diamonds every week.

Next season there has been even more New Zealand players signed and once this Constellation Cup wraps up Diamond Sophie Dwyer and Silver Fern Grace Nweke will link up for pre-season training as new teammates at the Sydney Sirens. Dwyer told ABC Sport that Nweke was a huge threat in this series.

“We’re both really excited about what our shooting partnership could be but I am looking forward to knowing her more post Constellation Cup when we are into the thick of pre-season with the Sirens.

"That’s the beauty of Super Netball we have so many people that are our rivals one day and teammates the next.”

Key Event

This series is REALLY important when it comes to world rankings.

After an unbeaten run at the Commonwealth Games, New Zealand closed the gap in the ratings, while Australia’s semi-final loss to Jamaica proved very costly.

The opportunity to leapfrog Australia and take the world number one ranking is apparently something the Silver Ferns had spoken about.

"We've put it out there on day one [in camp],"head coach Noeline Taurua told the media.

"There is the opportunity, we have to win all four games to be in the number one position, if we win three then we're even."

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Since 2014, with both nations eager to hold an equal number of Tests, the Constellation Cup has been a four-game series decided by goal aggregate. This has been an ongoing bug bear for fans, who would prefer to see three of five games played with hosting duties switched each year to make it fair across the countries.

Instead in 2024, a series decider was added by organisers to the format to try and make it more exciting. It wasn’t required that year, with New Zealand winning 3-1, but was required in 2025 with the series locked at 2-all in Christchurch.

At the end of the game, a 12-minute break was held before two seven-minute halves were played as a tiebreaker. Australia won the series outright in this period but lost defender Sunday Aryang to a devastating ACL injury in the dying seconds. Kiwi stars Maddy Gordon and Kate Heffernan both dealt with cramps and were forced to come off during the additional time period.

The decider has now been ditched for the 2026 series. Organisers insist it had nothing to do with Aryang’s injury. Even so, Diamonds midcourter Amy Parmenter told ABC Sport it was the right choice:

“We do as much prep as we can but to play that many games across two weeks and then to add an unlimited amount of time depending on the game result, I think the priority is to make sure we’re not overdoing it.

"Seeing what did come out of last year with Sunday, I’m not saying that’s the reason, but in October we’re not fresh off the back of the domestic season and it is quite a demand on the body to play 60 plus minutes, so I support the decision.”