Jamie-Lee Price goes from heartbreaking Comm Games omission to Constellation Cup return for Diamonds

Not in her mind.

Although, actually, all of the above is true.

It’s just not the way the powerful midcourter chooses to describe the circumstances of an emotional few months, and of being there, but not really, after having played in every other international series or event since her 2018 debut.

“I got dropped,’’ says Price, bluntly. “I guess everyone’s trying to be nice around you and it’s like, ‘Oh, you just missed out’ and I was like, ‘Well, I got dropped’. It’s just what happened.’’

It was also devastating for the only current squad member from the most recent pinnacle event — the 2019 Netball World Cup — who failed to get picked in the team this time.

“I was absolutely heartbroken,’’ Price says. “As a netballer you want to be playing in every big event for the Diamonds, and I’ve never done a Commonwealth Games so I was really hoping to be in that team to experience and get a win with those girls.’’

The fact it was the 26-year-old’s first major selection disappointment in a decade-long career that started on the extended Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic’s ANZ Championship list as a 17-year-old schoolgirl, and continued through the junior pathways on both sides of the Tasman, added an extra dollop of pain.

Indeed, what Price describes as a “tough conversation” with head coach Stacey Marinkovich got past hello, but had her — in tears — once the niceties ended.

It took a single, but revealing word.

Unfortunately…

“As soon as she said that I just bawled my eyes out and just zoned out completely,’’ says Price, who was sitting in the car at the time with partner Harry Perryman, a midfielder with the AFL’s Giants.

“I didn’t even know if I was a reserve or anything because I just heard ‘unfortunately’ and I was absolutely mortified and so heartbroken that I didn’t hear anything after that.’’

This was not the day for specific reasons or feedback, clearly, and what did come a week or so later didn’t help much to relieve Price’s suffering, given she was told there was not awfully much she needed to fix or improve.

“It was just more like, ‘We’ve kind of just gone with this midcourt, this is what we think is best, blah, blah, blah’,’’ she says.

“And I’m like, ‘Oh that sucks’, because you want to be a part of it and you want to be that right fit for the team.’’

Given that a talent-packed midcourt was always going to be the Diamonds’ most hotly contested, with captain Liz Watson a lock at WA/C, Paige Hadley and Kate Moloney preferred as the all-rounders and veteran Ash Brazill picked in the WD/C role Price filled in Liverpool, shock was mixed with what had been a tiny nagging fear that this might have been coming.

“I always think, ‘Oh gosh, I’m not sure’,’’ says Price of her chances, generally. “But it’s not until you’re actually on the call that your full emotions come out.’’

*****

That 21-Test Diamond’s career will resume in the Constellation Cup from October 12, and continue in the three-Test England series, as Price clutches the pearls of wisdom shared by her father Steve, the former Kangaroos, Maroons, Bulldogs and Warriors great.

Steve Price was the same age as his eldest daughter when he was dumped from the Australian team in 2000, then dropped for State of Origin III, and finally called in for a chat with his club coach Steve Folkes, who said the star prop was on the verge of a demotion to reserve grade.

Triple whammy imminent.

“I was devastated,’’ Price told CODE Sports. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’ve gone from being an Australian rep to within months almost not holding down my spot in the Canterbury team’, so one of the first things I did was sat down with my wife and said, ‘What’s the go here? Am I going that bad?’

“What I worked out was that when I made those teams I thought I had to be this amazing player because you’re in those teams and when you looked at it, all you saw was ‘amazing’, you know. When I was a kid, you just thought, ‘They’re so incredible, those players’, so when I got there I thought I had to be that person.

“But the reason why I got there was because of what I did and how I did it, and I went away from that, and I started trying to be other people and do things that other players were doing and that’s why I got dropped in the end, so I just went back to focusing on what I did well and what got me to where I got to.’’

Price was given more opportunities. Took them. Started to believe he was as good as all those other guys he had idolised. Did deserve to be there. With performance as his measure, the coach’s voice was eventually the only other one in his head.

“Had the time of my life from that period,’’ says Price senior, who was dropped again in 2005 after returning from a knee injury — but that time, after a thrashing from New Zealand, had a few mates.

“So 2000 was the one that turned me career around, absolutely.’’

He sees now in the strong, fast netballer he calls ‘Jamo’ a similar respect for others that borders on reverence, and a humility he also admires, while urging her not to look back with any regret as a result of both qualities. He’s aware that without his own light bulb moment, he would probably have puttered to a halt at around 28 rather than retiring at 35 as, then, the most-capped Maroons prop.

Jamie-Lee has sensed her parents’ frustration for a while, but says this latest experience has helped her realise how far she still is from achieving her potential. That she is good enough. And is there for a reason.

“Having someone like my dad as such a big influence has helped, and he’s tried to tell me all the time before I even got dropped that, ‘I don’t want this to happen to you. I don’t want it to take this to believe in yourself’.

“And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I know, I know’, but it’s not until something like this actually happens, that you actually do (realise).’’

Interesting, then, what has happened since.

*****

“Being in the village with the girls in the lead-up to the Comm Games was a little bit of a tease, really because you were like, ‘I’m there, but I’m not’,’’ says Jamie-Lee, of her brief stay in Birmingham, following training camps in Perth and Manchester, and the moment of separation when that truly hit home.

Marinkovich, grateful for the train-on trio’s efforts, was emotional, too.

“They were phenomenal; the way in which they trained gave us absolute confidence that they have the right mentality to be in the Diamonds’ environment … and it was really tough when they had to leave. There was a few tears, and I was in tears at the same time because you knew what that moment meant: it solidified that they weren’t a part of the performance necessarily at Comm Games, so that was tough.’’

Given her greater self-assuredness for the Giants in Super Netball as vice-captain to her great friend Jo Harten, under veteran coach Julie Fitzgerald, Price believes some of that self-imposed pressure has been released since her axing, as she has found herself wondering what exactly she’s been so worried about.

“I think when you first get in the environment it’s really exciting and it’s quite eye-opening, but trying to stay there is really hard because it’s so competitive, and everyone’s fighting for a position,’’ she says.

“So I think once you get dropped it’s like, ‘Well, why am I so stressed and so on-edge all the time’, you know?’’

The knowledge that she was around this time to help prepare her teammates, instead of worry about her own performance, was freeing, too, and lifted both a weight and her mood.

“In Perth and in the UK, it’s the happiest I’ve ever heard her sound in an Australian camp, and she absolutely enjoyed it,’’ says Steve, who provided reassurance that although the reserve midcourter would not be receiving a medal, she would have played an important, selfless, role in whatever prize the Diamonds brought home.

Previously, he says, Jamie-Lee would agonise over what she was/wasn’t doing, whether someone else was training/playing better, who might get picked/not. “I said, ‘Don’t worry about any of that. You can’t control it. Coz they’re not worryin’ about it. They’re not worryin’ about you, so what are you worrying about them for?’

“But that’s just her personality. I think she’s always been like that. It’s not lacking self-confidence — well it is, but it’s more just being super-respectful and humble. She doesn’t see herself in the light that maybe other people see her or the way that she actually is.

“She’s had the athletic make-up and ability where she’s always been able to achieve some amazing things just because of how dedicated and then also how competitive she is and what sort of athleticism she has. So I think that’s got her so far and then it’s just this little bit that’s going to get her that little bit extra.’’

Even before she left, Price senior noticed a change in language and attitude, but is waiting to see the proof when she returns to the court for both club and country.

“She just said some things that she’s never said before when she got dropped and I thought, ‘Good on ya. You’re actually understanding now what it’s all about and where you sit and where you want to be’.

“I’ll keep those to me and her but I was really proud of her, because it shows that she’s thinking differently, and maturing as an athlete and a young woman. As a parent that’s what you want to see is your kids continue to develop and learn from what they’ve experienced in their life and springboard onto great things.’’

*****

The lingering fatigue, brain fog and shortness of breath that followed her round two bout of Covid-19 was a clear contributor to Price’s relatively sluggish start to the Super Netball season she admits was not her finest.

But not dreadful, either. Solid overall.

Strong finish. Which came just a little too late.

“That was probably the hardest thing, because by the time they announced the team I was only just finding my form – or what I felt was my form,’’ she says. “And I still think that my horribleness is probably not as bad as what I think it is. I just think that I’m always my own hardest critic on the court.’’

A big challenge for Price was breaking the news to others that she wasn’t in the Birmingham team without also breaking down while it was all so fresh.

Harten wept for her mate, and also with her.

“I think for me when I have a disappointment I just have to get all my emotions out, cry and whatever and then after that I move on and I work hard.’’

Marinkovich sees in Price a player who absorbs feedback and is constantly striving to improve and evolve, but also one prone to harsh self-criticism.

“Sometimes she’s actually got to give herself a little bit of credit and allow herself to enjoy a moment, and I think that when she understands that she’s doing something well and can embrace that then she’ll continue to keep pushing her game forward.

“That’s part of our role is helping Jamie-Lee to recognise when things are going in the right direction, and then we continue to work on her skill set. She’s a great off-circle feeder, she’s got tremendous physical attributes, so if we can get her on the run, and using that feed to hit the circle’s edge she’ll be very very hard to beat. She’s got a bright future, there’s no doubt.’’

Dad Steve jokes that unfortunately he has passed on two physical characteristics, “big bones and thick skin”, along with a few more desirable traits such as fierce competitiveness, meticulous preparation, and ability to deal with the good/bad publicity that comes with being an elite athlete, with/without a famous surname.

In retirement, the now 48-year-old stopped doing any fitness training with Jamie-Lee when she started beating him — she was about 18 at the time — and says he would like to have had the pace of an athlete who had represented New Zealand at three sports (netball, touch, tag) by the age of 15.

“And her strength is incredible. She’s just naturally sorta gifted, physically, she’s got power and speed and agility. I sorta wish I had that, but I did the best with what I had.’’

Anything of Steve’s that Jamie would like? “She probably wishes she had a bit more height, but that’s probably the only thing, mate.’’

*****

Jamie-Lee Price was aching for a different selection message this time, and rose early, on holiday a hemisphere away, to read the email when it came.

While no surprise, it was still a thrill to be included in the 14-player squads for all seven Tests in October and early November; given that Price wants to be a Diamond for as long as she can, she was keen to return as soon as she could.

The fact that the first of four Constellation Cup fixtures is away against world champions New Zealand adds significance to the comeback, as the Prices moved there in 2005 for Steve to join the Warriors, and ‘J’ as she is known to teammates, could almost as easily have ended up in a black dress as a gold one.

“Going back to New Zealand is always special, because that’s where I grew up, and that’s where I developed to be the person that I am today so NZ holds a very special place in my heart,’’ she says. “I just feel like everyone we go in NZ it’s just like ‘this memory and this memory’.’’

Her dad recalls the many drives from home in Auckland (site of the first Test), to training Hamilton where Jamie-Lee made her Diamonds’ debut in 2018, while the second Test will be played at the Magic’s other home venue, coastal Tauranga.

The robust youngster was wanted by both nations, and eligible to play for either, Price making the difficult call to follow coach Fitzgerald back across the Tasman for the inaugural SSN season and, also in 2017, representing Australia for the first time at the World Youth Cup.

“Now I’m just so happy I did it. It was the best decision that I made, like, ever, but at the time I was absolutely traumatised. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t know what to do. My whole life is in New Zealand and I’ve got family here, but not in Sydney’.

“So moving to the big city and not really knowing everyone was quite daunting, and especially being in the (Kiwi) system for so long and working that hard to get to where I was, to then potentially start again, and there weren’t any promises about even being in the Australian system.

“I guess it’s quite rewarding looking back on it now and being like, ‘This is what I’ve done, this is so cool’. Yeah, I wouldn’t change it for the world.’’

Of course, had Price been in the Silver Ferns’ 12 rather than on the Diamonds’ bench for that famous one-goal finals result in Liverpool, she would now be a World Cup winner than owner of a silver.

Which is not a regret.

“I’ve still got another opportunity so that we can get that gold medal back. I think everything that happens along the journey, it’s either learnings, or you’re successful. So either one.’’

Or both, ideally, in what her dad describes as her “sweet spot” in career terms of youthful vigour combined with a decade of elite experience, and if Price does not necessarily think she has a point to prove in the coming weeks, then she believes she now has a better grasp of what it takes to perform at her best at the highest level.

There is no arrogance, despite her concern that it might come across that way, when she says that includes playing her own brand of netball, and to her strengths, thus swapping the crippling pressure she has felt for the belief she has lacked.

“I’m really excited to be back in the mix and to be given another opportunity to just enjoy myself and enjoy being in the environment and play netball that I want to be proud of,’’ says Price. “And to have fun, I guess, because if I’m not having fun I’m not playing as well as I should be.’’

Something different, then, is to come from the player who never again wants to be the one who misses out.

“Yep. Confidence,’’ she says with a laugh. “Confident Jamie-Lee Price.’’